Thread: Incra - Hinge Crafter, Wonderfence, Miter Express Platform and/or telescoping fence

I have an unused metric hinge crafter including drill bit and manual. $100 plus postage of $20.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks for the quick reply Mike.
I have just been having a further read up on the Hinge Crafter and whilst I detest imperial I think I will need to stick with an imperial version of the Hinge Crafter.
My LS Positioner is imperial and I also have some imperial bits that would save me having to repurchase in metric or try to convert the LS Positioner.

Cheers

As I understand it the metric version practically is the same as imperial, I don't know for the jig if the minute measurement difference would matter, or as I suspect would simply fall within allowable tolerances?


Metric version:

Use the HingeCrafter for making 9.5mm, 12.7mm, 15.9mm and 19.0mm wooden hinges up to 250mm long with the included drill bit.


Imperial version:
The INCRA HingeCrafter serves as a drilling guide for solid wood hinges in 3/8" (9.52mm), 1/2" (12.70mm), 5/8" (15.88mm) & 3/4" (19.05mm) barrel sizes and up to 10" long.

I suspect that there may be a difference in the spacing between the knuckles for the imperial and metric versions. Incra say that you must use the corresponding hinge crafter to match the units of your LS positioner. You can use either with the ibox so it must have to do with the cutting of the joint gap.

Just found the metric and imperial whiteside router bit sets which answers the question when looking at the metric set.

The bullnose bit sizes are shared with the imperial HingeCrafter, but the straight bits are metric in order to accommodate the spacing on metric-based INCRA fence positioners.

The knuckles are held in place by allen screws. I would be possible to reposition them. The unit itself is the same.

I'll measure mine tonight as I'm now curious how exact the dimensions and spacing are, but for all intents and purposes when you're talking woodworking, 9.52mm is the same as 9.5mm.

After looking at the Incra video about using the hinge crafter with the iBox, the difference between the imperial and metric must only be the width (and space cut between) of the knuckles. The video shows him using a 1/2" dado stack on the table saw. The LS Positioner would be moving in its set distances at 1/2" and would require a 1/2" bit for the cut. As the iBox offset is set by the dado width it just copies the dado be it imperial or metric.

In his example the 1/2" would relate to 12.7mm - the metric hinge crafter uses 12mm so I am guessing that if you cut the spaces using a 1/2" bit or dado stack it would though out the spacing of the blank fitting within the drilling guide - only a fraction, but enough for them to make two versions.

As I have an iBox I would likely use that, but I have just checked my dado stack and it too is imperial so I would be in the same boat. Looks like the imperial version would give me the most flexibility as to how it gets used.

Originally Posted by Sir Stinkalot

the metric hinge crafter uses 12mm .

According to the Incra website both Metric and Imperial versions it's 12.7mm. The quotes I added earlier are directly from the respective Incra web pages.

Hi aarggh

I would be interested to know the width of the knuckles and the gap between them. I have measured mine and they vary.

On mine (the biggest diameter ones) the knuckles are 18.50, 18.43 and 18.39 mm. The gaps are 19.28 and 19.43 mm.

Cheers
Mike

Both versions use the same imperial bullnose bits to create the size of the hinge knuckle part. Incra have simply converted the knuckle size from imperial into metric. The difference is the width of the area removed from the knuckle and this is dictated by the size of the straight bit or dado stack. Comparing the Whiteside router bit sets for both versions provides the answer that Incra don’t provide directly.

Looking at this it just seems absurd to me, essentially the units are identical, with one rounded up or down from Imperial to Metric by 2/100ths-5/100ths of a mm, which effectively is zero. The bull nose cutters are the same for both, with the straight cutters set to the rounded up/down Metric conversion, again, effectively making zero difference in timber.

A difference of 2/100ths-5/100ths of a mm is pretty much a few degrees in ambient temperature in the workshop, highlighted more so by Mike's measurements of his jig which has a far greater variance than the imperial to metric conversion.

I know Whiteside state a difference for the straight cutters, given the tolerances we're talking I don't see any real or effective difference though, and it's not like the machined wood wouldn't fit the jig given the very wide range Mike provided.

I would tend to agree that the differences are minor and may not have any practical implications. It is interesting however that Incra have decided to produce two different versions which I am sure wouldn't be cost effective - and then there is the flow on of the likes of Whiteside having to make two bundles of router bits. I had thought that the drill bit may have been metric as well, but each version still seems to use an imperial bit with a recommended imperial brass pin. I wonder if its just marketing to appeal to everybody outside the USA who would prefer to buy just metric versions and may not consider an imperial version.

Originally Posted by MikeJ

I have an unused metric hinge crafter including drill bit and manual. $100 plus postage of $20.

Cheers
Mike

Hi Mike,

I'd like to buy this if available. I realise this isn't a sales thread so could you re-post this over there or let me know how you'd like to proceed. I'm in Vic 3134 if that changes the postage rate.

cheers,
Chris

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