Composite arf hinge repair/customer service

[Reza]

Hi Guys,

A week ago I noticed that my comp-arf 2.3 elevators vibrating crazy. Anyway I read on here another post that I need to take the elevators off so I can access the phenolic hinges and drop a little CA to make them tighter. Well I did but when I took the rod off I noticed that I have lost 2 of the guides. I called Andy and Bob at CA and told me I need to fix it by openning bottom of the elevator and reinserting the guides back and epoxy. First of all two guys here went beyond their way to help me with the fix Barrie Fox and Matt Cury. Man they replied to all my emails instantly like we were on a chat line. Thank you guys, YOU ROCK! I did do a temperory fix by only thin CA. Here's what I did I used super thin CA on the slots block and then inserted the rod with a thin layer of grease on it and kept rotating it in the hing slot that I had applied CA until I felt that the rod/pin is getting hard to rotated and pulled it out. After a minuted passed the rod back into that slot and got my way through it by pushing and turning. You know thin CA is easy to break through. Anyway I fixed it like that and now has no play but Barrie told me since CA is brittle,the problem will happen again. Next time I probably will use epoxy and milled glass but for now I will keep an eye on it.

Customer Service Expereince

Well when I spoke to Andy and Bob they didn't offer any replacement only repair so I went to CA website and sent an email to their support line asking for a half elevator. Responce came from Germany that I need to do the fix and replacement won't even help me because half elevator slots will not match the stab phenolic hinges! Well, I'm thinking why not then sending half stab and half elevator both or even at a discounted price! Anyway I think for the buck I paid for this plane and the pain I went through building it and this kind of customer service, THIS IS MY LAST Composite arf and I mean it. I know there are lots of them out there and they are good flying planes for IMAC for the most part and a lot of you guys have owned them but this is my feeling. I think balsa has a lot less trouble maintaining and a lot cheaper to replace or fix. Please don't hammer me, because I don't like their customer service. By the way, I sent 2 email and one was to Andreas and he never even responded to my email. I think I will be selling mine soon to get another plane.

Thanks to all who helped me through this fix.

[3D-Seth]

Reza,
I love my Compy but I agree, the hinges are alot less then you would expect from a top of the line aircraft. Even the way the linkages hook up are the same as my .40 size glow plane. Pretty lame for such a nice plane. You would think it would come factory with good hinges and good control arms so as to use the normal ball joints and pro links to insure no slop without having to "REDO" everything the factory installs.

The aircraft definately flies light and 3D's awesome, just wish there wasn't the continuing maintainence on those arms and hinges.

Later,

Seth

[tmac48]

Hi, just thought I might jump in at this point.Sorry to hear that you are so dissappointed with comp arf, I have found there customer service to be as good as DA, but that might have something to do with the fact that in AUS the agent for Comp arf & DA are one and the same.
I will post pics of what we do to fix slop in hinges.
Regards tmac

[Reza]

Thank you for writing tmac. As far as customer service, man they didn't respond close by 100 miles to DA in my case at least. I really am disappointed! The fix you are showing is for phenolic hinges. Mine was different the guides inside the slots had come out. That's not meant to be repairable because you need to cut the elevator to get to them and yet comp-arf didn't do anything about it. Good for you in Australia, it's always good to see companies with good customer service. People at DA have set bars high to beat. My experience with Comp-arf was among the worst I had. I don't have anything against Andy and Bob because they both went through the steps of repair with me but I expected comp-arf offering me half elevator.

[loan4utoo]

Reza, don't feel alone, I had a less than satisfactory experience with CompARF too. Only difference was I went straight to Andreas. I definitely think the customer service attitude (or lack of) comes from the top. The reps were actually apologetic about the whole deal...saying their hands were tied and decision was made from factory. Nice flying airplanes...until something goes wrong with one...then you're on your own. Just my .02

[Reza]

Thanks man. Andreas never even returned my email. No responce at all from his side. I'm really suprised that they are handling it different way in Aus. It must be the rep in Aus that pushing it. I'm done with Comp-Arf. I can find other good planes with good customer service.