Thread: Quadrant hinge - installation guide

We should be getting some good feedback on the templates soon then. I still have about 6,000kms in front of me over the next 7 weeks. Then I will be getting mine.

Paul

How is the feedback coming along boys. I am keen to read it. Looking forward to buying mine when I get back home in Early June,

Paul

To help with your future planning, depending on price, I would certainly be interested in a set. Given your CNC expertise, may I suggest you create a simple nesting board (MDF?) for all of the components. It would also help to identify in the workshop if all bits are present?
fletty

Hi all,
I have received a set of these templates to test and must say the set is very well produced the tolerances are very fine the inserts fit extremely well to the location guides. The first thing and the most important process is to position the corner guides to locate the base to the box once this is done (it is a one off job for the same type of lid fitting)from there on the process is very simple and straight forward. I must point out at this stage that I made a stupid error on my first go at this I didn't check the depth that my makita trimmer's guide bush protrudes through the base it is only 4mm so the first cut @1.7mm was fine as I could locate the guide bush in the template and lift the cutter to just clear the box by rocking the trimmer to one side start it and lower it into the cut but when doing the next cut at a further 5mm and repeating the previous method not realizing my guide bush wasn't contacting the template (can't do a 5mm cut and contact the template with only 4mm bush protruding ). I destroyed the insert and the top of my box in the process which meant that I had to cut down the box and as it is dovetailed I had to cut it down to the next row of dovetails and lost about 30mm in the height of the box. Andrew (africansurgeon) sent me a replacement and away I went using a different approach to avoid the problem I had caused. This time the process went very well and was simple to reproduce on the 4 corners 2 on the lid and 2 on the base. The hinges fit very well into the routed recess I tried multiple hinges in the same recess and they all fitted the same. This template system works very well indeed. Sorry about the long winded story for what is a very simple method with these templates.
Regards Rod.

Hi there Rod, And thanks for your review. I was keen to read how these were going. I don't really follow your mistake that you made but I think if I had these in front of me I might see what you were getting at. I'll be ordering mine in a couple of weeks. So far I/we have driven 5,000kms and still a few thousand K's to go, hopefully be back home in a couple of weeks. Currently in Mount Gambier.

Looking forward to getting a set of these.

Regards, Paul

Hi Paul,
The mistake I made was to follow the initial instructions as to do initial cut for body of hinge which is 1.7mm this cut was no problem then to cut the following cuts 5mm at a time the problem with this for me was that the guide bush only penetrates the base by 4mm which I hadn't checked so the cutter comes in contact with the timber before the guide bush engaged the template which is unseen below the router base I thought it was in, I should have checked this before going ahead with the cut but as I was using a makita trimmer as described in the instructions I didn't you should always check don't know if my new model trimmer's guide bush is different to the older model in length so in my situation my depth of cut should have been less than 4mm.
Regards Rod.

Hi again Rod, This is the Makita Laminate Router I purchased at Gasweld Coffs Harbour a couple of days before I left (for $179).

3709X | Trimmer Laminate 6.35Mm 1 4" 530W With Aluminium Case | Makita

I'll check all this out when I get home, thanks for your advice,

Regards, Paul

Hi again Paul I have a RT0700CX and maybe the base plate is a little thicker than the trimmer as I am sure the guide bush is the same. I have just purchased a plunge base for it and with that there will be no problems as I can simply do plunge cuts with it.
Regards Rod.

Thanks to everyone interested in my template set and especially to the testers. I've got several reviews, mostly positive, and I think the design is final.
What I would like to add are some more detailed instructions and important steps:

1. Before using this set be sure that you have the correct trimmer with correct bit and correct copy guide
2. this set is designed only for hinges described in the first post. I can design the similar set for any other hinge, please, PM if you interested
3. The hinge is 7.5 mm wide, so the minimal box wall thickness is 10 mm
4. The inserts are quite tight, so to put in in the base plate you may need to hummer it in by a light hummer or a piece of wood
5. As Rod had mentioned in his review, the positioning of the corner guides is very important so do this part accurately, the right and the left plates have to be identical.

