Cabinet doors and straight?

[Al Willits]

If I remember how to do this, below is a picture or two of a miter saw cabinet I just got done with, most of the mistakes I have figured out what I did wrong, but alining the two cabinet doors is driving me crazy.
I think I have a way figured out, but it requires a vertical mill, some welding, 250# of assorted metals and probably a week to make...thinking there's gotta be a better way.

Problem I have is, when the doors are closed and eaier to aline, the hinges (piano type) are hidden and when the doors are open and I can see the hinges, its to hard to line up.

I'm betting there's an easy way to do this, but I've been in the forest so long I don't see the tree's anymore...help?
tia

Al

[glenn bradley]

I'm a hinge-schlep myself Al. I find I'm thinking about the hinges for a project before I even make sawdust sometimes. I haven't found what I will use as a standard but for my sanity it will be a style that allows adjustment. My skills just aren't there yet to use an unforgiving hinge. . . . Boy, that was helpful, eh?

P.s. Nice looking stand, love the wings!

[Doug Shepard]

Fageddaboudit. Put a strip of wood or moulding over the edge on one door (the one you think you'll open the most) and tell everyone that's to keep sawdust out of the cabinet.

[Jim Becker]

Doug has the most practical solution at this point, Al. As a suggestion for next time, consider using Euro hinges as they are VERY adjustable. I learned how nice this past weekend when fitting the hinges to my cherry vanity project.

[Ben Grunow]

Any chance that the wings are pinching the cabinet (cantilevered weight bowing the plywood cabinet sides in) and causing that problem? Hard to tell what they might weigh from the pic but a possibility anyway. Maybe it needs a shelf at the mid point.

[Joe Trotter]

Looking at the picture it appears the gap is the widest at the bottom.

I think I would cut four pieces of 1X4 and make a mock top and bottom door for each side. You would then be able to see and adjust the gap at the same time.

I would ensure each 1X4 was attached secure with the maximum amount of screws to hold their weight to the hinge.

Dont put any screws into the cabinet behind the 1X4 and clamp the piano hinge to the cabinet. You could then tap the hinges until you had a nice gap.

If that doesnt make sense look at this. The horizontal lines represent the 1X4 door gap mockup. Not sure if it will work, might be worth a try.
Joe

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[Al Willits]

Wings pinching?
No, it looks the same with the wings down, good thought though.

Good looking?
Get a little closer to it Glenn and you'll see lots of learning curve, but it works and I keep a couple of routers, assorted saw blades and a 4" sears jointer in the cabinet, so I'm happy..

Euro hinges might have been a better deal, but you'd think there was a reasonably easy way to aline the piano style hinge.
I'm wondering if double sided tape would be strong enough to maybe mount the hinge on the cabinet, then place the door on the hinge and the tape would hold it there long enough to mark a hole or two??


Thanks Joe, but I also have a problem with one door being about 1/4" higher than the other, picture doesn't show it very well, but I'll see if can get your idea to work.

Sounds like another rainy day project...:)

Al

[glenn bradley]

You can still abandon the piano's and go euro/self closing. All the unused piano holes would be inside and as you say, it is a shop cabinet. I find I learn a lot and accept most of my mistakes . . . I mean learning opportunities . . . on my shop cabinets.

[Laurie Brown]

I use nothing but euro hinges. They are adjustable in three different directions and make aligning doors a snap!

[Greg Funk]

Here is one suggested procedure:

1. Attach the hinges to the doors
2. Attach the other side of the hinge to the frame using one screw on the top and one on the 2nd to last hole on the bottom for both doors.
3. Check the alignment with the doors closed. Measure the difference in gap between the top and bottom.
4. Leaving the top screw in place, adjust the bottom of the hinge 1/2 the distance measured in step 3. Attach using the bottom screw location.
5. Re-check. If the gap is not uniform discard the piano hinges and replace with euro style.

Greg

[Terry Bigelow]

I agree with the Euro advice. Save yourself the headache and time and slap on some Euros. You can adjust height, depth and width by using a screwdriver in about two minutes!

