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diemai

Sheet Metal Hinge

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Hi , folks ,

Just thinking , that I might share my present project in here .

Nothing special about the lure , it is a very simple one , didn't want to spend that much effort on it , since it is the hinge , that I am focussed on !

Some weeks ago I have found some small metal hinges in a RC model shop , these are supposed to be used for the flaps and rudder of radio controlled model aircraft .

Unfortunately I have found out after a magnetism test , that these were made of brass plated iron , so surely would rust sooner or later assembled into a jointed lure .

So I decided to try and build them by myself ,.... since I am a little experienced with metal work , I did not believe it to be too difficult , once I'd get the hang on it .

After some trials during the past days and one or two test pieces I finally made that hinge today , connecting the two sections of that bait , that I had shaped the day before .

Since I have played the working process over and over again in my mind , it actually took me only a bit more than 35 minutes starting from the bare metal sheet to the(almost) finished pre-assembled hinge .

What's left to do , is drilling the crosswise pin holes through the hinge latches , if doing that in assembled stage through the pre-drilled holes in the lure blank , nothing could go wrong !

Off course I'd still have to furnish angled planes to the opposing section ends as well , to achieve a wider swing of the two lure parts .

Just wanna keep it simple for this time , but I guess , if working accurately , the common matching "V"-shaped swimbait section ends could be done with these hinges as well .

These hinges do add some weight to a lure , as it seems ,... so I am concerned , whether it would still be possible to embed enough ballast weights into the lures belly to prevent it from swimming on its side without letting it sink (this lure model here is a floater) .

Probably I should have used a little more buoyant kinda wood ?

Anyway , this hinge is bent in a vise , a nail is used to make up for the hinge's sleeve .

That nail must be little thicker than the locking pin , which I intend to furnish from 2,0 mm brass tubing .

The pin shown is only temporary , to lock the hinge parts finally , I am gonna try to make a kinda rivet head on either end of the tubing pin , for this purpose I have made myself some riveting punches out of the shafts of some reject tapping tools .

I intend to fix one upright in a vise , put the finished and topcoated lure sections together and place the inserted tubing pin onto the point of the punch , take a second punch for the other end and gently hit it with a hammer to widen the ends of tubing .

Might need a second person to hold the lure in place ?

But with a small jig I could make only one rivet head prior to assembly , so I'd only have to furnish one extension of the pin in assembled condition .

This jig would be a rectangular piece of hardwood and a piece of thicker steel sheet on top .

A bore , that snugly accommodates the pin over its entire length would lead through both parts , they do not neccessarely need to be bonded .

The pin would be inserted trough both parts , about 1/10" would still potrude over the steel sheet on top , which should have a little countersunk at its bore .

Now I'd take my riveting punch and extend the potruding tubing portion , the countersunk would make up for a nice rivet head on the pin .

Anyway , forgot to tell , that the hinge is made from 0,5 mm stainless steel sheet , quite easy to cut with shears .

I'd make the hinge latches maybe twice as long as neccessary at first , since it is much easier this way to bent the hinge sleeve and also fix the hinge parts into a vise for cutting and filing the grooves into the sleeve .

When all this work ist done and both hinge parts engage and operate properly , the latches of the hinge are cut to proper length to fit into its slot in the lure body .

You may see on the pics , that I have made a little mistake doing that ,.......the rear hinge latch got a little too short , but it's still OK , still matching the crosswise securing pin holes .

I am positively surprised about this hinge , it appears to be quite sturdy and rigid , the gap between the two lure sections is only about 4 to 5 millimetres wide(approx. 1/5") .

As said before , with this hinge it would be possible to paint and topcoat the single lure sections prior to final assembly , but one needs to care, that the topcoat on the hinge sleeves would't get too thick to bind the hinge to the body after final assembly .

To prevent this , the grooves in the hinge sleeves only have to be filed a bit deeper(prior to cutting the latches to approbiate length) and the hinge parts need to be assembled a little more potruding off the lure sections .

In this case the gap between the sections would become a little wider .

But any glue or paint flowing into the sleeves can easily be removed by carefully drilling it out , the sleeve fittings could be cleaned off cured pait with a small balsa knife .

