European hinge boring jig opinions (Veritas vs. Sommerfield's or any others)

[Frank Martin]

I am working through refacing our kitchen. I am now getting close to boring the 35 mm holes for the cup hinge and the accompanying screw holes.

I do have a drill press but I think a jig will help speed things up as I have about 25 doors, some are rather large.

I looked through all the options and narrowed down to Veritas and Somemrfield's:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=32263&cat=1,180,42311

http://www.sommerfeldtools.com/Sommerfelds-Hinge-Boring-Jig/productinfo/SHB/

Any user opinions about these options or any other suggestions?

Currently I am biased towards Veritas as I have purchased a lot of tools over the years and everything has been top notch plus it comes with outstanding customer service. I have not see any review of the Veritas jig so far, but have seen positivie comments for the Sommerfield one...

Look forward to hearing the collective wisdom of SMC.

Thanks in advance!

[Jeff Monson]

Not too sure on the Lee Valley, but I do have a good friend with the Sommerfeld jig. It works great, I have used it a couple times in his shop, drill the 3 holes in no time flat. Not as nice as a Blum press but for the money its a timesaver. I'd think the Lee Valley jig would work well also, as with your experience with Lee Valley, mine is the same.

[michael gates]

If I where you I wouldn't spend a lot of money on something you wont use much
I say use your drill press for the 35mm holes and buy screw on hinges so you don't have to drill the other two.
I used the veritas for a couple years before buying a minipress, it works good.
Another option is take your doors to a cabinet shop and get them to drill and insert the hinges for you.

[johnny means]

Imo these contraption are unnecessary. You could mark all your holes in 20 minutes with a simple shop made template. Set your DP up to drill the cup holes, which can be done on 25 doors in about 20 minutes. Then reset your DP to drill the screw or better yet dowel holes. This could also be done in about 20 minutes. With a Dp fence, accurate measurements, and an efficient order of operations you could get this done accurately in no time. IMO your DP beats a jig and a hand drill any day. You don't need to clamp and unclamp 50 times, plus you get to spend your money on something that actually adds to your shop capabilities.

[Andrew Howe]

Frank,

We went through this last year with a kitchen update. We have oak cabinets and had them repainted and had new blum hinges put on. I created a simple jig clamped onto my benchtop drill press, make a line mark and drilled the hole. I bought a carbide bit at woodcraft and went from there. I think either rockler or woodcraft had a spacing jig that was less than 10 bucks that I used also.
The only screwup has been the contractor split some of the cabinet frames by not predrilling for large holes to bolt the doors to the frames.
His solution, use tiny screws that I have had to replace over time.
Now my wife and I have an agreement that I oversee all contracted work in the house regarless of how we may split the bill in the end.... LOL!

[Frank Martin]

Thanks so much for the replies so far. I am not againts using a drill press, and do infact have a 35mm bit already. Only reason I got interested in the jigs is to make sure the screw holes are aligned correctly. Are there any simple jigs to set those up?

[johnny means]

Lowe's and the other borgs sell a hinge kit that comes with forstner bit and a clear plastic template. The template is just a little angle with holes to mark your centers. They cost about 10 bucks and are usually hanging next to the cabinet hardware.

[Bill Reed]

What you need is the Blum Ecodrill. Sure it's expensive, but it's bulletproof and makes everything so simple. I bought one when I built a set of cabinets for my shop and kitchen and have never regretted it.

Bill

[Bruce Wrenn]

Since all your cup holes will be located the same distance from top / bottom of the door on each door, just make a fence with a couple of flip stops. Make a table long enough to support door, add fence with flip stops, and drill away. For hinge screws, I slip hinge into cup hole, align it with speed square, and then use vix bit to drill screw holes. Rockler sells a little jig to locate holes on cabinet, but you can make your own in about a half hour.

