Thread: Hardwood bench panel insert

Has anyone found a hinge design that could allow two timber lengths to sit flush with a seamless gap at rest, the hinge spine recessed so the spine sits just below the benchtop surface (avoiding tools) but allows the tops to not touch when lifting the hinged side?

So the vice side of the bench I expect to be bolted to the frame of the bench but the MFT frame is like to be hinged.

The hardwood side of the bench will have the drawers as per my previous posts and be bolted to the bench frame using coach bolts but the MFT frame hanging over the backside of the same bench will be longer and have a shelf or two for me to have combination machine parts such as Moulder fence, crosscut outrigger fence , saw blades etc as it will be closest to the combo machine

The crappy drawings show where I’m thinking of hinging it, I’ve found a grand piano double butt hinge, I’m wondering whether a hinge like this would allow me to have a seamless bench top but then lift out of the way, the butt hinge design is in the 2d drawing I’ve included dark led coloured part

Anyway keen to hear If im off my rocker or someone else has done something similar

I’ll consider adding gas struts also to assist the lift.






Thanks
Nathan

What about side hinges like these:

http://www.amazon.com.au/Pufguy-Anti...48&sr=8-9&th=1

or do you mean hinges that lock into place like these:

http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a couple of these myself for a project I'm working on, I can recommend them.

My baord game coffee table design will have hinges recessed within the the two tabletop leaves. I haven't decided on what hinges to use yet but I'm hoping to find some that leave very little gap if any.

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

or do you mean hinges that lock into place like these:

http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a couple of these myself for a project I'm working on, I can recommend them.

Ah these are interesting, I wonder if I were to recess each side of the hinge in the sides of both the benchtop and the mft top, I might need to pick up a few to try out

What sort of project are you using them on?

Thanks for the suggestions

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I think Soss Invisible Hinges would work. They come in a variety of sizes from tiny to suit jewellery boxes, all the way to extra-large to suit heavy entrance doors. The large sizes should work even if you have to use 3 or 4.

Originally Posted by delbs

Ah these are interesting, I wonder if I were to recess each side of the hinge in the sides of both the benchtop and the mft top, I might need to pick up a few to try out

What sort of project are you using them on?

Thanks for the suggestions

Hi Delbs,

The build thread is here:

A Coffee Table With A Twist

I'll be using them to raise the coffee table to slightly higher height.

Originally Posted by KahoyKutter

I think Soss Invisible Hinges would work. They come in a variety of sizes from tiny to suit jewellery boxes, all the way to extra-large to suit heavy entrance doors. The large sizes should work even if you have to use 3 or 4.

Well I've never seen these before!. Nice post, I'll be looking further into these.

Originally Posted by KahoyKutter

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I think Soss Invisible Hinges would work. They come in a variety of sizes from tiny to suit jewellery boxes, all the way to extra-large to suit heavy entrance doors. The large sizes should work even if you have to use 3 or 4.

Thanks for this! I’d say this fits the bill perfectly, I’ve actually come across a small version of these in an old entertainment cabinet recently but I couldn’t salvage them to use and obviously forgot about them

I’ll look into the sizes as they could be perfect along with gas strut or two.



Removed all pieces, jointed and glued again to a much better finish, removed one particular piece of stringy bark that no matter how much jointing it would still cup. So it can become something else

Tomorrow I’ll make up the frame for the mft top, I was considering making it a permanent frame but these hinges look like I could install them with domino mortises

Thanks again
Nathan

Hopefully can make that hinge fit with the domino, I see they sell a template though that I could use with a small trim router to fit them

Originally Posted by delbs

Hopefully can make that hinge fit with the domino, I see they sell a template though that I could use with a small trim router to fit them

It's very easy to cut the mortice and install. I would not use a Domino. It's the wrong tool for the job and it would be so much harder. A plunge router with an edge guide would be the way to go. And not far behind it would be a pedestal drill if you can fit the piece under it. Perhaps cut the mortice on the outer board before gluing it to the rest of the top. If you cannot fit the piece under the pedestal drill, then a handheld drill would do as long as you use a guide to make sure you're drilling plumb. The sizes of the Soss hinges are such that they're the size of standard drill/forstner bits. For example, model 216 is an inch wide (see below). The hinge should come with accurate templates which includes the hole centres as well as the offset for the inside edge. All you'll need to do is drill the 2 outer holes 12mm deep and then the 2 inner holes 36.5mm deep. Then all you have to do is remove the waste between the holes with a chisel (assuming you didn't want to use a router). You can drill another hole in the middle so there's less waste to chisel away.



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.....Alternatively, you can make a template for your router + guide bushing.....


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To help with sizing, IIRC I used model #104 for my workbench cupboard door.




Cheers,
Mike

Thanks Mike, the 216 seems to be a good size for my purposes. I think three would do the trick or if I go a size down then get four of them.

I might fasten the mft frame for now so I can continue with the build whilst the hinges are in the post.

Cheers
Nathan

Made the final two drawers and installed them today. Now just need to add trim and I’m thinking silky oak drawer fronts, not sure if I should use recycled cedar for the trim or something like ironbark as I have plenty of both