Forgot to mention , that the hinge parts are going to be epoxied into the slots and secured by crosswise wire pins , the slot portions top and bottom are filled up with epoxy and later sanded flush to the lure body outline .

Gee , this was a lot of typing , hope , that I could express myself at least a bit understandable ,.......critics , questions , opinions and comments welcome , anyway .

greetz , diemai:yay:

PS : The squares of the background paper on the pics are 5 millimetres (1/5") , so you could figure out about sizing .

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@ JBlaze

Thank you , John , still learning on it !

I fact I have also shaped the lureblank a little different than usual :

-First I cut out and sanded down to stencil outline(body outline) , still keeping the woodboard rectangular .

-Marked center lines , pilot holes , separation cut , etc .

-After cut section separation cut from either side , perfectly aligned , with a saw and sanded smooth .

-Marked hinge slots exactly centered and made an initial slot with a "Dremel" cutting wheel .

-Fixed sections in a vise and cut slots to proper depth , the saw needs to cut the slot to approbiate width to accommodate the hinge latch either snugly or at least with not too much play .

-After I drilled the crosswise pin holes through the blank .

-Since I had never tapered or even rounded of the body so far , I now put a strip of sheet metal inside the hinge slots to bind the two sections together perfectly aligned .

That metal piece should be as thick as the hinge slot for a snug fit and reasonable sturdy connection of the two pieces . I've punched some indentions and blemishes into it to achieve that required tight fit of the two sections .

-Now the lure blank was almost like a one-piece again and I could sand the tail taper and round off all outer edges , this way I achieved perfect transitions between the two sections .

Well , so far I went ,.......needless to say , that this temporary bond between the sections must be quite rigid for the described working process .

In worst case one could also utilize the pin holes and temporary pin the metal sheet to the sections to bond them reliably for sanding .

But as said before , I am still learning....... ;)!

greetz , Dieter:yay:

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Diemai- Sometimes I think you must live next door to me. About three weeks back I bought the same hinges (aeroplane flaps), but they are nylon/plastic. They have been sitting on the bench since, and every now and then I pick them up and play with them - they also have a drawbacks, the pin is a bit too tight, and I'm not sure I want to muck around inserting a narrower pin, also doubt weather these would hold up in cold water which would make the plastic more brittle.

I like your determination, and work with these brass ones, and looks like it will work, size is always a problem, and I am still mucking around with the DNA hinges, which have a myriad of small problems, but am getting there.

Keep up the good work and keep us posted on how they work.pete

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Dieter, anybody that can make lures from scratch is held in high reagards in my book, but then you go & make an actual hinge from a scrap piece of stainless steel, you are truly a master craftsmen. You should turn this post into a tutorial. Keep up the hard work & keep those inventive masterpieces coming.:worship:

Tim

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Diemai,

Nice work. I hope you follow up with the testing reports once you finish up the bait. I have a sketch of that same hinge idea but never took further than paper. I think a the weight issue may be countered with what you have already noted in the use of a highly buoyant wood. I love to see what people experimenting with, and you certainly do your share. :yay:

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@ atrophius

Off course the whole hinge is made of rust proof materials;) !

@ all

Thanks you for your kind words , fellas :):):)!

Certainly I'll keep on posting on this subject , have the chance to give something back in return of all the info , that I have received in here at TU .

After Easter I am gonna be free off work , thus I'd have more time , so I intend to shoot some step-by-step pictures on making and assembling sucha hinge .

I am still on the learning curve about it as well :yes::lol: .

Anyway , yesterday I have procceded a bit with that particular lure , I did break the edges of the section ends for wider swing and assembled temporary crosswise pins .

Also made a jig to achieve the "rivet head" on one side of the tubing hinge pin .

I have tried to pull the two lure sections apart(as in pictured condition) , as hard as I could ,..... and nothing on that hinge , really completely nothing , de-formed or bent on it , ......test passed :):).

When I drilled the crosswise pin holes through the hinge latches(in assembled proper location)and wooden lure body , I have had a hard time pulling them out of their slots again , since material had built up at the exit of the hole trough the steel latches .

