I have purchased some rectangular butler table hinges from Lee Valley and am having trouble routing the gains for them. Since I have eight hinges to mount, I want to make a jig. Lee Valley has no data sheet for them. I need to know how to position the hinges to leave an appropriate space between the leaves (ca 0.15″) and how to route the gain for the springs and other protuberances. Can anyone help me?
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Replies
Hi Thaddeus,
I apologize that no one has jumped on this question with a reply. I suspect it's because these hinges are pretty unique due to the protruding spring, and I'm surprised Lee Valley doesn't supply installation specs.
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To cut the gains, or hinge mortise, you could create a router template and route away the waste, then go in with a chisel to make room for the protrusions.
Basically, the jig would including a 1/4-in thick plywood base, and then four stops to guide the router on the x and y axes. This type of jig will automatically give you round corners, so if you purchased the square hinges, you'll have to go back and square the corners with a chisel. I can't find an article describing this type of jig on our site, though I did find a similar jig for cutting mortises for Euro hinges.
Really, the first thing I would recommend is installing one of these hinges on a piece of scrap material and see how it fits.
Sorry I can't be of more help.
Regards, Matt Berger
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