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Old February 20th 18, 02:31 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
John Wells[_2_]
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Posts: 7
Default Cleaning hinges & retaping

Some of my flap/aileron hinges on my Mini Nimbus look very damp
and brown. I think this is mostly the old brown grease "weeping",
but I would like to check and clean up just to be sure as they look
pretty bad. The outer seals haven't been replaced for a few years
anyway.

All surfaces have both upper and lower outer and inner seals. The
outer seals seem easy to replace. The inner seals on the lower side
are straightforward, but the inner seals on the upper side appear to
be impossible to replace without removing and replacing the control
surface and borrowing about 7 hands. I plan to avoid this. Most
hinges are fully accessible from the bottom anyway.

I've started removing tape, but wanted to check the plan of action
was OK:

1. Remove all tape from underside, and outer seals from top side of
wings. This is more work than I expected -- I've had best luck with a
little blast from a low-temp heat gun, but I still need copious
amounts of degreaser to remove sticky residue afterwards. (Any
problem with degreaser residue or do I need to flush with water?)

2. clean /wipe hinges with degreaser and dry off, re-apply (much
less!) grease. (Any recommendation here?)

3. For the parts accessible only from the top (aileron attachments),
cut little access windows in the inner seals and clean as above.

4. Re-tape. one-side-sticky teflon for inner seals and patching holes,
double-sided tape, pre-curved mylar & capping tape for outer seals.


First time I've done this, does it sound reasonable?