5mm Barrel Hinges?

[Charles Hans]

I am thinking about making some pen boxes, and I would like to use 5mm. barrel hinges on them, but having never used them I am not sure how you line up the holes since they are almost covered. I am aware that the back side of the box has to be cut on a 45 to allow clearence for the lid. If anyone has some information on how to best locate the holes I sure would appreciate it.
Chuck

[Jim Becker]

I'm working on a box "as we speak" that is specified to have these same hinges. (It's a prototype for a friend who is going to have them mass produced) I'll be interested in the answer for this one, too!!

[Michael Stafford]

The method I use to locate this type of hinge accurately is as follows.

!. Determine where you want the hinges.

2. Prepare a piece of scrap at least 2 inches longer than the distance the hinge will be located from the end of the box. This stock should be as thick as the box sides material and perfectly square on one end. This piece of wood should be no thicker than your 5 mm drill bit can completely drill through.

3. From the square end mark the distance you want the hinge from the end and another mark for the offset the hinge requires for opening. In thin stock I will only inset the hinge an 1/8" or so.

4. Now carefully align these marks with the point of your drill bit and align your drill press fence or straight edge so that it serves as a reference. Butt this end against another straight piece of scrap and clamp it in place while firmly holding your reference piece against the fence. Mark the front face so you will remember which it is.

5. Drill completely through your scrap piece, slowly and carefully so as to drill straight and true. Use scrap underneath so you have no chip out.

6. Finally we are ready to drill for the hinges in the box carcass.

7. Remove the piece you drilled completely through. Butt one corner of the box bottom or top, it does not matter which you do first against the stop clamped to the fence. Drill your hole for the hinge a hair deeper than 1/2 of the hinge, allows room for glue.

8. Put the opposite corner of the lid against the stop and drill the hole as described in 7 above.

9. Now you have one hole in the box bottom and one in the lid but they are at opposite ends of the box.

10. Take the piece of scrap that you drilled the 5 mm hole all the way through and rotate it end for end. Align the drill bit and insert it in the hole all the way through and clamp the block to your fence. Make sure the mark you made identifying the front is visible.

11. Clamp your stop block tightly against the drilled scrap and now you located the drill bit precisely in the same location on the opposite end of your box.

12. Drill your remaining two holes and your hinge holes will align perfectly.

13. 45 degree Chamfer the back edge of the box so that the chamfer passes through the centerline of the hinge holes, allowing the box to open to 90 degrees.

14. I use a speck of epoxy applied with a tooth pick to glue the hinges in. Insert the hinges carefully aligning them so that they open in the right direction (DAMHIKT), apply a little glue to the other holes and press the two halves together. Make sure the box opens and closes before the glue cures.

I hope this helps.

[Charles Hans]

Thank's Mike, that is what I needed to know. I was not sure of the method of alignment, you made it pretty clear. Thank's for the information.
Chuck

[Perry Holbrook]

I've been using more of these hinges on my boxes. Customers really like them. On one of my new boxes I have 6 of these hinges in a row spaced about 2" apart. The drilling is very critical for that one.

My approach to drilling the holes is really pretty simple.

Using 3/8" Lexan I make a jig that indexes from either the inside or outside edge of the box. Make the jig so that it can be flipped over and indexed from the other side. This puts the holes symetrical from the index points. The use the same jig indexed from the same edge on the top.

The holes should be perfectly aligned and spaced. There is very little room for error.

After drilling the holes, I do the chanfer on the edge sander. It's really easy and quick to sand a 45 up to the center line of the holes.

Big Mikes comments about the epoxy is critical. It's real easy to put too much epoxy. If you do, the excess winds up in the hinge and locks it up. So be sure to exercise the top often until the epoxy sets up.

Perry

[Michael Stafford]

Perry, I do like the idea of a fixed jig. I am never able to find the block I drilled last time so I have to go through the steps of making one each time I use those hinges. Do you glue pieces of lexan together to make your jig? Are you using these hinges in the same thickness wood all the time? If it is not proprietary I would love to see a picture of one of the jigs. I happen to have a stack of 3/8" lexan scraps that I could put to good use....

[Doug Shepard]

Well I've only used them once quite a while ago. I remember doing something like this: Before cutting the 45's, I located the centerpoint for the hinges on one of the halves. I don't remember if I did this on the bottom or top, but I don't think it really matters. Then I took a couple of the smallest brads I had laying around and cut them about 3/8 to 1/2" from the end. I took a small drill bit and drilled into the box half to a depth that would let about 1/16 or 1/8 of the pointy end of the brad to project. I then inserted the brads and carefully lined up the other half of the back and tapped them together. The holes from the brad points and the holes from the small drill bit were used to locate the point on the brad point bit for the barrel holes. I can't remember if I tried drilling to final depth before cutting the 45's or just past where the bevel line would be. After beveling, I seem to recall putting them back on the drill press to deepen the hole. So I either did the 2nd way or tried going to final depth in one shot and just didn't get it quite deep enough.

[Dave Bartley]

What works best for me is I layout the location of the hinges on the carcass prior to putting the top on the box. I then drill the holes for the hinges. Then after that is done, I install the top.

Once the glue is dried and the top is sanded, I cut the top off with the bandsaw. The hinges are always right on for location.

[Charles Hans]

Thanks for the information It worked like a charm here is the first one