[Charles Lent]

I have had the Sommerfeld jig for several years now. It's easy to set up and use, and I have never mis-positioned a hinge hole since buying it. Yes it's expensive, and 25 doors is about what I would call near the break even point to justify buying it. If you will ever have more hinges/doors to do then it's well worth it. If not, the other's suggestions may be a better deal. I would probably find someone with the right equipment to do it for me.

Charley

[johnny means]

What you need is the Blum Ecodrill. Sure it's expensive, but it's bulletproof and makes everything so simple. I bought one when I built a set of cabinets for my shop and kitchen and have never regretted it.

Bill

An Ecodrill cost about $300. The OP has 50 hinges to install. Comes out to about $6 a hinge:eek:. A tool like this is great for the professional on-site who needs to knock out a door or two with out a.lot of set-up time. But with 25 doors in a shop equipped with a drill press, i fail to see the value added by using one of these gadgets. In fact, i would bet that a drill press will yield better more consistent holes.

Really, euro hinges aren't really that hard.

[Frank Martin]

Thanks everyone. I will give a try to the drill press idea. If it seems taking much time, then I will consider the Sommerfeld jig. It seems to be basically the same design as the Blum Ecodrill, but currently sells for $160 instead of $300 for tbe Blum version.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

+1 for the drill press. Make a right angle fence to clamp in place and do all of the top left and bottom right hinges then move it and do the other half. Really fast!
Way faster than a jig.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Frank,

I just bought my first Euro hinges from Rockler. I also bought a plastic jig that is used for setting up your drill press for drilling depth and distance from the fence. The jig cost about $8. There is a different jig for different Blum Euro hinges.

[Mark Rakestraw]

Frank,
I build several kitchens a year and have never felt the need to go beyond the 35mm bit in the drill press. Mark and drill the 35mm holes on the drillpress using the fence to fix the distance from the edge, set both hinges in their holes, take a straight edge lay it across the door then pull it up tight against the flats of the hinge plates. This forces both hinges to sit "square" in their holes. Holding everything tight I then use a vix bit to drill the screw holes. In some woods and with self-tapping screws I don't even bother to drill the screw holes, just pull the straightedge tight to position the hinges and drive the screws home. I'd be surprised if there's any jig or special do-it-all-at-once drill setup that could save me more than 10 minutes a kitchen.
Mark

[Rich Engelhardt]

Lowe's and the other borgs sell a hinge kit that comes with forstner bit and a clear plastic template. The template is just a little angle with holes to mark your centers. They cost about 10 bucks and are usually hanging next to the cabinet hardware

+1 to that.

Use it to make a jig out of a piece of scrap that you use to set both the depth of the cup and the distace of your work from the DP fence & you can knock out cup holes in no time flat.
I drill out all the cup holes first, then squirt some Elmers School Glue into the holes and bed the hinges into them & set them aside while I do the rest or a half hour -depending on how many hinges I'm doing. The glue slightly swells the wood and locks the hinges in nice and solid.
I use a Vix bit then to drill the screw holes.

[David Hawxhurst]

i use this one http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5878&rrt=1. got it before i had a descent drill press. use the jig to drill the hole then use a straight edge like Mark suggests to square the hinges in the holes.

[Don Buck]

For my kitchen rebuild a few years back I befriended a local cabinet shop who let me use his Blum combo to drill all the doors. In return, I purchased all the hinges from him at about the same price as mail order which helped in his volume purchasing plan with Blum. Win / Win solution.

[Mike Harrison]

I don't see any reason to waste good money on such things. All hinges come with a layout drawing, so just take about 20 minutes to make yourself a jig or two. Depending on the hinge type, two or three small pieces of wood, some careful layout and drilling, and you're done, for much less than a bucks worth of material.

[Daniel Berlin]

I am working through refacing our kitchen. I am now getting close to boring the 35 mm holes for the cup hinge and the accompanying screw holes.

I do have a drill press but I think a jig will help speed things up as I have about 25 doors, some are rather large.

I looked through all the options and narrowed down to Veritas and Somemrfield's:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=32263&cat=1,180,42311

http://www.sommerfeldtools.com/Sommerfelds-Hinge-Boring-Jig/productinfo/SHB/

Any user opinions about these options or any other suggestions?

