The best laid plans of mice and men....and a good argument for dry fitting.....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

So I have this little (over 6' long) oak entertainment center I'm working on. In my my design, I thought it would be cool to use European hidden hinges (Blum) on it. There are 4 doors. Two doors near the outside edges with solid oak raised panels and the inner two doors are divided glass behind which will reside the equipment. The two outer doors will hide 3 drawers each and they use full extension ball bearing drawer slides. The two inner doors hide 2 each sliding shelves on the same full extension drawer slides.

The doors are done EXCEPT drilling for the European hidden hinges. When I bought the hinges, I bought a Teflon setup block for setting up the drill press and the jig for drilling the holes in the face frame. These are 120º Blum face frame clip hidden hinges. I fit and installed drawers in one outer section and decided to dry fit the European hinges. Thanks to good Karma, luck or whatever you want to call it....The hinges won't allow the drawers to come out! The doors fold back in on the hinge when opened. Thus the drawer slide strikes the door. Well Vern..it's not going to work with those hinges. I researched it at the site where I bought it and it didn't point that minor thing out. I researched the same Blum hinge at another site and it showed that it folds back into itself and the slides won't clear.

I had taken a scrap piece of oak lying in my cutoff box, drilled it, mounted the hinge then held it place on the face frame to discover this phenomena. So....I didn't drill the doors or the face frame..... If I had drilled the doors with that 35mm hole, I'd be crying right now.

Dry fitting should be a regular part of building and assembling if you are a rank amateur like me.

[ray hampton]

Dry fitting [what ever this mean]is a good idea for all assembler of wood parts, experienced or a greenhorn wood worker, did I see the pictures ?

[fRED mCnEILL]

There are hinges available which wil allow the clearance needed.

[Bruce Page]

Good catch. I'm usually not so lucky.

[John Coloccia]

Dry fitting should be a regular part of building and assembling if you are a rank amateur like me.

This should be a sticky. Part of the problem with woodworking is people only tend to post their successes...only after "prototyping" far more pieces of firewood than any of us care to admit....

Pros are just better at "hiding" their prototypes. A good fireplace insert helps.

[Wayne Hendrix]

...
I had taken a scrap piece of oak lying in my cutoff box, drilled it, mounted the hinge then held it place on the face frame to discover this phenomena. So....I didn't drill the doors or the face frame..... If I had drilled the doors with that 35mm hole, I'd be crying right now.
...

Could you possibly take a picture of your dry fit test for me. I am planning on doing the exact same thing with doors and drawers on my lathe stand. I am not to the point of dry fitting yet, I am still in the planning stage, but when I mocked it up, including as far as holding two boards together with the hinges that I plan to use, it looked to me like it would work. I want to make sure that there isn't something that I am missing before I get any further in the planning process. I am hoping that we just have different hinges or a different enough design that mine will work.

[Brent VanFossen]

Congratulations on finding the problem before you ruined your project. And thanks for the post.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Wayne, I already disassembled my mock up but I will redo it and get photos tomorrow.

I just took a scrap of oak, drilled the 35mm hole in it, inserted the hinge, squared the hinge up to the edge, drilled the two holes for the mounting screws and installed the screws. Then I snapped it on to the face frame mounting bracket and held the whole assembly up to the face frame where it would be mounted with the hinge all the way open. When I tried to slide the drawers out, the drawer slides hit struck the mock door (the piece of oak).

This illustration shows the clearances for both frameless and faceframe models. I am using a face frame so the right side is appropriate. Note the S and P columns that show clearances for the hinge and then for the "wrapped" back door when the hinge is open. http://www.hardwaresource.com/images/products/Hinge_652298jpg.jpg

[Wayne Hendrix]

Wayne, I already disassembled my mock up but I will redo it and get photos tomorrow.

I just took a scrap of oak, drilled the 35mm hole in it, inserted the hinge, squared the hinge up to the edge, drilled the two holes for the mounting screws and installed the screws. Then I snapped it on to the face frame mounting bracket and held the whole assembly up to the face frame where it would be mounted with the hinge all the way open. When I tried to slide the drawers out, the drawer slides hit struck the mock door (the piece of oak).

This illustration shows the clearances for both frameless and faceframe models. I am using a face frame so the right side is appropriate. Note the S and P columns that show clearances for the hinge and then for the "wrapped" back door when the hinge is open. http://www.hardwaresource.com/images/products/Hinge_652298jpg.jpg

Ken,

That link is perfect, no need to put it back together on my account. It was going to bug me so I went down to the garage and double checked my hinges. They will get the doors clear of the drawers. I am using these: http://www.amazon.com/LIBERTY-H70237C-NP-C-Overlay-Prong-Plate/dp/B005YVKJQK

Thank you!!

[Sam Murdoch]

If you are still looking for a hinge solution these could be the ticket :http://woodworking.retailersdiscount.com/hardware/hinges/cabinet-hinges-by-application/frameless-overlay-hinges/blum-165-zero-clearance.html

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Sam, the doors were built for 1/2" overlay on a face frame. I don't think that hinge will work. Thanks for the suggestion. I found a non-hidden hinge solution and ordered it yesterday. I still have two pieces of molding to mill and fit. Then on to finishing.