Cutting Hinge Slots In Door
Take a plain piece of wood, the width of your door, and cut it down until it fits into the shape left by your former door hinge. This may include covering over any wood stains left by the hinge. Once the wood is the right size, glue the inward facing side, and then press it into place. Hold until the glue starts to dry. Step 3 - Finishing Up. I laid the hinge on the bass board and drew around the non-pin sides 3. I cut out the filler board with a box knife 4. I filed the edges slightly until the board fit snugly into the mortise hole. I glued it in (using standard wood glue) and pressed/clamped it in place with a 2x3 board and shim to the other side of the door frame.
When installing a door, the most important thing to take care of is the hinges. You need to cut out the hinges right to install the door properly. Failing to do so, will only make your easy project difficult.
The good news is that there are many easy to use tools available to accomplish your task. Tools like Dremel, drill, router, and others are widely used for cutting out door hinges.
If you want to install your door all by yourself, you need to have some basic knowledge about the tools and of course, the steps. If you think, you need help, then you are in the right place. In this guidepost, we will tell you how to cut out door hinges.
Step By Step Guide For How to Cut a Door Hinge Using Dremel
If you are curious to know how to cut out a door hinge with a Dremel, then we have got your back. We have laid down the steps below in detail so that it’s easier for you to follow them. Whether you are doing it for the first time or the tenth time, you can take help from the guide below.
1. Mounting a door hinge using a Dremel
- The first thing you need to do is mark the door so that you can position the hinges correctly. Now place the door next to it. You need to lay the joint receiving side upward. With the help of a tape, measure the distance from the bottom to the top of the door and then mark it with a pencil.
Take a hinge and put it on the spine of the door and make sure that it is in line with the pencil line. Use a utility knife to trace the outline in the wood.
- Now you can use the Dremel to fix the housings of the hinge. Use the Dremel and push it down until the bit is completely inserted into the door hinge.
For routing, you need to strictly follow the outline you made with the pencil. Once done, remove all the wood pieces inside the framework. Now turn off the router and remove all the wood dust away. You can stop routing at the moment when the hinge fits sturdy in the hole. You need to repeat the same process for the other door hinges.
2. Uninstalling a door hinge using a Dremel
- You need to get new hinges that will fit the old ones in size. The best thing to do would be to measure the current joints so that you can get the right size.
- You don’t have to uninstall the entire door while replacing the hinges. With the help of a Dremel take the screws carefully. However, make sure that you are using the right bit as there are different bits available for a Dremel system. Different bits are used for different materials.
If the old hinge is attached to the door for a long time, you may have to sand or repaint the door a bit.
Safety Issues That You Should Take Care While Cutting Out Door Hinge
When working with sharp tools and heavy doors, you need to be careful to avoid any mishaps from happening. If you are doing it for the first time, then you need to mention extra precautions.
Tools like Dremel, drill, and other hinge cutting equipment are sharp and can prove to be dangerous if you do not follow the right safety measures. To help you out, we have mentioned some of the safety measures that you must follow while completing the task.
1. You need to wear the required protective gear while cutting out a door hinge. Since you will be working with sharp tools like Dremel and router, you need to wear protective gloves that can keep your hands protected.
By wearing safety gloves, you cannot only protect your hands from the sharp tools but also from the wood pieces that can hurt your hand. Make sure that the gloves you are wearing are durable and can provide you the protection you need.
2. You should also wear safety goggles while working with wood. When drilling holes and using a Dremel system, wood dust keeps flying here and there. Even a single, tiny wood piece can prove to be fatal if it enters your eyes by mistake. Therefore, you should get safety goggles that are meant for these tasks. This will keep your eyes protected. It is better to maintain safety than to regret it later.
3. When installing the door, you need to be careful, especially if the door is heavy. In that case, you can ask someone to give you a hand. This is important for your safety so that you don’t drop the door on your body by mistake.
Other Tools That You Can Use For Cutting Door Hinge
You can make use of different tools to cut outdoor hinges. The point is to use the tool that you find easy to use. Here are some of the commonly used tools for cutting out door hinges.
1. Dremel
Dremel is perhaps the best door hinge cutting tool you can use. It is a versatile tool that is very similar to a drilling machine. It is also known as a sanding machine or multi-saw grinder. The specialty of this tool lies in its speed. This handy tool is powered by electricity and has a low torque power that is useful in performing a wide range of tasks. It allows you to work with high precision.
The plus points of a Dremel is that is flexible, compact, accurate, and handy. You can use this tool in narrow and small places where other tools cannot be used. With the help of a Dremel, you can easily accomplish any task whether it is big or small.