Currently I am biased towards Veritas as I have purchased a lot of tools over the years and everything has been top notch plus it comes with outstanding customer service. I have not see any review of the Veritas jig so far, but have seen positivie comments for the Sommerfield one...

Look forward to hearing the collective wisdom of SMC.

Thanks in advance!

I have no drill press, i bought and used the veritas jig as a result.
I previously used some drill cup style jigs that were a pain in the ass.
The veritas jig was wonderful.
The fence is trivial to dial in the exact edge distance/etc you want (it has a 1mm pitch thread).
Worked great, i put it away until the next time i do more doors.

If you have a drill press, about the only advantage is that you can do it in on the floor near the cabinets :)

[Mike Goetzke]

Frank - I'm just a little behind you in a whole kitchen (house) remodel. I just finished my last face frame and now have about 30 some odd door to make. I have used the drill press before but was thinking of the Sommerfeld jig because, like you, I like the fact it indexes all three holes at one setting. And you can drill the holes for the push in type hinges. I was wondering if it would be worth it the buy & then Craigslist it, sell it at a woodworking forum ;), or loan it out for a fee.


Mike

[Larry Dublin]

With Sommerfelds jig I can do a door in 3 minutes. Never a miscue in four year of using it.

[Mike Goetzke]

Update for OP'er. I just bored the 35mm hinge holes for 24 doors yesterday. I too was looking at jigs like the Sommerfeld but ended up using my DP. It was super quick and accurate especially using the DP table with extendable fence (Wood mag. design):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/Projects/Kitchen/Cabinets/Doors/IMG_2170.jpg

I had some tall doors that needed 3 hinges and some really tall ones that needed four and the fence had enough extension to do them all repeatability. From my experience I think it would have taken a lot more time with a jig plus for center hinges you would need to build some type of stop jig to be accurate with the jigs.

My conclusion is the opposite of what I originally thought. For many doors use the DP (I know the pros are say "I told you so.") and for an occasional door here and there the Sommerfeld may work out well.


Mike

[Randall Houghton]

Frank
I've used a Veritas for about 15 years so I'll give you a little review. I used this jig to bore all my hinges although I have no idea how many I bored when I was building cabinets full time but it was a bunch. It's easy to set up, accurate and gives results as good as any Blum boring machine. I'm on my third 35mm bit and find they work well and are easy to sharpen. The jig is easy to adjust for backset and hinge depth which that can change with the type of hinge your using. Layout is straight forward and accurate once you create a system. One of the things I like about using this jig is the ability to take it to the job as opposed to using a drill press. The only thing I have changed on this jig is the drive screw on top of the shaft which I replaced with a metric hex bolt so I could used a socket in my drill to drive the bit. Overall it has been an excellent investment and I would buy it again even though it cost about 40 or 50 dollars more than I paid for mine. Hope this helps in your decision and good luck with your project.
Regards
Randy

[John P Clark]

Jig made from hard maple - planed 1/2 thick, with all three holes for Blum hinges, use a cordless drill, one for the 35 mm hole, one form the smaller holes. Just use a spring clamp and bore the holes, move to the next door. Have done numerous doors this way and it works fine, largest kit un had over 60 doors and it took no time to bore the holes. Have a matching jig for putting the hinge on the cabinet. I do not do doors every day of the year, os this method works when needed and I dod not spend $$ for something to collect dust. In my opinion, it is easier than a drill press.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Thanks so much for the replies so far. I am not againts using a drill press, and do infact have a 35mm bit already. Only reason I got interested in the jigs is to make sure the screw holes are aligned correctly. Are there any simple jigs to set those up?Grab hold a copy of Danny Proulx's book "Making Your Own Kitchen Cabinets." He bores cup hole first (using drill press,) and then using Speed Square to hold hinge in alignment, he uses a vix bit to bore screw holes. Slick and quick!