Door Hinge Template

[Pappy]

Anyone know of plans for a shop made template for routing the hinge mortises on both door and jamb (Interior)?

I am starting to replace all the interior doors in the house and the jambs. Most of the jambs now are veneered particle board. New ones will be 3/4 ply with iron on glue edging.

[Tom Slick]

The only one I've used was made by templaco maybe you can steal some ideas.

[just started]

Try this

http://www.plansnow.com/routerjigs.html

[fbrend123]

Check this out:

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuild...s-quickly.aspx

[Pappy]

Check this out:

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuild...s-quickly.aspx

That is close to what I was looking for. I would have to make 2 templates fixed to a mount plate to clamp to the door. For the jamb, a spacer to create 1/8" - 3/16" clearance at the top should work.

[Dutchman46]

Hinge template.

One thing that you can do is : 1 ps. of 1 By 2 1/2 by 3/4 in. pine, and make a sliding dove tail cut on the edge. This would be the male dove tail cut so it can slide the full length of the 1 b 2 1/2 by 80 inches.(or what ever height the door is. next , cut 3 pieces of 1 by 3 in. of pine 6 in. long each. On the edge of these 3 pieces, cut the female part of the dove tail in them. Cut the size of the hinges into each of the boards, and make them identical, so they can be interchanged with each other. These act as the template that you Will use. Use a flat 3/4 bit with collar to guide the router around the edge and the cut will be set for the depth of the hinge. I have used that template some years ago when i replaced some interior doors. You can set the guide up to the door that you are going to replace, and put a stop on each of the templates to make sure that the hinge is not cut to deep. Also to set the distance between each template, use a very small finish nail and once the template is set right where you want it, put a hole so it passes through the dove tail to hold it firmly in place. Adjust the 1 B. 3 in rail so it lays against the top of the jam, and adjust the gap for the door fit (3 /32, to 1/8 in. I know that this is a long post, but i am not all that good at making explanations short I hope that this will save you some money and do a good job for you as it did for me. Thank you PS. You may need to adjust the template for each door, and drill the small hole thwourg the dove tail as the doors require.

[JimD]

I prefer to use a 1/2 straight bit that has a 1/2 bearing on top and a 1/4 shank. I use it in my Bosch Colt. The advantage is the cutout is the same size as the hinge so it is easy to do a trial fit. If I had a bunch of doors to do, I would consider just using a piece of plywood as long as the door with cutouts for the hinge locations. It wastes a bit of material but is easier than multiple jigs connected or one jig you move from hinge to hinge. Idea is the same as illustrated nicely by FWW.

I find it a little difficult to make the cutout real straight sided. Sometimes I make these jigs by glueing together 3/4 stock. It takes a bit more time but I get better results.

Jim

[eezlock]

door hinge template

Pappy, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but thought I'd pass it along anyway. Porter-Cable has one made of plastic that works well for a few
bucks...less than $30.00 I think. It will save you a bunch of time and hard work so that offsets the cost in my opinion. They have been seen at HD
don't know about Lowe's...you might want to check them out. I have a
door latch and strikeplate lock template from P-C, it also came with a router bit when I bought mine 3 or 4 years ago.Works good! eezlock

[fbrend123]

Yeah, I second the Porter-Cable template. Didn't mention it in my previous post because Pappy asked about shop-built, but I have both the PC hinge template, and the PC striker plate template. About $45 for both, but easy to use and really speeds up the process. Can to different size hinges, too. I've hung a lot of doors with them.

[dbhost]

Pappy, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but thought I'd pass it along anyway. Porter-Cable has one made of plastic that works well for a few
bucks...less than $30.00 I think. It will save you a bunch of time and hard work so that offsets the cost in my opinion. They have been seen at HD
don't know about Lowe's...you might want to check them out. I have a
door latch and strikeplate lock template from P-C, it also came with a router bit when I bought mine 3 or 4 years ago.Works good! eezlock

If that's the one I am thinking about, I've seen Nahm use it on TOH a few times, as well as their big fancy aluminum one. Might be worth a look. I need to pick something similar up for a door project on FILs house...

[woodinville guy]

Yeah, I second the Porter-Cable template. Didn't mention it in my previous post because Pappy asked about shop-built, but I have both the PC hinge template, and the PC striker plate template. About $45 for both, but easy to use and really speeds up the process. Can to different size hinges, too. I've hung a lot of doors with them.

I used the porter cable templates for 14 doors in my last house and it worked awesome! it even came with the router bit.

[Pappy]

I looked at store-bought templates. To be repeatable with minimum measuring/set up I would need 2 of the PC templates fixed to a clamping strip. There are kits sold to locate multiple door hinges but they start at close to $200.

I was looking at pattern bits in Woodcraft after work yesterday, then did some checking on line last night. I think I am going to go with a 1/2" dia / 1/2" cutter length bit and cut templates from BB Ply mounted to a Ply strip. Using a pattern bit, the templates would be the same size as the hinges. Seems like the simplist/cheapest solution.

MLCS $13.00 (Katana $19.00)

Routerbits.com lists a Whiteside for $18.00

Still need to check with my Whiteside 'dealer' in Austin and see what a fix will cost through him.

[Pappy]

My Solution

The solution I came up with involves 2 jigs, neither all that fancy.

The jambpeices are cut from 3/4" Sanded Ply from the Borg. I started by cutting off one end to leave 81 3/4". I was able to cut three 4' header pieces and 8 side jambs from each sheet. The jambs are cut to 4 1/2" on the back (narrow) side with a 2 degree bevel.

After cutting to a final length of 81 1/2" each side jamb got a rabbet cut at the top the receive the header with a top bearing pattern bit and a simple jig. The open end rises a little when it is clamped but is easily pushed flat with the router.



For the hinge mortises, I expanded on the Fine Homebuilding link that fbrend posted. I made 2 hinge templates and attached them to a clamping strip so that each temlate opening is 7" from the end. With the jig set at the top rabbet, the space between the templates is such that the bottom hinge is ~11" from the floor.



A 3/16" notch it cut in each end of the clamping strip. By registering the notch at the top of the door I create a 3/16" gap at the top when the door is hung.



I think I will get the results I want.

[cabinetman]

I made a template years ago to hang multiple doors at an office that I did the cabinetry. It was pretty simple and didn't require bushings. It was basically two 1x4's full length that could be clamped flat to either the door or the jamb (less trim). Flat templates (3) were cut out for the base of a trim router to pattern the mortise. I used a 1/4" straight cutter, for the rounded corner hinges. If you use the square ones, a little chiseling is needed.

Here's how it worked. the flat templates (can be ply any thickness) were large enough to get a small clamp to clamp them to the 1x's (the 3/4" edges faced the opening flush with the face of the jamb/door). they could be moved easily if needed. The pattern for the mortise is cut large enough for the edge of the trimmer base to guide on.

Then there are the times the client gets a kick out of seeing them done with just a chisel, OR, noise is a no no.
.