makita trimmer routers

i bought a makita 3709 router about 8 monthsago.ive only used it freehand or with the edge guide.now ive got a few doors that need rehanding and i thought id makea hinge template to save a bit of time and make a neat job.trouble is the template follower will not centre correctly over the bit.i think the plastic moulding that supports the follower has been incorrectly moulded.i took it back to the shop and they got a new 3707 off the shelf which had the same fault.they are sending it back to makita but i dont know what they can do,maybe it was a bad batch of mouldings.has anyone else experienced this problem?im a bit bummed out about it as i like the router,it was good value at 245 and it generally works well.makita have a good reputation mostly.the 3709 was made in china the 3707 was made in japan.any thoughts? maybe i have to router out the centre of the moulding so i can move the follower to dead centre.the way it is its unusable

Everyone I know who has a Makita trimmer router loves them to bits, me included. Up there with my fave tool to use. So much fun. We use ours to hang doors all the time.

I'm presuming you are hanging room doors and not kitchen/joinery doors?

We're actually doing a 120 odd door fix out at the moment (Big townhouse development). We make door hanging templates a bit differently though, so you only use the outside of the plastic base/body as your guide/runner. Maybe ditch the guide they supply and do the same.

Hey, if you a need a pic of our system in use let me know and I will take a few.

Regards

Dave

thanks for the offer .i would be interested in having a look at your system.im always keen on seeing how other people do things.ive had a bit of a think about my makitas problem and maybe i can enlarge the base screw holes to allow adjustment of the base.thats how my bosch 1300 works.you have to insert a cone in the collet chuck and this centres the follower.if that doesnt work then i might be able to enlarge the follower opening to allow a bit of adjustment.from talking to a few guys it seems that all routers need an adjustable system if you want to use template followers.meanwhile im up to level 4 of the building im working doing the hinges freehand but using the edge guide

Ok Ox here are some pics fresh from the site. We have a few of these templates lying around. All very similar but always make sure you use the same template on both the door and its jamb other wise any discrepency will bite you on the butt when you hang the door on its jamb. I hope it looks self explanatary. The trimmer router in the shots is a Makita N3701. Leave the trimmer's base knob (Black in picture) on so no one accidently uses the router in the jig the wrong way!!!!!!!!! There is step at the very top of the template that determines the gap between top of door and jamb but the step is away from the door eliminating mistakes when lining up jig on door (Finger pointing to it).

First you fit the jig to the door making sure the jig's stop is frim against the door all the way down the length of the door and that the top of the jig is dead flush with the top of the door. Screw through the the jig into the door centre to hold it in place firmly top and bottom (Use common sharp bugle screws that won't need pre-drilling). Router out hinge check outs and trim/touch up with chisel and fit hinges.

Back off door closing edge if desired.

Then roughly fit the door jamb in the opening making sure that hinge side of jamb is plumb and secure (Sorry no pics for this bit. We weren't doing this bit today! D'oh). Then fit the jig to the door jamb making sure the jig is pressed up hard to the door jamb head and that the jigs stop is firm against the door jamb all the way down. Now screw the jig to the jamb using screw holes that will be hidden when the door stop goes onto the jamb later. If you use the same holes that you screwed the jig to the door with the painter will have extra holes to putty. So use holes that will be hidden by the stop.

Ofcourse it takes some practice knowing which side to use where and when, but after a few goes it becomes so easy and quick it's fun to do.

As a quick tip on the side when it comes to hanging doors: Make the door act as a leaf spring when you close it. It should touch top and bottom of the door stop first then spring and flatten out straight, to match the jamb nice and evenly all the way up and down, as it latches. All doors have some amount of bow in them so use that to your advantage! Arrange the hinges and latch so the bow points to you when you're looking at the door from the hinge side.

