Project Information
I guess this is kind of a part of a project. But I had so much fun building these that I just wanted to share. I had never tried to build something like this before.
These are maple hinges. The barrel on them is pretty small, 1/4 inch. The flaps or plates are 1/8 inch thick. The hinge pins are bamboo from kabob skewers.
I started by using scraps to create several boards that were 1/4 inch thick. The thickness sander really helped here. I then used a 1/8 inch radius bull-nose cutter in the router table to put a rounded end on the endgrain. Then flipped the board vertically and ran it through the same bit with the same setting to cause the cutter to create 3/4 of a circle.
I then center punched (or pressed) the drill center location. I freehanded the drill operation using just the drill vise to hold the board vertically. This worked amazingly well. I had also tried fences and stop blocks, but found this way to give the best results. I drilled half way, flipped the board and finished the bore. I used a 7/64 bit (just under an eighth of an inch).
Back to the router table, I installed a mortising bit and formed the flat plate. Then a quarter inch bit and performed what is basically a finger joint type operation. I tried a couple different bits and operations here, but the quarter inch vertical seemed to work the best.
I cut them to size and installed the pin. I used bamboo skewers that I had mounted in a hand drill to sand smooth. I found that spinning the pin was an easy way to insert it too. The pin does not seem to need any glue, and I cannot imagine any of them coming out of there.
This is just the beginning, I really feel like these are going to be used by me a lot more in the future.
Steve
Edit: I added a drill guide and some other hints in This Project
These are maple hinges. The barrel on them is pretty small, 1/4 inch. The flaps or plates are 1/8 inch thick. The hinge pins are bamboo from kabob skewers.
I started by using scraps to create several boards that were 1/4 inch thick. The thickness sander really helped here. I then used a 1/8 inch radius bull-nose cutter in the router table to put a rounded end on the endgrain. Then flipped the board vertically and ran it through the same bit with the same setting to cause the cutter to create 3/4 of a circle.
I then center punched (or pressed) the drill center location. I freehanded the drill operation using just the drill vise to hold the board vertically. This worked amazingly well. I had also tried fences and stop blocks, but found this way to give the best results. I drilled half way, flipped the board and finished the bore. I used a 7/64 bit (just under an eighth of an inch).
Back to the router table, I installed a mortising bit and formed the flat plate. Then a quarter inch bit and performed what is basically a finger joint type operation. I tried a couple different bits and operations here, but the quarter inch vertical seemed to work the best.
I cut them to size and installed the pin. I used bamboo skewers that I had mounted in a hand drill to sand smooth. I found that spinning the pin was an easy way to insert it too. The pin does not seem to need any glue, and I cannot imagine any of them coming out of there.
This is just the beginning, I really feel like these are going to be used by me a lot more in the future.
Steve
Edit: I added a drill guide and some other hints in This Project