From polishing to carving to grinding, a Dremel system can be used for all these tasks. It can even be used for cutting out door hinges quite easily.
2. Chisel
A chisel is an easy to use tool that comes with a sharp blade on its end. It is mainly used for cutting and carving hard material including metals, wood, or stone. It is struck with mechanical power or mallet. The handle of the tool is made of wood.
Chiselling requires you to put force on the blade into the material that you want to cut. The force can be applied using a hammer or you can even push it with hands.
This type of tool is mainly used for woodturning, woodworking, and sculpture. Using this simple tool, you can easily cut out door hinges in no time.
3. Router
A router is a type of power or hand tool that is used to hollow out an area in hard materials like plastic or wood. Routers are mostly used for woodworking.
There are two types of routers, an electric router, and the hand tool router. The handheld version is the original form. But most workers prefer to work with an electric router as it is easier to use. An electric router is a versatile version of a handheld router.
This type of tool is used for recessing lock faceplates, cutting out door hinges, and others.
4. Drill
A drill is one of the most commonly used tools for driving fasteners and making round holes. There are different types of power drills available that are used in different applications.
Drills are a popular choice because of their power, speed, and size. These electrically powered devices can help you get done with your work in no time.
It is commonly used in metalworking, woodworking, and machine tool fabrication. Not just that but they are also used for a variety of utility and construction projects.
With the help of these tools, you can DIY cut out door hinges. But in this post, we are concerned only about the Dremel tool. In the next section below, we will discuss the steps to cut outdoor hinges using a Dremel.
FAQs
1. Can You use a Dremel System for Door Hinges?
Answer: The Dremel system with a router attachment can help you easily install door hinges. With the help of the router attachment, the Dremel is transformed into a surface router. This can be used to handle the speed, size, and detail of various small jobs. Dremel makes it easier for you to mount door hinges.
2. Can You Route with a Dremel?
Cutting Hinge Slots In Doors
Answer: When woodworking or doing other routing projects, you can attach a router to your Dremel to turn it into a plunge router. With the help of this attachment, you can use your rotary tool to cut letters and rout circles.
Final Word
Thus, you can see how useful a Dremel system is when it comes to cutting out a door hinge. It not only makes your work faster but also allows you to finish your project with high precision. Now that you know the steps to use a Dremel to cut out door hinges, it should be easier for you.
| Chiseling out a hinge mortise |
Crawford, on hand for his third nomination, didn't even bother to inform the OQ that the correct word for that 'slot' is 'mortise.' We think that slot suggests a pocket similar to the one for a mortise lock; a deep, narrow hole into the door's rails and stiles. Then again, it was pretty apparent that Kenneth had to 'research' his topic, doing a rather poor job of copy-reword-paste in the process. He also needed to proofread better for things like subject-verb agreement...
'A slab door, more commonly known as door blanks, are doors [sic] without any holes for the hardware.'Ummm, yeah, they is... and then there's this cogent introductory material:
'Most doors require butt hinges that require cutting slots for the hinges into the doors. Cutting out slots for door hinges in a slab door requires using a couple of the butt hinge leaves for guides. Cutting the wood involves using a wood chisel with a sharp edge.'Wow. Useful information – we figured you'd want a dull chisel! But it's Kenneth's instructions that caught our staffer's attention. take, for instance this step:
'Adjust a combination square so that a quarter inch of the blade extends beyond the straight edge. Place the straight edge of the combination square against the front face of the door with the edge of the blade over the door edge.'We know what Crawford's trying to do, and we have two corrections: first, it's not the 'front side,' it's the swing side. Some doors open in, after all. Second, it's not a quarter of an inch, it's the thickness of one leaf of the hinge, which is rarely more than 1⁄
Cutting Hinge Slots In Door
8 inch. Next, it's'Place a pencil on the end of the blade and blade the combination square across the door...'Ummm, no idea what 'blade the... square' might mean. Most of the rest is more or less correct, although we aren't sure why Kenneth thinks the average DIYer is gonna have a 2-inch chisel on hand. Our staffers are pretty well-equipped, and none of them has a 2-inch wood chisel...
Crawford didn't mention that it's getting ever harder to find butt hinges with square corners, because most people who hang doors use a router and a hinge template. Even if you do find yourself using a router for square hinges, it might interest you to know that there are corner chisels... if you're not as clueless as our Dumbass of the Day, that is.
¹ They sure as heck don't need to scour those niches...
DDIY - DOORS