A question on Euro hinges

[dennis thompson]

I'm building a display cabinet that calls for the use of Euro hinges. I'm not comfortable drilling a 35mm hole in the door & am wondering if there is another type hinge I might use?
Thanks
Dennis

[Lee Schierer]

The hole isn't a through hole, so I'm not sure what your concern is. I use my Drill press and a 1-3/8" forstner bit to drill the cup holes. There are lots of other hinges, but the Euro hinge is hard to be in terms of ease of installation and adjustability.

[Jamie Buxton]

Well...if you really don't want to use standard cup hinges, there are those XXI hinges. They seem to have the same characteristics as cup hinges, but don't require the 35 mm hole. I've seen them in a cabinet, and they seem to work, but I haven't used them myself. http://www.hardwaresource.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=599

[Bruce King]

Please don't even try to make cheap hinges work, you will have no adjustment and will regret it. Get a set of forstner bits, they are easy and provide a very controlled progress pace that is easily monitored as they go in. Drilling for those cup hinges with a forstner bit is actually one of the easist things to do in the shop.

[Jeff Monson]

Dennis, have you used euro hinges in the past? If not, I would suggest you give them a try, boring the holes is easy. The adjustability and wide variety of hinges available makes them a wonderful product.

[Glenn Vaughn]

I am using these hinges from Rockler(http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=258&filter=28845&pn=28845) - they are $7.79 a pair and seem to be easy to use.

147987

[Russell Sansom]

Dennis,
Why aren't you comfortable drilling the hole? Concern for the door or concern about drilling?
BTW, The blum hinges I've used were the cat's meow, if you're optimizing for mechanical quality.

[Lex Boegen]

You don't mention the type of door--whether it's inset, full-overlay, half-overlay, etc. If it's inset, you could install high-quality solid brass leaf hinges let into a mortise. They give a traditional look to inset doors. If your stiles are too narrow to support the 35mm cup, or you don't want to have the large hinge plate visible through the door (you mentioned that it was a display cabinet), you could also possibly install knife hinges or Soss hinges. Again, not all hinges are suitable for all door types. Be aware that some hinge types are not forgiving of sloppy clearances and require specific dimensions, clearances, etc. I would avoid the non-mortise hinges--they just look cheesy in my (not so) humble opinion.

[Rob Cunningham]

Euro hinges are great, you can get your doors perfectly aligned. The cup hole is just a 1 3/8" hole, 1/2" deep. It's a very easy set up on the drill press. I think that Blum makes some of the best quality hinges.
What don't you feel comfortable with? Maybe we can talk you through it.

[Adam Shapiro]

I'm nearing the final stages of finishing 14 linear feet of built-ins in my living room. All clear finished cherry. I built a partial brick wall, wired for a surround sound system, new lighting, cabinets all with odd angles to fit around HVAC issues. It's been over 3 months of weekend work, almost all of it new to me.

I say this because the one thing that held up the project more than anything, because I was absolutely terrified to do it, was drilling the holes for the cup hinges. The thought of screwing up my new doors after I finally had all the parts together right kept me up at night. I just knew that bit was coming out the other side. When I actually talked myself into it, drilling the holes was easy, dare I say even pleasurable.

Make sure your bit doesn't have too big of a centering piece that could punch through, get a cheap jig like this (http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/ProductPage.aspx?prodid=8374&ss=03bb8254-26c4-440e-ab85-15a7a0ad3ac7) one to line everything up, and practice on a LOT of scrap. The stop on my drill press tends to move often, so I had to work that issue out.

Good luck. If I can do it, anyone can.

[Rich Engelhardt]

get a cheap jig like this (http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/ProductPage.aspx?prodid=8374&ss=03bb8254-26c4-440e-ab85-15a7a0ad3ac7) one to line everything up, and practice on a LOT of scrap
+1 on that jig - although I picked mine up at Home Depot.

I laid out ~ 70 cups using the paper template that came with the hinges before I wised up and sprung for the jig.

Another thing I'd like to add.
Unless you enjoy fooling around with adjustments every few weeks, and replacing broken hinges - stick with Blum.

I used the cheap ones from Home Depot and have regretted it ever since.
As they break, I'm replacing them with Blum.

[Sylvain Deschamps]

Dennis, use the european hinges from Blum (or other top quality brand) Making the 1/2" hole is easy, clean and quick with a drill press. The hole is what gives you the sturdiness of hing systems. Once the holes are all done using a quickly installed stop block on the drill press table, you install the doors and the adjustment screws are very accurately set. If you use other surface hinges , adjustement is tricky and not always accurate. Sometimes you even have to redrill new holes.

[dennis thompson]

OK, you convinced me I'm going to try the Euro hinges, as recommended, on a lot of scrap first.
Thanks for all the advice.
Dennis

[Brian Dormer]

I don't know why all the hand wringing - the "practice on a LOT of scrap" (not that there's anything wrong with practice). I redid a bathroom with Blum hinges. I'd never done euro hinges before - SWMBO (she's tough) totally approved my work. The doors (4) are all flush, square and level. There's also 4 "dummy" drawer fronts.

I measured carefully, marked the centers - drilled the holes in the door frames with a hand held cordless drill and a 35mm (Euro-hinge) Forstner bit. When the bit is buried - the hole is the perfect depth. You can clearly see if the bit is flush all the way around - so it's really goof-proof. (For the record - I HAVE a drill press - I just didn't see a need to use it)

The only measurement that REALLY matters is the distance from the edge of the door to the center of the mounting hole. Get that right (I set it on my combination square) and you are home free. Up and down the edge of the door is pretty forgiving. Even then - Blum Hinges (Don't get the cheap-o hinges - they are not worth it) can be adjusted up-down-in-out-left-right (all 3 axis) quite a bit. Even if you were off by as much as 1/16" - 3/32" - maybe even 1/8" (you probably won't be) you should have no trouble getting the doors to sit correctly.

I've since used Blum hinges a number of times - never had any problems. They also make a very cool closing mechanism that prevents the door from slamming closed - once you've seen one work (it's almost like magic) - you'll be putting them on EVERY door.

My 2 cents - don't sweat it. Euro hinges are a piece of cake. You'll be fine.