6. Most important: cutting the slot. The steps to cut the slot have to be 1mm less than the protuberance of the copy guide on your router for good control. I've tested it with makita router where the copy guide is 6mm above the base, so I went with 5mm steps. If in your router this distance is smaller, go with the smaller steps. Also, switch the trimmer on when the bit is in the slot and the copy guide touches the template and wait for the full stop of the bit before taking it out. Also good idea to test the template on a piece of wood before working on a finished box.

Any questions and suggestions are welcomed.

Update for the template set.
Fast method of slot cutting:
This method is much fast but not so safe like step method I've described above. For experienced users only
Tested with Makita trimmer.
Be sure that the bit in its lowest position is exact the length of the slot required (30mm in my case)
After cutting the hinge pocket replace the insert with the slot cutting insert.
Position the trimmer, start it, release the trimmer base but hold it. Start the cutting, going down slowly till you cut to the full depth. Stop the trimmer, clean the slot and repeat the last step one or two tomes till the slot will be done.
See this video - shows the process:

I would also like to introduce the set of templates for box lock installation:
lock plates with numbers.jpg

All instructions and questions in this thread:
box lock - installation guide

Hi all, I would like to give some feedback for Andrew's quadrant hinge templates. I received mine on Wednesday after returning home from being away for 6 or 7 weeks tripping about the countryside and doing 7,200kms.

Firstly I spent some time attaching the corner brackets to the base plates, very important to get these as perfect as possible, I think mine is within about .1mm discrepancy to each other. After I attached these I noted that when you insert the hinge routering guide the back of it is slightly exposed to your router but I thought well this shouldn't effect anything.

Quadrant hinge template 003.jpg

Quadrant hinge template 001.jpg

I then went about routering the hinge section with my recently purchased 3709X Makita Trimmer.

Quadrant hinge template 002.jpg

Looking very good at this stage I changed the template over for the lid arm template

Quadrant hinge template 004.jpg

Then upon changing the template over for the base arm template I knew I had a problem. With my new Makita Trimmer on the highest setting the router bit only extends into the timber about 13mm. Nowhere near enough to router out the 30mm required. On Andrew's video he seems to have a much longer router bit, or is there something I am missing.

Quadrant hinge template 011.jpg

This isnt a huge problem as I went as deep as I can, which is pretty much the same depth as I went into the lid. Then I used my drill press to drill further to the desired depth and cleaned the hole out, also with the drill press. I had the main part of a box commenced before I went away, and I am extremely happy with the end result. I attached the hinges (which I will remove again), to test it out, veryyyyyyyy nice indeed, perfect to be honest.

Andrew might comment on his router bit. One point here is the router bit that come with my Makita Trimmer I thought was a 1/4" bit. The shaft is 1/4" but the cutting end was about 5.7mm, hmmm, odd I thought. Fortunately I had another 1/4" bit with both ends 1/4". You definitely a 1/4" bit for this to work.

The templates are extremely well thought out and made. Actually a little too tight, but don't go hitting them with a hammer, I lined them up and then pressed them in with my old Triton SuperJaws. After that they seem to press in more easily.

This box is made from 11.5mm timber, I think that would be about the minimum you would go. Just thinking out aloud here now, for Andrew's "lock templates" he states the minimum timber needs to be 12mm. That means if my next test box is 12mm timber, then my hinge templates will be 1/2mm out, hmmm, have to think on this one.


Quadrant hinge template 009.jpgQuadrant hinge template 010.jpg


Regards, Paul

Hi Paul, thank you for the review.
About the bits - ordinary router bits are often too short and not exact 1/4.
Better to use solid carbide cnc bits. They are long enough and more important - they are perfectly 1/4 in diameter.
I order from this site:
CNC Spiral 2 Flute Plunge Solid Carbide Router Bits Upcut - Toolstoday.com - Industrial Quality
To reach 30mm with makita trimmer you need one minimum 2.5 inch long. They have up and down cut bits. I've tried both - more happy with downcut. But upcut also makes perfect result.

Hi Andrew, Thanks for that advice. And regarding the 11.5mm sides and the 12mm sides, I was thinking there isn't that much difference. I might slightly vary my template base plates and corner squares. Redo them. Just means a couple extra holes and I think they really only need 2 screws (as opposed to 4). And set the templates up to take 12mm timber. I'll start another box in the new few days and try out that lock template.

Regards Paul