[Al Willits]

Anybody wanna buy 2- 24" sections of only slightly used piano hinge????:D :D

Seems the eruo hinge is the way to go, I'm assuming there's a better set up procedure to them, other than hope and pray method I'm using now???

Thanks all, I may just leave these the way they are till a rainy day, but I'll look into the eruo hinges...any suggestions on who or where to find them?
I'm assuming there's good and bad hinge's ???
Al

[Ed Nelson978]

Have you verified that your doors are square? The top of the doors look parallel to the top of the table. If the bottom of the door is moved over would it not alter the alignment on the top? It may just be the camera angle.

Here's something to try. Remove the doors from the cabinet and open the hinge. Mark the center of the case less the desired offset. Measure the distance between the screw holes in the hinge and add this to the center mark. Clamp the door to the case at the center mark and using a level to ensure alignment. The open hinge should be over the correct place to mark your screw holes. Use a self aligning punch to marke the centers of the screw holes.

Verify the hinge is square to the door before doing this. Let me know if it works!

[Tyler Howell]

Making some progress there Al!;)
Keep it up you be turning out doors to make Lori happu in no time.
TJH

[Al Willits]

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Have you verified that your doors are square?
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Ya, they were anyway....not so sure about the cabinet anymore, remember this was my first big project and between that and the fact the plans I used needed a bit of redoing to work with my saw, I think its more than likely the cabinet is unsquare, I'll check tonight to be sure.
I also will try your method, thanks.

Tyler, stop over if ya get a chance, ya can show me how a pro would do it...:D

Al

[Michael Panis]

Doug has the most practical solution at this point, Al. As a suggestion for next time, consider using Euro hinges as they are VERY adjustable. I learned how nice this past weekend when fitting the hinges to my cherry vanity project.

If you have any drawers in the cabinet and no face frame, the Euro hinges aren't a great choice. They generally don't open widely enough to let a drawer slide past the doors. I found this out the hard way. I built a bunch of shop cabinets to go under my outfeed table with sliding shelves. After getting the shelves sliding nicely, I put on the doors with Euro hinges and they looked and worked nicely. I was about to call it a day when I tried to slide a shelf out and realized it didn't work.:( The only non-face frame Euro hinges that openned widely enough are monsters that cost about $27 each. I ended up using hinges that look like Euro hinges, but mount on the face of the door. And my doors sag a little bit like Al's.

Hope those vanities are going well. Looking fwd to the next update...

[John Lucas]

I am one who does use piano hinges at times...such as a toychest or blanket chest. Here is how I nstall them - foolproof way:

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/copy_of_www_woodshopdemos_com/bchst-163.jpg

Here is website page: http://www.woodshopdemos.com/bchst-10.htm

[Greg Sznajdruk]

Piano hinge screws can misaligned the hinge. Several have suggested center punch or Vix bit. Vix bit has saved me from your dilemma in the past. Assume your box and doors are square this is the probable culprit.

Greg

[Al Willits]

Thanks John, there's some stuff I can use, but the problem is aligning two doors, not one, that includes the spacing between them.
I think your idea of opening the doors and using some sort of a jig to support them is headed in the right direction though.

Went out and checked squareness, everything is with in a 1/8" of square, one door may be a hair over a 1/8th in taller due to a ooops and the re gluing the broken frame, but the main problem is one door is lower than the other and the lower door is a bit crooked.

I think I got the level of each door figured out, maybe by using a straight edge along the bottom with the doors open, not sure if I should pre mount the hinge on either the door or cabinet, but I'll try both.

I've got the drill bits that center themselfs, (Vix?) so the holes are correct, I'm just not getting the doors propery alined.
More of that damn learning curve...:D

Planning on using the eruo hinge on the kitchen cabinet, but I'd like to figure these out also, especially for stuff like shop cabinets.
Thanks for the help.

Al

[Terry Bigelow]

In response to Micheal, what you say IS true, but when I put roll-outs(that's what I call them) inside a "frameless" cabinet I simply mount the slides for them onto a 3/4" strip and attach those to the inside of the cabinet as a spacer so they slide out past the doors and hinges(the euros can be a little big). Works every time!