Arrrggg...I hate hardware!!

[DaveO]

Well I set about hanging the doors on my stereo cabinet today. This is the first and last time that I will use this type of 270º no-mortise hinge. I don't know if there is any other style out there, but if someone could invent one in a Euro style, they might become very rich.

I laid the cabinet on it's back to make it easier to align the doors and place the hinges. I got the hinges placed where they would look best on the doors, and marked that location. Took the doors off and discovered that where I wanted the hinges to be couldn't be done due to interference from the shelves. I changed the positioning and started drilling pilot holes. There are 8 #4 brass screws to each hinge. Each had to first be chased by a steel screw, and then waxed and driven by hand

I had sized my doors to be a tight fit, so I had a little room to plane the edges for a perfect fit, and tiny gap between them. Due to a little misalignment with the screwing I had to tweak the fit of the doors as they were a little tight on top. I planed them down to a nice uniform 1/16" gap. Looked good. Then I stood the cabinet up and my gap changed :dontknow::dontknow: I now have a 3/32" gap at the bottom and a 3/16" gap at the top :BangHead::BangHead:

I guess the carcass must have been racked slightly while lying on it's back (I haven't added the back to it yet, to facilitate easier finishing)
There is no adjustment available on these hinges, and there ain't enough teeth-picks in the world to fill all the screw holes and try to re-align them.

So I think I am stuck with coming up with a cover up to hide the gap. I am not sure how that will look, but it's got to be better than the Grand Canyon I have now.


Any suggestions??????:eusa_pray:eusa_pray

To add to my hardware woes, the hinges are slightly sprung and I will now have to find a catch to keep the doors closed fully:BangHead::BangHead:.

I bought some knobs and pulls for the doors/drawers as I am not going to have the time to turn them myself as originally planned.
The pulls are fine, but the knobs come with screws that are sized for a drawer box with a false front. They won't tighten down on my only ¾" thick "false" drawer front. Another trip to the hardware store :BangHead::BangHead:

On a better note I installed all 32 #4 x 5/8" brass screws without breaking a single one :eusa_danc:eusa_danc:eusa_danc:eusa_danc:eusa_danc That is a first for me.

Dave

 

[gator]

Dave -

For the four holes that fasten to the carcass, could you take a rat-tail file and elongate the holes so that you could move the hinge up or down and then tighten down the screws? Would give you some vertical alignment possibility.

George

 

[CrealBilly]

Dave I mucked with a lot of those hinges and aligning doors when I was doing furniture repair. Loosen all the screws on the door only, place a shim behind the one screw that screws the door to the edge and tighten the screws align your doors with various thickness of shims.

Also a thin strip of wood usually goes on the backside of the left door sicking out about an inch or so to conceal the gap.

 

[Woodman2k]

Dave ,
I was gonna recommend the same fix for concealing the gap,a thin strip of your material attached to the back of the left door.As far as attaching your knobs,go with the pocket hole hardware,square drive,washer head screws in a variety of length's.Klingspor,Woodcraft,and maybe the borg,they all have them.
Greg

 

[erasmussen]

Yep like jeff said THIN wood shims,.
I hate small brass hinges.

 

[DaveO]

Dave -

For the four holes that fasten to the carcass, could you take a rat-tail file and elongate the holes so that you could move the hinge up or down and then tighten down the screws? Would give you some vertical alignment possibility.

George

George, my vertical alignment is almost dead on (at least to my eyes), it's the horizontal that I am having issues with. But that is a great tip for the future. I don't know why the hinges don't come with elongated holes to give you a little room for movement.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[FredP]

jeff has it!:icon_thum ur gonna hafta shim em. you can also place a thin washer between the hinge and the frames and put the screw through it. washers make better shims if you can use them. sometimes you can bend a little swag into the hinges by closing a piece of cardboard in the gap and gently closing down on it. unfortunately or fortunately the hinges you have are kinda cheep. if you mess them up they wont cost much to replace them and try again. you can use a reverse astragal to cover the gap but that means you are forced to make one door active and it will have to be opened first every time.

 

[DaveO]

Dave I mucked with a lot of those hinges and aligning doors when I was doing furniture repair. Loosen all the screws on the door only, place a shim behind the one screw that screws the door to the edge and tighten the screws align your doors with various thickness of shims.

Also a thin strip of wood usually goes on the backside of the left door sicking out about an inch or so to conceal the gap.