Hope it makes sense.

thanks for the pictures.it inspired me to have a go on the tablesaw.i made a single hinge template which is fine for the amount of doors i have left.i measured from the outside of the router base to the outside of the router and added that measurement to the length and width of the hinge and cut it out of a bit of plywood .it was pretty straightforward really but the key is you need to know what radius the hinge is.i found a 12.7 bit was good for a 3 1/2" hinge and a 25 mm bit was good for a 4" hinge.your system is perfect for radius hinges which is what i mostly see.i was interested that you cut your own hinges on site.ive done the odd entrance door but all our doors are prehung.does it save much?thanks again

I did a pre-hung door fix once and will never do it again. The product was very poor and you couldn't get a decent finish worth owning up to. They have always got bad wind problems and the bows go the wrong way, the check outs have fury dags all over the place, plus totally not into those ugly round latch sets... All our clients don't like them either and mainly go for 100 mm stainless butt hinges all over, internal/external. So after routering out the hinge check out you need to just quickly pull your chisel out of its holster and square the check out off.

A few guys around here still like the speed of using round hinges but we're not keen on the look and it takes a whole 1 minute (if that) to chisel out the corners into the check outs.

Someone finally got back to fixing-out and hanging doors this week so here is a couple of pics of the jig on a door jamb.

Oh, and the router being used is Makitas 3701.

Hey! what a great post, thanks.
We all know about the KISS principle ( Keep It Simple..Stupid!) and this jig passes the test.
I was about to spend hours making some adjustable fancy-nancy jig.
I like the idea of the jig stops and screw fixing...again simple solution to the variable door thickness problem.

Much quicker to make a separate jig if the hinge size differs...but as you suggest, better to stick with one size hinge for doors.

Is there any standard/recommended distance for hinge spacing from top/bottom of a door. eg. top of door to top (centre?) of hinge etc. ?????

What is your jig top of door clearance ( step) ?? about 3 mm?

I have a few doors to hang soon ..and I have the Makita trimmer and materials for the jig lying around...better get started.

Thanks, Bob

Consider that jig idea well and truly stolen! Gives me no excuse to put off doing a few doors now...dammit...

Ha ha. Good stuff. Just passing on good ideas I've scabbed and modified a bit :D

Generally most guys around here set the top hinge 150mm down from the top of the door to the top of the hinge leaf (or about 200mm down to the centre of a 100mm hinge).
The bottom hinge is up from the bottom of the door 200mm to the bottom of the hinge leaf (or about 250mm centre for a 100mm hinge).
The 50mm offset difference just looks nice on the eye. Dunno why. It just does :2tsup:
Oh, and if you are installing a third hinge fit it dead centre of the two hinges (Do not centre it on the door itself).

We have our top margin set at 3mm at the moment (usually 2.5mm) because the developer likes a slightly bigger gap, and therefore more forgiving for movent, the latch side gap is also 3mm. Make the hinge dead flush to the jamb and door, which usually gives a 2.5mm gap.
The top margin is quick and easy to alter using a planer and can be done from job to job.

If your jig is as wide as ours you have to make sure you fit any shelving that sits hard against the jamb (as in small linen cupboards) after you router the jamb hinges. Otherwise jig no fit/shelves in the way! It's just happened to me again this week and I had to free hand the routing after marking it out by hand. The shelfer beat me to it :o
But if you make the jig too narrow the apprentice will drop it and snap :aro-r: Jig goes in bin!

One more thing. Make sure the hinge sticks out enough to allow the doors to open a full 180 degrees without binding on it's architrave. Otherwise you might hang a whole house load of doors before realising what happens when the door can't open 180 degrees onto the door cushion. Catastrophic on the jamb and/or door :doh:
You can quickly adjust widths of the check outs by just sticking on joinery edging or a few thickness of duct tape etc to your jig pattern. No need to start again.

Enjoy

Thanks for the info, that is really helpful.

I just thought of an improvement for those of us who use our trimmers for other stuff as well.

Providing you are using the same thickness hinges....Once the jig/trimmer is correctly set up, you could make a cut at right angles in the jig stop/strengthening bar.

This shallow cross "trench" would give you an automatic depth setting gauge AND show you which cutting bit (diameter ) you made the jig for.

So when you go to use the jig next time...Voila!!! ....a quick setup!

Cheers
Bob

Carpen. I use templates all day at work. When I'm not back brocken. :~
And I have a few templates for my fence post checkouts.

Love your work. Makes the job much easier. Great stuff. :2tsup: