Thread: Make your own hinges... a tutorial

Okay next step is to...

Clamp that sucker! and gently break it apart so they wont glue together as you need two separate peices

Now this is where I change to the one I prepared earlier

So here they are two hinge parts

then its to the belt/disc sander to smooth of all that excess glue and make it look sexy

Draw your hinge outline onto the side

Then to the bandsaw to cut that pattern out

Next tutorial in a few ticks... maybe? yes the majik of dialup one minute real quick an flash the next drippingly slow

Moving right along students!

Rightio we have two separate hinge peices shaped as we want them right? right

So next its to the bench for a check of the fit

Then to the belt disc sander to curve those hingey bits over

Then to do a check again

Then onto the drill press (size 3 drill bit or equal to the size of the skewer you use)

To be continued!!!

So now we have our hinge and the skewer

So we slide the skewer into the hole to check the fit and movement of the hinge on angles that you will use

You may find that you will need to zip back to the bandsaw or the belt/disc sander to make some fine tuneing adjustments

Then when your happy slot it in using a tad of glue over the skewer and dribble some into the end holes of the hinge

Then snip the ends of the skewer

The end is nigh!!!

Yes this is it... your homemade beautiful wee wooden hinge is made!

So just wipe on whatever your gonna finish it with give it a loving rub... with this one hinge I used I simply wiped it over with some Marveer gave it a tach of lovin and whalla!

Then stick it up somewhere so you can look at your handywork

Here my young grandson see the hinge and smiles "goodoh poppy!!" Hes so happy with it hes reachin out of the pic to play with it!

Easy as eh?!

The size of the hinge is determined by the needs you have and therefore for a small box you would make it less than 3in to begin with and for a larger box the hinge would of course be made with larger peices... to do so will mean larger skewers to compensate for the heavier larger wood in the hinge itself but thats no big problem either buy them or make your own

However I like the 3in length as it gives me finger room with the cutting and sanding I can make it 3in or make it as small as I wish... go to 6in and you can then make larger hinges utilizing the whole 6in peice or smaller whatever suits your needs.

The shape of the hinge parts is simply determined by your imagination the final end use and wheather or not you are screwing it onto its mount or simply glueing it on

Make your own hinges for your boxes and such this example took half an hour to make including taking the photos this wouldnt have taken any longer to make 2 of them and hence enough for a box lig... so its not a lengthy process and is another enjoyment for what we do!

There you have it my friends... woodenhinge tutorial over thank you for your attendance and good luck!

And in the immortal words of some woodnut... "WOODEN HINGES RULE"

Good onya Dingo, nice job well explained.


Cheers............Sean

Nice job Dingo, but what's this inches crap? :confused:


OH NO!!!! The Dingo's a POM.

Originally Posted by chrisb691

Nice job Dingo, but what's this inches crap? :confused:


OH NO!!!! The Dingo's a POM.

You better be sayin that while bashin yer own head with a friggin 4x4 mate!! :mad: true blue ridgey didge one eyed Aussie boy here ol son!

As for the inches... mate I was borned and raised an taught everythin I knows back when Australia was a far better place back when yards feets inches and parts thereof were the only measurements known to man/woman kind!!... and am I a dinosour? YES INDEED! And proud of it!

When Aussie turned stupid and everyone jumped on the bandwagon to be metric the same as all those foreign galahs I couldnt wrap me noggin around it so I happily remained firmly in the amongst the grand mob of genius's known as the "old school" brigade! Now when I use metric its cause some galah tells me what it is in metric or the damned drill bit is in metric and fits the size I need other than that I wouldnt have the bloody foggiest!

And mate Im happy that way! The order of the cranky ol phart survives in us that refuse to change to metric thinkin!

Cheers!

Good stuff feral canine!

Never thought about doing hinges, another challenge looms.

Great stuff Shane. Well thought out and presented.

Enjoyed it heaps.

Okay just thought to update this tutorial

The hinges above can be altered slightly to make clasps... I show how I use these on a laptop case in the "Laptop case WIP" thread up in the woodwork pics section

Essentially the same method of construction is used only instead of 5 peices of 1/4in timber use 3 peices of 1/2in timber... same deal in joinin glueing and shaping... only instead of a skewer use a MAKE IT YERSELF pin to slide through the hole as it should be bigger than a skewer... also dont turn over the centre peice keep it flat and smooth so the joins a bit less obvious than the hinge was

Why use 1/2in? well basicall I want that centre peice to be good and strong the outter peices will be shaped down but the center is the pin clasp strength... would 1/4in do? probably I just wanted it STRONG! and the look sorta matches what Im doing... in other words if you think it would be just as good and look good for your purposes go for it... this method will work for any sized peices just beware of your fingers you have to grip these things while cutting and sanding and going to small could lead to blood letting :eek: the final size and shape Im doing on the bench disc sander then the rest by hand

There is no reason why you couldnt use smaller peices to make the hinge or clasp I just found that a 6in peice of 1in by 1/2in or 1/4in gave me manouvering room to shape it without gettin the old tinklers too close to cutting edges or whirling disc sanders... you can take it down as small as you feel safe doing so or you may improvise and use pointy nosed pliers or such to hold something tiny to shape it... really its up to you I wouldnt but thats just me also if you go too small I think you would possibly loose much of the strength of the hinge or clasp which is why for the new hinges on the laptop case Ive turned a chunk of Tuart down to a 1/2in pin for strength... although in this I could be wrong...

The following pics show the clasp and pin after initial shaping on the bandsaw and disc sander... once completed I will change these to show how they work... oh and the pins? believe it or not they are from the same peice of sassafrass! amazing timber that stuff!

also I like the look of a good chunk of wooden hinge and clasp

Hope this helps

Very good Ding, might even try them out for myself... one day!

Actually Harry I should be able to coment in the next few days about making a set of smaller hinges suitable to attach to a hand carved Huon handle

Mind you with the bloody invasion this arvo I sorta made a bit of a cockup with the insert panel I was working on :mad: may yet be able to save it but wont know till tomorrow as its presently in the clamp again gettin the other side veneered

While the kids and missus KNOW the rules of the shed these tourist buggars have no idea... hear a machine going and RUN IN yellin out "WHATCHA DOIN UNCLE SHANE!!" :mad: bloody gits! really wasnt much good on the timber or nerves I can tell yer but luckily the maniacal spinning blade missed flesh by a mere ants phart So I live to have at it again

Hi Dingo,
you must be as old as me, I remember inches too, still have a fold up rule with both on it mm and inches that is.
Really enjoyed the effort to edify us on the how to do of hinges and clasps.
Just wonder, has anyone made a similar wooden clasp using a ball catch ?
Those thingo's you drilled a hole and dropped it in to keep a door closed.:eek: :confused:
regards'
wes

I make wooden hinges for boxes and had trouble getting the right size dowels for the pivots. Then I remembered an old trick of boring a hole through a bit of 5mm steel plate, with the same size drill used for boring the pivot holes and driving stuff through the hole. Simple and very effective
Jim