Door Hinge Router Guides

[Turbo1Ton]

Anyone have a recommendation on one of these? I am looking at replacing all of the doors in my mother's house and I will need one to router out all of the spots for the hinges. I have seen them before but never used one. I don't need anything really pricey, but I don't mind spending the money on a decent one, unless someone tells me that they are more than $300. For that money I'll let the store I'm buying the doors from do it.



Thanks,



Jeff

 

[p-Bar]

A lot easier if you rip out the jamb and start over with pre hungs . Don't expect that the new doors will drop right in the opening and swing perfectly. Been there done that. I am a cabinetmaker by profession.



Don



I know you asked about a hinge template. Bosch makes the best ,fully adjustable ,I think low 2's if not mistaken.

 

[jeff95]

Porter cable make a template which includes the router bit. You can buy it at Home Depot for about $25. Buy a small kit to drill for door knobs and possibly an electric hand planer to trim down the width and height of the new doors. If you are doing a house full, it may be worth it to invest in these tools. If you are only doing one or two doors, get prehung doors.

I have a remodeling company so this comes from years of experience.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Well, I already have a doorknob cutout tool. No electric planer though. I do have several planes around my garage that I can do that with. I know it isn't nearly as quick but I am only doing several at a time.



I am doing the whole house. I considered getting prehung doors but it just about doubles the cost. I know houses settle and things get out of plumb but to be honest, this house is still really good as far as plumb door jambs and such. Not to mention that the time it takes to rip out the old ones and put in the new I could spend fitting the hinges and doorknobs and hanging the doors. I don't think that I will spend nearly as much time hanging the new doors as I would replacing the entire thing. I could be wrong. Seeing as I have only done a few doors in my lifetime, it could take a heckuva lot longer than I think.



I appreciate the opinions fellas. I'll look into both brands and see if one will save me a lot more time than the other. That will probably be the deciding factor.



Thanks,



Jeff

 

[jeff95]

If you replace the just the door slabs, I would do them all at one time. You can set up an assembly line. Lay each new door next to the one it is replacing. Mark locations for hinges, knobs, height and width. Then mortise all of the hinges at one time, cut lengths all at one time and so on. It will save alot of time. If you are only doing one or two doors at a time, I would just replace them with prehung doors.

Jeff

 

[sarj]

I just did all my doors and had the same debate. I ended up doing them by hand for a few reasons, and ran into a couple of unforseen issues that I knew might lurk out there.



The doors I used were 5/32" thicker. All door stops had to come off the jambs as a result. This turned out to be a good thing. All hinges were replaced. The holes are close. also not a bad thing, but picking the hinge-line (because of the slight thickness variation) meant filling and redrilling some holes. This also was a good thing since many of the screw holes were worn.



Method: pull and mark all doors where they came from. Rough cut new slabs to match each one allowing for fitting. Match the top hinge position, rout, and install. Mount the second hinge in the jamb, and then carefully hang the door from the top hinge in the jamb, to mark the lower hinge location. Remove, rout the second hinge and then fit the door. Mount all the hardware, check action and then set the door stops for a solid even close.



The only problem I ran into was the hinges are so free, and the panels are solid (& therefore heavier), that one door wants to close itself. This is because the whole wall and jamb isn't plumb. With the old door and hinge, it didn't matter. I needed to break the jamb free to correct it.



Overall: I'm not a fan of prehung doors unless you're building a room from rough construction and doing the drywall too, or you're doing a big custom entry. I would have bought a hinge guide if I thought it would help me, but sometimes relying on machines and guides causes more work and mistakes.



Hiring someone to do it? You could, but if I did, it would have had to been a contractor tied into the door purchase like you get at Home Depot, so I had leverage on the workmanship. I saw their advertised rate, but that was for a prehung unit which meant new moulding and possibly drywall, not to mention inconvenience. Either that or a higher rate for the custom fitting. I'd go the route I did, if I did it again. You have to have an electric planer if you do though. Also... it will take more time than you think.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Thanks for the reply and procedures sarj. Good advice and I'll definitely keep it all in mind.



I went and got the cheap Porter Cable template at HD like jeff95 suggested. I'll see how it goes. I am only doing a few at a time but I still don't think that I want the hassle of having to do a prehung unit.



I'm getting ready to start on them tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. I might change my opinion about doing it with prehungs after tomorrow!



Jeff

 

[RON'S RAM]

This is the kit that I have: (Porter-Cable 59381 Hinge Butt Template Kit)

I have hung many doors with this kit on new jambs and existing jambs with excellent results. Setting it up for the first time may be a little confusing, but there are good instructions with the kit. I would check every door instead of routing them all the same as the hinges may have been installed in different locations. I placed the jig against the jamb and set the hinge locations for each one. You'll get professional results in no time. This is not something you use often but when you do, the results are great and the tool should last a lifetime. One more thing, if you work with wood much at all now would be a great time to buy a power plane. I have a Makita and use it for everything. If you're doing a whole house full of doors, you'll be glad you have it.

Good luck,

Ron

 

[HOBrian]

I used to porter cable guide and it worked really well. The router bit on the other hand went dull after the 8th door, no big deal just took more effort to move it.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Well, I bought the $25 porter cable single hinge mortising guide and it worked surprisingly well. It did take a little bit of time to figure out and make sure you have it positioned correctly but other than that, it worked great. I installed the first door last weekend and it only took about 25-35 minutes to get it marked, mortised and hung. I figure now that I know exactly what I am doing with it, I should be able to cut a few minutes off of that. For no faster than I am planning on doing this entire remodel process I think that this little guy will do the trick.



Thanks again guys.



Jeff

 

[daveshoe]

Hey,Ron

I have a Craftsman,but have never figured out a practical way to use it on existing work. I am intereted in a unit that I could fasten to an EXISTING [installed] blank jamb,and take an accurate reading off the existing hinges. If the porter Cable unit would set up to cut mulltiple hinges at once,and is possible to set accurately from an existing door,I would upgrade to it.

Another idea for the rest of you--If you get the unit set up nicely to cut one set of hinges and you wonder if the another door could be cut at the same setting,move your first door --or a pattern you have cut-- from one jamb opening to the next. A 2x4 with no knots to dull the router bit could be used for a pattern door edge.

 

[RON'S RAM]

I have used the porter cable to replace doors on an existing jamb. Once put together, it just rests against the door stop and top of jamb. Then you adjust the router guide to be centered on the center of the hinges. It is set up with marks for standard locations, but can be change pretty easy. The only problem that I ever had was if the original hinges were installed to close to the door stop, and if they originally had square corner hinges. Then you'd have the square part exposed or you'd have to chisel out the corner and install square hinges. It's a pretty expensive unit, maybe you should try to rent one first to see if you like it. If you were closer, I'd let you try mine.

Good luck,

Ron