To overcome this , next time I won't drill through , but only half way and pull out the hinges and finish the bores externally , thoroughly breaking their edges , so it won't be a hazzle to re-insert them ;).

That jig for shaping the head of the tube pin consists of a block of hardwood and a flat piece of ordinary iron .

After having worked with it for the first time I have found , that an iron cover would not even been neccessary , since the flange on the tubing pin also shapes without any contact to the countersunk at entry of bore .

So the only purpose of that jig is to hold and guide the tubing , when shaping the head , ......so that it would not bend or de-form .

The tubing is 2,0 mm in diameter , the bore inside through the jig is 2,1 mm , so the tubing can be inserted without any binding .

The jig should be placed on a steel plate or anvil , the tubing should pass all the way through and potrude about 1/10" over the top .

The tubing pin would later be shortened to approbiate hinge length !

With that rivet punch one must first widen the tubing a bit , the little journal on it enters the tubing first for guidance .

I took an ordinary 90

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Dieter, You can also buy lengths of stainless hinge in Mcmaster carr at different sizes. Not to expensive, been thinking of the same design for about 6 months now but couldn't think of a way to secure them to the bait, thanks to your post you got me thinking again , real cool

Tim:yay:

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Well, that would definitely be very strong, very reliable. Looks like German Engineering! You are quite clever, my cave-man approach to lure building includes such tools as a rock, a branch, and a torch which means I probably would never have come up with this idea! Well done.

When I first started building swimbaits a couple years ago I ran a pin through screw eyes on either side of the lure sections. It was not as pretty as yours but is very strong.

You can see an example of the hinge on the left side of this image.

RM

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Edited by RiverMan
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@ Tman2

Thanks for your kind words ;):), ......but sorry , my knowledge in English language is too poor , don't understand that term "RSS feed" :huh::huh:!

@ spare tire

Tim , I've been looking around for such hinges over here , but seems , that they don't have such in Germany , at least not in the shops , where I went.

Only found Nylon hinges , that wouldn't move freely , brass plated iron hinges , that would rust and brass hinges , that had their sleeves off-centered .

I am used to metal work , it doesn' seem to be that hard to do , I get the stainless steel sheet for free from the scrapyard of my work and I can make those hinges in different size matching any lure profile .

But thanks for hint anyway , might come in handy for some fellow tinkerers over there in the US .

@ RiverMan

Don't make yourself smaller than you are:nuhuh: !

Without the things , that the cavemen achieved , we won't be where we are now:lol::lol::lol: !

I have a two section lure hinged that way like yours on that picture in progress right now as well ,.........but that one has that "V"-shaped section ends engaging into one another .

You may laugh , but I have found that one rather more difficult to achieve than these homemade hinge joint !

Maybe because of the "V"-shape:huh::huh:???

@ Boskabouter

I have once made a two section glider bait jointed with two pairs of interlocked screw eyes ,.........and I had a tough time with it in terms of proper alignement and bending them close to bond the two sections ,.......I haven't tried it again , since it did not turn out too well :huh::(.

I believe , that these hinges here are more accurate to assemble , though not as easy and fast as screw eyes .

Also the gap inbetween the sections turns out narrower , even is filled out with the hinge sleeves , that can even be painted and topcoated , provided , that the sleeves and all contacting spaces are cut free from paint after curing .

So this way there won't be much of a gap visible .

Surely the working effort is more ,... but for myself , I don't mind to spend more time working on a lure , as long as I enjoy doing it !

But anyway , thank you all for your interest , guys , I'll continue posting !

greetz , Dieter:yay:

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@ JBlaze

Don't mind doing that , but it is not quite clear to me how to do that without submitting a PDF file:? ?

Been on that particular tut-submitting site to check and also looked at some tuts again , so I saw , that there must be different ways to do that!

Seems to work similar to posting in a thread , but how could I achieve all of the pictures plus their describtions to be in a row on top of one another , just like in hazmail's tut about his ingenious bubble float baits ?

That style of tut seems to be the most simple one to achieve for a computer dummy like I am:huh::huh::yes: !

greetz , Dieter

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Update :

Had to face the first drawback today in attempting to temporary fix a hinge pin of 2 millimetre SOLID brass rod to my lure:( .

