J. Z. Guest
03-18-2009, 3:01 PM
I'm wrapping up a jewelry chest for my wife and am in the home stretch. It is Norm's design from the early 90s.
One of the last steps for me was attaching the hinge to the case & lid. Everything was going well up to this point.
The piano stop hinge Norm used is no longer available. Couldn't find anything similar online. So I broke down and bought a pair of 2" Brusso stop hinges. They're beautiful, and something like $55 a pair.
Despite all my care in aligning things, (not enough I guess!) I botched it up pretty well. I marked & center-punched the hole locations after lining up the hinges. I drilled the holes carefully. When I went to install the screws, two of them twisted off. No way in hell to get them out. I tried to drill them out, but the bit just wandered off at an angle, which pretty much ensured that the hinges would be mis-aligned.
Now, the hinges are installed anyway, and since they're high quality hinges, there is no slop in their movement, and it is all I can do to close the lid. I think it is putting some pretty high lateral forces on the screws holding the hinges to do so.
I can only think of three solutions, and I don't like any of them:
1) Throw the whole thing out and start over. I've been working on this for months, so I don't want it to all be a waste.
2) Remove the Brusso hinges, buy an oversized piano hinge, cut it down, and install that instead.
3) Oil the hinge after I finish the project and hope it will loosen up in time without destroying the screws or screw holes.
What would you do?
Lastly, I'm thinking of trying a dye concentrate with water based poly for finish. Has anyone done this? Any caveats?
One of the last steps for me was attaching the hinge to the case & lid. Everything was going well up to this point.
The piano stop hinge Norm used is no longer available. Couldn't find anything similar online. So I broke down and bought a pair of 2" Brusso stop hinges. They're beautiful, and something like $55 a pair.
Despite all my care in aligning things, (not enough I guess!) I botched it up pretty well. I marked & center-punched the hole locations after lining up the hinges. I drilled the holes carefully. When I went to install the screws, two of them twisted off. No way in hell to get them out. I tried to drill them out, but the bit just wandered off at an angle, which pretty much ensured that the hinges would be mis-aligned.
Now, the hinges are installed anyway, and since they're high quality hinges, there is no slop in their movement, and it is all I can do to close the lid. I think it is putting some pretty high lateral forces on the screws holding the hinges to do so.
I can only think of three solutions, and I don't like any of them:
1) Throw the whole thing out and start over. I've been working on this for months, so I don't want it to all be a waste.
2) Remove the Brusso hinges, buy an oversized piano hinge, cut it down, and install that instead.
3) Oil the hinge after I finish the project and hope it will loosen up in time without destroying the screws or screw holes.
What would you do?
Lastly, I'm thinking of trying a dye concentrate with water based poly for finish. Has anyone done this? Any caveats?