# Cabinet Door Hinge Templates



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

I am at the final stages of my first form scratch wood project. I have built 18 replacement shaker style cabint doors out of maple and mdf. These doors have a 3/8" inset and a 3/8" overhang of the cabinet opening with a face frame edge mounting method. These are replacements for the original doors that had a 1/2" overlay/3/8" inset and brass hinges that we couldn't find stainless replacements for.

Here is the hinge we are using: https://img.goingm.com/Images%5CAmerock/amerock_pn_BP7565G10.jpg

I need to find/build a template to mount the hinges to the cabinet doors and to drill the pilot holes for the hinge into the face frame to ensure all the cabinets are square and level.

All i can find online are template system for european cup hinges. Does anyone have any suggestions where or how to create a solid template that will work for this?


----------



## Nubsnstubs (Aug 30, 2013)

Try Amerock. I have one for surface mount hinges with that pattern. ......... Jerry (in Tucson)


----------



## skatefriday (May 5, 2014)

I know this is not the answer you are looking for, but I just finished
installing doors into my first cabinet. I used the blum clip top hinges
and they are fantastic. Used a jig on a drill press to bore out the cups,
mounted the plates to the cabinet, clicked the doors on, a couple
quick adjustments on the cam and it looked like a professional did it.

I can't recommend these hinges highly enough. And picked them up
for about $4.00 per hinge from a cabinet maker's supply place.


----------



## verdesardog (Apr 2, 2011)

Make your own jig!


----------



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback. I am going to opt for making my own jig. I am going to need to create two jigs:
One for the faceframe edges (a single jig for the top & bottom hinge locations should)
One/two for the cabinets faces I need to make this so they are good for both left and right cabinets (Remember i have a 3/8" rabbet for the cabinets).

Does anyone have a how guide or suggestions on materials/design? I would like to create something that would actually be re-usable with the same hinges. I am considering remaking the bottom cabinets with bead-board MDF panels if we decide the flat MDF panels are too plain.


----------



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

I was thinking of building it out of sheet metal kind of like this:









but I don't have a bending brake.


----------



## scvwood27 (Jan 21, 2013)

Totally off topic, but why did you use Maple if you plan on painting the doors? You are painting them right, considering the MDF panels? Why spend the extra money on maple instead of poplar or some other less expensive wood?


----------



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

I was going to use poplar for the rails and stiles with MDF inserts but on the first test cabinet door I made, it seems to get dinged very easily. s4s Maple was $1.42 BF vs. $1.15 BF for poplar so I splurged. It upped the cost about $45 for the whole project and made my wife happy.


----------



## scvwood27 (Jan 21, 2013)

Nice. Maple is 3.99 a bf around here. Poplar isn't much cheaper. Dang!


----------



## KDO (Oct 26, 2010)

Did you try contacting Amerock like Jerry suggested, since those are Amerock hinges? 
The few times I have done that, the hinge company had a template.


----------



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

Yes I did call and after ten minutes of taking to the guy explaining what a jig was used for, he told be to go to home depot…


----------



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

So it has been awhile since I updated this post. The project is 95% complete with a few hiccups along the way including losing 1/2" on my middle finger and 1/3" on my ring finger of my right hand. I wrote a blog post on my google plus page along with photos CAUTION GRAPHIC PHOTOS ON THIS POST: https://plus.google.com/109645038641482544273/posts/dpk8pb9aVed


----------



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

I would be joyful to discuss a better router table lift system than what I used to build the cabinets. I am kind of gun shy to finish building the remaining three cabinets until I get a batter router table solution.


----------



## cabmaker (Sep 16, 2010)

Industry standard for spacing on the hinge you show is the width of the hinge plate itself.


----------



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

I ended up buying a cheap metal bending break from Harbor Freight and built this:








I first drilled the location for the left handed hinges into the template backed by a scrap piece of rail stock. I then flipped the stock over, flipped the template over and drilled from the wood through the template for the other side.








I then did the same for the pulls:








I think they came out pretty well:


----------



## skydiver (May 12, 2012)

Sorry for the huge photos, trying to figure out Photobucket…


----------



## skatefriday (May 5, 2014)

Needs shoes.


----------



## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

That's a nice looking cabinet job.


----------