Oh, I already have a good bit of shimming going on. With the way that these hinges wrap around the carcass if I was to shim it towards the inside then that would throw off the hole alignment on the perpendicular face, and could become a huge PITA to deal with.
I would almost rather just cover the gap.
Are you suggesting putting the "gap hiding strip" on the back of the doors. I was thinking of it on the front as that would hide the gap. But on the back would block the light, and could offer the stand-off spacer that I need to deal with the space the non-mortise hinges push the door out :eusa_thin:eusa_thin:eusa_thin


Dave

 

[FredP]

Oh, I already have a good bit of shimming going on. With the way that these hinges wrap around the carcass if I was to shim it towards the inside then that would throw off the hole alignment on the perpendicular face, and could become a huge PITA to deal with.
I would almost rather just cover the gap.
Are you suggesting putting the "gap hiding strip" on the back of the doors. I was thinking of it on the front as that would hide the gap. But on the back would block the light, and could offer the stand-off spacer that I need to deal with the space the non-mortise hinges push the door out :eusa_thin:eusa_thin:eusa_thin


Dave

if you use the filler on the back you will still see the uneven margin. on the front it will hide the gap but one door will be open first all the time.

 

[FredP]

if you shim you will have to shim one hinge on each door to keep them even across the top.

 

[erasmussen]

If you do use a cover strip then you only need to latch one door.
I have used small ball latches in the bottom of doors and also used small rear earth magnets to hold doors closed
I dont think a cover strip would look right on that type of door

 

[DaveO]

You can use a reverse astragal to cover the gap but that means you are forced to make one door active and it will have to be opened first every time.

I don't think the opening arrangement would be an issue, they will either both be closed or open.
I don't have a reverse Rastro-Gal (dag faced girl) bit. Would another profile, like a half round or a double Roman Orgy (ogee) bit look decent enough???


Dave

 

[FredP]

I don't think the opening arrangement would be an issue, they will either both be closed or open.
I don't have a reverse Rastro-Gal (dag faced girl) bit. Would another profile, like a half round or a double Roman Orgy (ogee) bit look decent enough???


Dave

:rotflm:the astragal is the piece used. not a special bit. you can profile it any way you want. could be half round or double ogee or whatever flips ur switch.:gar-La; normally it would be a "T" shape and attach to the edge of one door. [your doors would need to be planed down to fit the astrgal in the crack with a little clearance.] It can just be a moulding atached to the door but that doesnt offer much strength and can be jarred loose with repeated use. as stated above if you go this route you only need a catch on the one door. [the one with the astragal]:icon_thum

 

[Joe Scharle]

Dave, if the case is square and not trapezoidal and the doors (I like those BTW) are square, it should come together. I would suspect the hinges. I've had defective hinges before, and I've messed up hinge installations so badly that I had to mortise down a half inch, glue in a block and start over!
And you've also proved the old cabinet makers saying of "hang the doors in place"!
Good luck,
Joe

 

[froglips]

Well, let me be the first to say 32 brass screws!!! Major accomplishment.

Last time I met 3 brass screws I ended up with 8 holes and no brass screws....

In the deep recesses of my mind, I recall seeing a Lon Schleining video on fixing this problem. He edge glued cut offs from the styles. Took a bit of fussing to find good fits grain wise. So, you could build back up the styles to close the gap. This leaves your hinges in place.

That or a wood stretcher.......

Jim

 

[McRabbet]

Dave, I agree with the guys that suggest a strip attached to one door covering the gap from the back side. But I would put the strip into a Mcrabbet down the back of one door and then have its overhang fit into a comparable Mcrabbet on the back of the mating door. That way the doors will close flush as they should. My .02

 

[toolferone]

What about gluing on a thin strip of wood to the edge of one door and then plane it down to give you the nice gap you want?

 

[Robert Brunke']

Dave,
Take the time to square the carcase with at least a temporary back, or the original one screwed on. After everything is squared then start tweaking the doors.
:widea: or put a block under each front edge of top, tighten with a bessey clamp till you pull the gap at the top of the doors to match the gap at the bottom. :rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:

Regards,
Robert

 

[walnutjerry]

I bought some knobs and pulls for the doors/drawers as I am not going to have the time to turn them myself as originally planned.
The pulls are fine, but the knobs come with screws that are sized for a drawer box with a false front. They won't tighten down on my only ¾" thick "false" drawer front. Another trip to the hardware store :BangHead::BangHead:


Dave

Dave---------I have a pair of electrical pliers I bought from Sears years ago that has a series of holes for different screw sizes------you actually thread the screw in the proper hole shear it off to length desired and back it out with a screw driver and it cleans up the threads at the end of the screw. I had to modify some knob screws when I redid our kitchen. Works real good. I do not know if that type of pliers is still available or not.

It will be worth it for future use if you can find a pair.

Jerry

 

[erasmussen]

I have a pair of them, you could borrow