Concealed barrel hinge wars

**labr@** · 20th December 2015, 10:26 PM

So having bought some 8mm concealed barrel hinges I made a small box to try them out on. After fitting them 3 times the score is hinges 3, me nil – although the last round was fairly even.

Never mind the poor joints, plugged areas and glue squeeze out in the photos, can anyone offer advice on the following please?

Problems:
1) Consistent location for all 4 holes is not happening. Have used a fence with stop blocks but still have trouble with holes not lining up so the lid is way out of whack once assembled. The final iteration (3rd) was within correctable range using a block plane and abrasives but it should be possible to have the top and sides line up without this. Can anyone offer some tips to help with making sure that things are right when using fences/stops or templates for this operation?

2) Depth control. The required drilling depth does not seem to equate to the measured length of the hinge barrel. Is there a trick to this? Is a flat ended drill (reamer) required? You can see in the photo how one end is driven below the surface level.

P1030070 cropped.jpg

P1030064.jpg P1030066.jpg

**Uncle Al** · 21st December 2015, 06:58 AM

Are you clamping the timber to your DP fence? This will prevent creep as the drill tries to follow the grain.
Also, using brad point drill bits or maybe a Forstener style bit will help with positive location.
Nice looking box, it is a bugger when things get out of wack towards the end of the job.

Alan...

**AlexS** · 21st December 2015, 07:22 AM

Barrel hinges aren't my favourites, but when I've used them, it seems the best way to get them lined up is to drill the holes in the lid and base at the same time.
If you can clamp them together in position, or drill from the bottom before separating the lid and base, you can then plug the holes (with contrasting timber if you like.
Also, the 'leaves' must be exactly at right angles to the faces.

Hope this helps.

**labr@** · 21st December 2015, 09:41 AM

Uncle Al, no I wasn't clamping the piece so that could be a factor even though it felt stable.

Alex, I did think of drilling from the top but dismissed it without due consideration - now that you've mentioned it I think it would work with the right type of lid.

Can you please explain about the orientation of the leaves? I'm not sure which plane you are referring to.

**mcintoad** · 21st December 2015, 12:00 PM

The way that I have found to work best is to construct the box with a frame and panel lid. Before glueing up the carcas drill the holes in the back panel to the required depth to allow for splitting open the box. Then glue the frame and panel to the top after the box carcas has been glued up. The result is that when you split the box the holes will definitely line up.

**AlexS** · 21st December 2015, 03:25 PM

Can you please explain about the orientation of the leaves? I'm not sure which plane you are referring to.

The leaves between the two cylinders should be as per your photos, but if they must be aligned exactly back-to-front. If the barrels are at all twisted in the wood you can wreck the hinges. (DAMHIK)

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