Aligning hinges on box lid, or nearly anything else...

No digital camera. Think of it like this, though:

Mortise the box bottom and attach the hinges with screws. Now, pretend you are going to attach the top with common nails through the hinges, instead of screws. Put the nails through the hinge leaves, and fold the leaves over into the closed position, so that the nail points are sticking up. If the nail heads are the thickness of the space between the hinge leaves when closed, and the nail shanks are the diameter of the screw holes, you'll have the nail points right where the screw holes need to be drilled. If the nails are so short that just the points stick up through the hinges, you've got it. Place the box top over the closed hinge, align it, tap gently to get the points to mark it, and you're done.

Or like this:

You've seen dowel centers used to transfer hole centers from one piece to another. From the bottom - a cylindrical shank to fit into the dowel hole, a large flat rim to keep it from pushing too far into the hole, and a small conical point to mark the hole center on the other piece. These hinge spotters have those same parts, but the order is changed. The rim is at the bottom, and is the thickness of the space between the hinge leaves, to keep them parallel. Next the shank, which is the diameter of the screw hole and the length of the hinge thickness. On top is the small conical point.

If you are using cast or machined hinges where the leaves close tightly against each other, eliminate the rim or make it to fit the countersink.

John Martin