Door hinge jig

[darrenbgray]

Hi,

I have 10 doors to hang and am wondering whether it is worth investing in a door hinge jig. I already own a router. If so can anyone make any recommendations. Are they easy to use?

Thanks,
Darren

 

[Symptoms]

Darren - more than a couple of doors I'd always use a hinge jig & router, 'cos once set-up you can wizz through the job.

Expect to pay about £150 for top-of-the-range Trend, about £80 for a Trend Budget (you can get these from www.itslondon.co.uk), Axminster supply these & their own brand, as do Screwfix. You'll also need a corner chisel (up to £10), a 12mm cutter & maybe a 16mm guide bush, although these often come with the jig (check!). Ideally, a 1/4" router is the beast to use for this type of work as a 1/2" router can be a little ungainly.

Tip - make-up a couple of shoes (stands) for the door to sit in whilst you're working on it. Fashion these from maybe 600mm lengths of timber, at the centre of each one cut a notch (equal to the door thickness + 5 or 6mm) and deep enough for the door edge to sit in - these will hold the door steady on edge. Drop some cloth in the notches to protect the door.

 

[^woody^]

Wouldn't it depend on if these are new doors in new frames, and if all the doors can be done at once, or if the gear has to be moved around the house(?) for each door

If the doors are being done individually, then what will the time savings be 1 - 2 minutes?

Also, some hinges are not flat plate, but have a bit of a chamfer - can the router allow for this?

I can't see the reason to spend money on a jig unless you are doing lots of doors and quite frequently

 

[Jasonb]

If its just a one off job in your own home then just mark out the hinges, take most of the waste out freehand with a router then square up with a chisel.

You could also make a simple jig for a individual hinge from a scrap of MDF, I quite often do this for smaller cabinet hinges, route out with the laminate trimmer then clean up with a corner chisel.

Jason