Door hinge mortising jig

ponch37300

I need to replace a door and am going to keep the jamb so will need to route out the hinges. Normally if I replace a door I just pick up a prehung and call it done but I need to keep the frame so it matches the rest. So I was looking at getting a hinge mortising jig since I have needed one a few times in the past but never took the money and I'm sure I will need it a few times down the road.

I see there is the top of the line porter cable but even used that is going for 100-200 bucks which is way more than I want to spend and I think it's more geared towards the pros that need to do a bunch of doors in a day where as I just need to do a door here or there and my time is free for me. I've seen a few different ones and wondering if anyone has any experience with any of them.

Porter cable makes a hinge template and a strike plate jig for about 25 bucks each. If I went this route I would probably only get the hinge template and just free hand the latch plate. http://www.amazon.com/Porter-Cable-5...er+cable+hinge

Milescraft also makes a few different ones that look interesting. Here are a couple links to what looks like the same kit, not sure what the differences if any are. http://www.lowes.com/pd_399376-41401...raft&facetInfo=. http://www.woodcraft.com/product/0/2...rtise-kit.aspx.

There's also this ryobi, http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

Has anyone used any of these?

Also I want to pick up a door knob drill kit. I used to have a cheap on but can't seem to find it. Home depot has a few options, not sure which one would be the best, http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/cata...tgry=SEARCHALL.

joecaption

I use one of these for the knobs. It's held up for many years.
http://www.irwin.com/tools/linear-ed...tallation-kits

MarkusAIC

Search 'Templaco Tools'.
They make various hinge mortising jigs in various sizes. Great, simple jig for occasional use. They also sell strike jigs and door hole kits.
All you need is a small router and the bit; which they also sell.

woodworkbykirk

i have a shop made jig for door hinges. only thing is their not adjustable to different sized hinges.. so you have to make different jigs. for drilling door knobs i just freehand em.. ive used jigs and find no advantage in speed or accuracy

ponch37300

You wouldn't have any pictures of your jig would you? Also what bit do you use with your jig?

funfool

What I do, is look at the door to be replaced.
No clue why you are replacing the door, just assume yo have one hanging that needs replaced.

What I want is a nice even 1/8" gap or reveal all the way around.
I look at existing door and think, add a 1/16" here and mark it on the door, look at the bottom and is it to short or just right to open and close?

I then have new blank door sitting on some saw horses in driveway, set the old door on top of it.
I clamp them together and make marks for the adjustments that are needed for cutting new door.
I use the old door to use as a guide to drill the door knob, I use a square and pencil to mark the hinge locations, same with the striker plates.
You trace out the old door and am assuming has been modified over the years .... may be bingo nd no modifications needed.

So you clamp the door in place you trace it to new door, you drill the knob, remove the old door and cut new door to specs that you modified because, then you put new door on edge and lean against the saw horses and use your router to mortice the hinges and flip it over and route out the striker plate.

It is a process, but no special tool like a jig will help you, just line up the doors and clamp them down and get to work.

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ponch37300

So you route your hinge mortises freehand? I can measure everything out, that isn't a problem. I am just looking for a jig to use to route an exact mortise for the hinges. For twenty bucks if they work it will make things go a lot smoother then freehanding things.

joed

My hinge jig. I screw it to the door with one screw on each side when in use. If all your hinges are the same size then one jig is all you need.

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funfool

I do route them out by hand.
I just use old door and a speed square and a pencil to transfer over the location.
I have done many this way over 20 years of remodel, I do not have a jig or see no need for one.
The old door is my jig.

It does get trickier if you do not have a old door for a jig, then we can give extra steps for that.
But simply look at old door while it is hanging, decide what you would like to do for improvement on the new door for fit ... use old door as jig and and transfer needed corrections over.

It really is a pain in the rear end installing a new blank door, sometimes is the best way to go.
Not only hinges, you need to match the door knob and striker plate, then match the opening and cut door to fit the opening.

Not a big deal, just takes time. Use the old door for your template.

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funfool

And you need all the tools out, you need saw horses, a skill saw with good blade, a router to do the mortise, a sharp chisel to finish the mortise, a 1/2" drill and a 2 1/8" bit.
A 1" bit ... a carpenter will pull all these tools out to do the job, is just one step at a time to complete.

Why it is sometimes faster to hang a prehung door... if drywall and other things are involved, may be faster hang a blank....

A prehung is as simple as pulling the trim and a sawsall to cut the nails holding old door and casing, hang a new door in the hole.

Not sure what your goal is, Sometimes you see that blank doors are cheaper, they actually take 3 time longer to install correctly.

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sublime2

So what do you do with the 2 holes your screws made?
Wood filler?

md2lgyk

I bought a Craftsman jig at Sears. It was around $20. I used it to change out a dozen doors in my house. Not as fancy as some professional model, but I knew I'd likely never use it again.

joed

The doors I made that jig for were being painted so filler was used. The holes were not that big. You could use a clamp. You could use wider piece against the door to give the clamp more surface to grab.

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ponch37300

My goal is to leave the frame in so it and the trim matches the rest of the house. The door in question had one of those door stoppers on the hinge and someone opened the door to far and the hollow core door has a big hole in it. I've installed pre hung doors before and usually go that route but this time I would like to just change out the door slab. I did a few of these about 12 years ago and actually made a jig to use with my dremel and the router attachment, didn't have a router back then. I could make another jig and will if the store bought ones are junk but I thought for 20-30 bucks I thought I would just buy the jig. I can measure and line up the hinges, I'm really not to worried about that. But I would think one of these templates that you just put on your measurements and run the router around and are done would save a lot of time. Once you get your location of the hinges and put the template on the router just follows the template and leaves a perfect hinge mortise. The other options are to freehand the hinge with a router which isn't easy or safe on the edge. Or use a chisel and do it the old fashioned way, which isn't one of my strengths! For 20 bucks I think a template would be well worth it. Guess I'll just pick one up and try it out. I'm leaning towards the milescraft because it does the hinges and also the latch plate mortise. The porter cable looks a little better built but the hinge template is 25 bucks alone plus another 25 for the latch plate template if I want that. The ryobi one looks pretty nice also and gets pretty good reviews on the HD site, http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...ct_description. They also have this that looks kind of nice, http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051. I always hate using a chisel to mortise the latch plate, the wood is always thin and wants to split, or I'm just using the chisel wrong.

BigJim

I would go with the Milescraft
http://www.lowes.com/pd_399376-41401...611-_-10935405
It has all you will need for hinges and simple to use.

When using the door boring jig, drill half way through the door from one side then drill the rest of the way from the other side, it just works much better that way.

That Porter Cable door hing template is as good as it gets IMHO, I wore two of them out and one Rockwell jig, the first one was a Stanley then they sold out to Porter Cable, the Rockwell was built heavier but was harder to use also. The template package in the link above will do all of the hinges and the striker plus the barrel plate.

Here is what I want for random hing mortising.

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Jim