I'm bought some concealed (Euro?) hinges from Screwfix for the doors of a row of bathroom units I'm making:
Now, I've fitted these things from scratch in the past, but I now can't figure out how the hell to do it! Must be getting old :-(
Which component do you fit first - frame or door ? - and how do you get the positioning correct? There's no info that came with mine to give any inkling, and Google is unfriendly on the matter today.
David
Fit to the door first. Get a door and a free sidewall, and hold the door in the correct closed position relative to the sidewall . Then offer up a hinge in the closed position, and determine how far from the edge of the door it needs to be. Then drill the recesses in the door and fix the hinges to the door. Finally, offer the door plus hinges up to the free sidewall and determine where to attach the arms of the hinges to the sidewall.
If you get it more or less right, the hinges are usually adjustable in two of the 3 planes - so you can 'fine tune' them.
================================== It's worth making a dummy door from an offcut.
Mark the position of the hinge (on the dummy door)with the outer edge of the hinge about 1/8" (3mm) from the edge. Drill and fix the hinge to the dummy and then fix the other part of the hinge (the bit which will attach to cupboard carcase) to the main hinge and position in the mid position of its adjustable range. Place the dummy door complete with hinge in position against the carcase and use the hinge to mark the position of the hinge. Fix the dummy door in the marked position and check to see that it opens and closes correctly. Adjust as necessary. Make another dummy if necessary to finalise the correct position of the hinge on the door - the 1/8" suggested above is a good starting point.
Cic.
David,
I bought one of these:
Decide on position for door part (critical to get door edge to hole spacing right - depends on material thicknesses). I think most of mine have had centres 100mm up or down from door edge and a gap of something like 3 to 5 mm from edge of door to edge of hole. (Need to check that.)
Fit the door parts of the hinges. (I usually smear some PVA inside the
35mm holes and let them dry before fitting the hinges themselves.) Put both hinges into their holes and use a long straight edge to make sure they align with each other. Screw into place.Place door alongside main cupboard. Mark exact position of hinges. Using template (above) you can mark both sides of the hinge or the midpoint.
Used template to mark and/or make holes for screws. (Or laboriously measure, check, measure, check and eventually mark and drill.)
Fit the cupboard parts.
Assemble. (With the Clip Top this is just snapping them into place - none of this hold in place and tighten an awkward screw.)
I have now fitted Lama and FGV (and probably other) hinges. Mostly in kit furniture but also in new work. My conclusion? Pay double. Get Blum lay-on Clip Top hinges. Get the Blumotion soft close mechanism (shown on that page) - one per door should suffice. Makes the cheapos supplied by Wickes/B&Q/etc. look the cheap tat they are.
Reasons: Quality of design and manufacture. Ease of fitting and adjustment. Mostly just turning a screw - whereas many others you have to undo a screw, adjust, tighten - repeatedly. Availability of fitting template (cheap too!). Availability of fitting details. Available in an extraordinary range of wide opening and special versions. Best soft close I have ever used. Pretty good web site with lots of info. - when you work out how it is structured.
The only negative I can come up with is price. (See Andy Hall's posts passim. :-) )
"The quality remains long after the price is forgotten!"
Disclaimer: I do not have any shares in Blum. :-)
Now,
Yes, well worth it to get the precise positioning/
It also depends slightly on the model of hinge.
The hole needs to be drilled with a proper hinge cutter - not any old Forstner bit. Otherwise there is a risk of the locating point breaking through the material when the ole has reached the required depth. I use a scrap of the frame material and set the whole thing up on the drill press.
I've used exactly the same parts on my cloakroom cupboards as well as other projects. The price of Blum stuff is more than that of the cheap generics, but is virtually zero in the context of a complete project or the time taken in making a new door.
It's also worth getting a copy of the Blum catalogue. Isaac Lord will provide one on request, a well produced hardback book.
Thanks all. Looks like a dummy door is the way forward... I'm spitting to see the Blum template at Isaac Lord though! It's a no-brainer: they must be dirt cheap to produce, so why aren't they available for all such hinges, even the dirt cheap ones like mine?
Blum for me next time... ;-)
David
David,
It does work for the hinges used by B&Q which are, I think, cheapie FGV.
27mm from edge to holes.The after-market style (cruciform) soft-close fitments supplied by Wickes are made by Blum - but they are single action and fit on the non-hinge side. Nowhere near as good as Blumotion. In fact, Wickes use a mixture of Blum stuff (e.g. drawer mechanisms and soft-close) and others (hinges).
The Clip Top hinges have the singular advantage that doors can easily be removed and replaced at any time without even lifting a screwdriver and without losing the adjustment position of the fitted door.
And you might care to have a quick look at my post of a month ago:
"Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y From: Rod Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:22:50 +0100 Local: Tues 15 Apr 2008 10:22 Subject: Fitting Blum Hinges
Recently I have fitted a few Blum hinges.
First pair, I carefully measured, remeasured, drilled, etc. Not too bad. They work.
Second pair. I bought Blum template 65.5300 from Isaac Lord for £2-31 inc. Plonked on. Drilled through template (2.5mm). Fitted the plates. Worked perfectly. Only measurement required is distance from top/bottom of cabinet to hinge position. And even then you can simply place the dorr (hinges attached) alongside the cabinet and draw along the sides of the hinges. There are marks/edges on the template to align with edge or centre lines done like that.
Doesn't do a lot but what it does it does well.
Apparently the template has to be ordered directly from Austria so they might not be available from all stockists of Blum stuff.
I suspect that it might work with some other makes as well - the holes are set 27mm from the cabinet edge and 32mm apart."
And spit some more. :-)
If you want one but can't find one, email me.
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