Hinge Route for Interior Doors

[MSchoaf]

I have used a router a few times before. I'm certainly no expert. However, I may be facing the task of routing some interior doors for hinge placement and am wondering a few things. Is this very difficult? Are there kits/templates out there that aid in this process? Any tips that can make this task easier?

I would appreciate any input you all may have.

Thanks,
Mike

[BigRed]

Hiya,

I normally make a jig up from scrap MDF. Measure from the outer edge of the router bit to the outer edge of your base and use that as the distance from the edge of the hinge to the side of the jig. My jigs take about 10 minutes to make. I presonally prefer to use a laminate trimmer as it's easier to hold the door and route the hole, but using a normal router works just as well. I use a straight cutting bit.

[Red neck]

Mike,

Big Red didn’t mention the template guide or collar guide that attaches to the bottom of your router. When making your template from MDF or similar you will need to make it exactly large enough so that the mortice cut by the router has the same dimensions as the hinge as the collar is always a greater diameter than the cutter. That is simply a matter of measuring the difference of the outside diameter of the template guide –v- the diameter of your straight bit and adjusting the template profile accordingly.

Alternatively you could use a shank-bearing cutter such as a pattern makers bit. Your template would need to be thick enough to allow just a few milimetres depth of cut without the bit destroying the template. If the bearing is the same diameter as the bit, your template would be exactly the same size as the hinge.

When you cut the mortice the corners will be rounded and will require a touch-up with a chisel.

[RETIRED]

or buy the rounded corner hinges.

[silentC]

Red Neck, BigRed's method doesn't need the template guide. You use the base of the router against a fence instead. The jig is a three or two-sided fence that guides the router. Same principle but easier to make. IMHO.

[Red neck]

Silent C,

Interesting concept balancing a 150 mm diameter 3hp router base on a 25mm door edge. For an 85mm butt hinge you would need a jig about 235 mm wide to trap the base plate over the work area.

Conversely using a collar guide, the router could sit on a 300 mm x 100 mm template say, to support the base. With a little modification the template could clamp on to the face of the door providing additional stability. Either template would take just a few minutes to make with some strips of MDF, double sided tape and a pattern bit with a shank bearing. The profile using a 5/8 straight cutter in a ¾ inch collar guide would only need to be about 90 mm x 30 mm. Since the router would span the profile and a further 70 mm of the template a considerable amount of support and stability would be provided. Less chance to mar the door or injure the operator. Just my .02 cents worth.

, good point about the rounded hinges!

[illini]

Gentlemen, the main issue I believe the original poster is having is he purchased the 6-panel replacement doors without the Jamb. This requires him to drill the knob hole and route and match up the hinges so they are even with the routed hinges that were left on the old jamb.

They do sell hinge templates here in the US as I'm sure they do in your beautiful country.

A good visual of this can be found half way down the page here:

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/doors/install1/custom/pre-hang/solid.htm

Just wondering how much of a help they are and how difficult the procedure actually is.

Any suggestions to make sure all new routed hinges in the door match the ones in the old jamb still up on the walls?

BTW, the hinges are rounded.

Thanks all!

[silentC]

Red Neck,

Didn't intend to get into a debate about it but having done a couple of them myself, just wanted to point out to you that BigRed didn't 'forget' the template guide because the way he does it, you don't need one.

Anyway, try this one Mike: http://www.newwoodworker.com/edgerouting.html

[Red neck]

Silent C,

Nothing wrong with a healthy debate – this one elicited a couple of web sites that probably will give Mike a better insight than my ramblings. I noticed my misinterpretation of Big Reds post just after I initiated my own reply but thought I would leave my post unedited. I felt that the method I alluded to probably had a little more safety going for it since the template offered more support for the base of the router.

As an aside I found ‘jig technology’ an interesting topic covered by writers such as Patrick Spielman and Ernie Conover and have built and used many of their ideas. But by far the most informative books I have read on routing were written by Pat Warner. He analyses every conceivable angle in their use and raises issues on router science that other writers don’t mention. Warner deals extensively with hand held routing and the development of jigs that offer both safety and efficiency. So much so that my own routers spend less time in the table and more time ‘hand held’.

Illini, that takes me to your reply. The jigs that you directed our attention to are not readily (if at all) available in Australia. As our population is less than ten per cent of the USA the market for such components is very light on. There is another angle here as well and it may have something to do with the isolation of this country up until we were invaded by Boeing in the mid fifties. Because of the time to import ‘gizmos’ by ship in the pre-fifties era the average bloke in this country became very inventive and resourceful. Many specialist tools were constructed out of packing crates, fence wire and old kerosene tins or whatever else he could find in the tip. That culture still exists to the point that some pride is displayed in home-made tools, jigs and other ‘gizmos’. My father-in-law used to make drill bits from nails by filing down one side. He lived on the land and harware shops were something you visited once in a dogs age. Do they still serve those magnificent spare ribs at Millers Pub in downtown Chicago?

Regards

[silentC]

Red Neck,

You're right, it is an interesting subject. The wife gave me 'Woodworking with the Router' for Christmas and it certainly opens your eyes to a lot of different ways of doing things.

