Installing Hinges

This entry is out of sequence and should have been in place of the entry on The Forgotten Step. Some might find this interesting so I am going to include it here.

I am using a nickel plated 35mm European 100 degree face frame 5/8 inch overlay hinge with Do-It-Yourself installation instructions. Are you impressed? The 35 mm is the size of the hinge. The 100 degree tells me that the door will swing 10 degrees farther than perpendicular to the cabinet. The 5/8 inch overlay tells me to add that much to the door opening all the way around to determine the door size.

The first step is to find the template that will show me how far from the edge of the door to drill the hole for the hinge. I determine the size of bit needed, get a block of scrap wood, and go to the drill press. I put the bit in the chuck, clamp a straight piece of wood to the drill press table, put the template on the scrap block and adjust everything so the bit point is over the mark on the template. I press the bit point through the template to mark the block. Using a square, I draw a line through the point and across the block and board that is clamped to the drill press table. This line is to be perpendicular to the board clamped to the table. This line will be used as a guide when I drill the doors.

Using a special flat bit, you can drill into the door and not hurt the front side. The next step is to set the drill press to drill a particular depth. There is a dial on the drill press that allows me to determine how deep the bit will go into the wood. I set this and drill a test hole and insert the hinge to see if it is ok. I adjust if necessary.

The next step is to mark the centerline on the door for each hinge. The door is then placed against the wood clamped to the drill press table. The hinge centerline is positioned with the centerline mark on the wood piece and the hole is drilled, as we see in the first picture.