Shaping the first rivet head in my jig went on OK , but as I assembled the hinged sections and shaped the second rivet head(made myself two more riveting punches out of a bigger nail) , I have found , that the pin had bent under the force of the hitting hammer , also bending the hinge sleeves a bit , thus binding the whole joint .

So I gave up upon it , not to spoil things more(afterwards I drilled out the pin and aligned the hinge properly again) , though the second rivet head was never completed to my satisfaction(but already wide enough not to slip through , though !).

It simply requires too much power and force with the hammer to shape a rivet head onto that solid brass rod compared to a pin of brass TUBING .

Anyway , I still have two more options about riveting a solid pin on my mind , a bit more finacky and elaborate though , but I am still gonna test these as well for function of proccess .

I guess , that a solid pin would withstand better against wear and tear through the years of using the lure , so I'd prefer to mount one of these , but if it won't be possible , I'd have to stay with the tubing pin .

greetz , diemai:yay:

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Update :

Had another idea about a solid brass hinge pin , not a tubing pin with riveted ends like previously shown .

Put it to practise today , but the most important part is never done .

Requires some more saw cutting and filing , but would render any riveting of solid brass rod uneccessary .

Check top hinge , I have left some "lids" standing on either end of the hinge sleeves , still have to file their connecting ridge just a fraction thinner as I did so far with a small triangular file , so that I can straighten them out plane and bend them over the sleeve ends to close them and permanently lock the pin inside of the sleeves .

My plan on further procedure is to bend one lid close , work it flush to the sleeve diameter and bend it open again afterwards , this way I could use a nail from the other(still) open end to push it open , if neccessary .

This stainless steel sheet is rigid enough to withstand quite a bit of back and forth bending without tearing and I'd only do it once , anyway .

When this is done , I would do the same to the second lid , but leave that one closed , so later doing the final assembly of the painted and topcoated lure sections I would just insert the pin from the open end of the hinge , bend the lid shut and......that was it !

If my plan works out , it would be much easier than riveting the solid pin , during my first trials some days ago it appeared to be quite tricky .

Only drawback could be , that the sleeves below the lids might deform to much , when bending the lids down , but as long as the center sleeve of the male hinge part is OK , it would still move freely .

Will proceed , when I'd get back from my first fishing trip this year tomorrow .

Wish me luck , folks;) !

greetz , diemai:yay:

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Hi folks ,

Had difficulties weighting the teakwood lure shown in here ,..........since I had not used the possibly most buoyant wood for it:(:huh: .

The unweigthed lure is still floating , but heavily tail-down , the hinge and its pins add more weight to a lure , than I have thought .

By putting a 10 grams sinker right into the tip of its chin I could render it to hang horizontally , but now it does sink at a medium fast rate , though it's supposed to be barely floating .

It still provides its "wave pattern" swimming action , but for better control I would have prefered it to be floating .

So , in a nutshell ,...... always use the possibly most buoyant material for lures equipped with these hinges ,..... I'm gonna stick to abachewood in future ,.......PVC should also be buoyant enough !

There are simply more balancing options that way !

greetz , diemai:yay:

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Well, that would definitely be very strong, very reliable. Looks like German Engineering! You are quite clever, my cave-man approach to lure building includes such tools as a rock, a branch, and a torch which means I probably would never have come up with this idea! Well done.

When I first started building swimbaits a couple years ago I ran a pin through screw eyes on either side of the lure sections. It was not as pretty as yours but is very strong.

You can see an example of the hinge on the left side of this image.

RM

I just built my first swim bait it looks exactly like that one on your default but i didnt use a pin that is a very good idea how did you support the pin from falling out? How is the action on that? :yay:

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@ johnny P

Meantime I have made a pictured tutorial about how to build these hinges , it is posted in the "member submitted tutorials" section .

The above mentioned "closed hinge version" did not work out , as I had planned , ....more about that in the comments on above mentioned tut .

The lure , that I pictured in here , you can view in my recent gallery uploads by now(do a search by name in the gallery) , a brief describtion on its action is also there !

good luck , diemai:yay:

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