My main quibble with templates is that you have to be quite accurate when you cut them out and for enclosed shapes, they can be a bit fiddly and time consuming if you don't have the right tools. A scroll saw would probably be ideal. Then you still have to work out a way of clamping them to the job. However for odd shapes, they are the only way to fly. I've got a number of guides for my routers but don't use them very often.

I tend to be a bit lazy and I end up just clamping a right angle support to the door, use the router edge guide as a width stop and clamp another couple of off-cuts at either end to limit the travel, or just do it by eye. Bit of a pain if you had to do a heap of them.

[illini]

Red Neck,

Mike and I were in the local Home Depot yesterday picking something out and stoped by the door area and saw one of thier "experts" and here was his recommendation:

One, either buy pre-hung door replacements and then the only thing I have to replace is the molding (rather than drill the knob holes and match up hinges with the old ones on the old Jamb)

or

Second, stay with the doors we have and to notch out the hinges, take the door that came off that room, place it on top of the new door, trace where the hinges were excatly, take a chisel and chisel out the area. He stated you must be careful not to miss a spot and not to chip the door. He said use the same procedure when drilling the knob hole (use the old hole as a guide).

At this point, we have no idea which method to use. The pre-hung doors with the Jamb seem a bit easier but what fun would that be.

Thoughts.

BTW...Chicago is awesome, best city in the US hands down. The ribs and beef and steaks are to die for.

Anytime you want to switch, you can come take my place for one month and I will take yours. The problem is I may never return. :)

[Eastie]

Originally posted by illini
...Chicago is awesome, best city in the US hands down. The ribs and beef and steaks are to die for....

Although our beef is quite good - it's not to die for :eek:

[Rocker]

Eastie,

Was that a polite way of saying we don't have any mad-cow disease in Oz?

Rocker

[Jarrah]

Has anyone considered using a stright cut bit and routing from the flat side of the door not the edge. Then set the plunge depth to the width of the hinge plate and rout along the edge where required. A jig for this would surely be alot simpler to knock up. The ends would have to be finished by chisel much the same as the corners with the method allready discussed.

Just a thought!!

Anyone with any experience??

[silentC]

Jarrah,

Haven't tried that but I think you would have two problems with that approach.

First is that it is easier to clean out the rounded corners with a chisel than it would be to straighten the ends of the mortice, which would be rounded because of the shape of the bit. I suppose if you weren't fussy about it, you could carry on past the width of the hinge by at least the radius of the bit.

Second, you would probably get tearout at one end of the mortice.

[Red neck]

Silent C and Jarrah,


…My main quibble with templates is that you have to be quite accurate when you cut them out and for enclosed shapes, they can be a bit fiddly and time consuming if you don't have the right tools…


…A jig for this would surely be alot simpler to knock up….

I used to think that templates were labour intensive but after constructing my share I have changed my mind. The simplest template comprises a few straight pieces of 6mm MDF attached to the job with double-sided tape. If you are wasting the material to full depth inside the template follow the profile with a pattern bit. If you are removing the material to part depth such as a mortice use a template guide and the router depth mechanism, or use a pattern bit and a thicker template. Your template needs to be re-sized to accommodate the difference between the diameters of the template guide and the cutter.

More complex templates involve specific shapes such as curved profiles on table edges, arched rails on panel doors or perhaps a hand cut-out at each end of a food tray. In this case templates spawn templates and the final product may then have clamps or screw holes included in the design to attach it to a workpiece.

To make complex templates sketch the pattern on 6 - 12mm MDF and cut it with a tenon or jigsaw (I use a bandsaw because it is more convenient or a jigsaw for inside cuts). Cut slightly outside the line and sand back to the line achieving a smooth edge. A disc and/or stroke sander would help but I get by with the ‘multi-tool’ on my grinder.

Sooner or later you will nick the edge of your template with a cutter and need to make a new template. For complex patterns I use the original template to make a second (or working) template and store the first as a master copy.

For curved shapes requiring symmetry simply cut half the shape, clean it up, layout on another piece of MDF flipping the half shape to complete the picture.

Ploughing a router bit through hardwood can stress the cutter and the machine. For heavy work waste as much of the job as possible with a jigsaw and clean-up with the router.

From a safety viewpoint templates contain the travel of the router bit to within the profile, provide a large work-surface for the router to travel on and in some instances are safer than using the table. Make sure the work-piece and the template are securely clamped to the bench.

For a good read on the topic try ‘Fast, Easy & Accurate Router Jigs’ by Pat Warner ISBN 1-55870-486-8

[glenn k]

Why not use the European type hinges (look like "tuff Hinges") you just wedge the door in position with the drill jig in place drill four holes take the door out twist the hinges in and lift the door on. If you want the door off you just open and lift off.

I made some 4 panel cypress doors and took them to an Italian cabinet maker with a drum sander to finish them and he sold me the hinges. I hung 3 doors in about 20 mins, lifted the doors off to carpet then cut off bottom and put back. My German wife said aren't all hinges like that? They lift there windows off to wash them handy in flats.