Do please go to your local public library and get out a basic routing book. Almost every one I have ever seen has shown how to make a hinge jig. Pictures are so much better than words so:
exactly do you clamp the template in place?
Commercial jigs typically come with them built in.
For a home made one, simply make the sheet of material from which the jig is made large enough and clamp to the work outside the area where the router will need to go.
You need fairly sturdy small clamps. For example, I have some Bessey TG screw clamps that I use for this type of work. Axminster power tools catalogue number 308708.
These have built in plastic covers to protect the work. Otherwise, simple screw clamps with packing pieces under the metal to avoid marring the surface would work.
Obviously it's important to avoid the jig from moving during the cutting operation.
A few other points that should have been mentioned before:
- Practice on some scrap first to get the feel of the router and also to set the cutter depth for the piece of hardware.
- Eye protection. This is vital. Occasionally chips will fly out from the work and very occasionally router bits break. Make sure that you have some safety glasses.
- Hearing protection. For router work, sound levels are high. It is unwise not to wear an ear defender. I find it helpful when SWMBO is around as well.
Another useful one is for setting the depth of your rebate. Once you have the jig in place, sit the router on it *while turned off* and then plunge it so that the cutter is in contact with the work - now lock the plunge at that depth.
Most routers have a sliding bar depth stop. Unlock this so it can slide. Now the crafty bit - take your hinge, open it out, and hold one side of it over the bit on the router base the depth stop bar would normally hit, and slide the depth stop bar upto the other side of the hinge, before locking it in position. (you can lose the hinge now - we just needed it to get the thickness of the metal)
You will now have the router plunged to the "zero" position - i.e. just touching the top of the wood. You depth stop will be possitioned such that it will allow you to plunge just a little bit further - the exact thickness of the hinge in fact! You can now safely release the plunge lock and then plunge the router into the work with the knowledge that the plunge stop will stop you at exactly the right depth.
Sorry, I may be being thick here, but if I have a jig to guide the router when I cut out the shallow rectangle needed to let in the hinge on the edge of a door, I can only imagine that I need a clamp (or two) that will stretch the full 2'6" (+ the thickness of the jig) across the face of the door...
I can see what you're saying. If the hinge were being fitted to the face of the door, then you would clamp as described.
For fitting on the edge, you don't have to clamp across the whole width of the door, although I suppose you could ....
The jig simply needs to be attached to a block and that in turn clamped to the door.
Have a look at this
Side view: _________________________ |_________s______________| < jig surface | |### | |###
John, Andy: thanks! So bl**dy obvious once you've been shown!
And, as Richard suggested earlier, I'll be on the library's doorstep come Monday morning.
Oh, and another useful tip:
get a couple of bits of 4x2 about 4' long. Chop out a notch in the middle:
__________________ _____________________ | | | | | |___| | | | |____________________________________________|
Make the notch a bit wider than the thickness of the door. Now cut a couple of shallow angle wedges. Place the 4x2" on the floor with the notches up, and sit the side of the door in them. Gently tap the wedges in between the door and one side of the notch. You now have a free standing door that will not fall over, and you can safely route the other edge. Once done just pull out the wedge and it is free.
___ | | | | | | | | | | __________________| |________________________ | | || | |__________________| ||_______________________| | ||| | || \ | ||__\ < - wedge | | | | | | | | | | < door - hinge side up | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | __________________| |________________________ | | || | |__________________| ||_______________________| | ||| | || \ | ||__\ < - wedge | | | | | | |_|
If you want to treat yourself to a good book on all sorts of jigs etc, then I quite like this one from Amazon:
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