Hi, I very much like using piano hinges although it can be difficult getting them to align perfectly, it can also be even more difficult to get multiple hinges aligned with each other equally well.
The correct way to mount a piano hinge like that is to cut a thin mortise to receive it. You set it on the top of the back but you cut a slot to receive it. Usually you would cut a mortise in both the back and the lid the depth just a little better than the thickness of the leaf in each member. If the lid is a flat board then I think I would cut the mortise in the back the full depth of the thickness of the entire hinge. If you are using a table saw you can nibble it away by setting the blade height suitably and moving back and forth through the blade until the 30 inches are achieved. Commonly I do this by carefully nibbling an inch or two at each end then taking the work into the blade a short way and sliding it sideways until it hits the void at the end then advancing the work a little more into the blade and sliding it bak until I hear the void at the other end and so on. This may not be particularly safe or acceptable technique but it has served me well a very long time. You can also do this with a router preferably with a table setting stops and using a straight bit. If the top has a frame then take leaf thickness plus a very little more out of each opposing aspect. Ideally the leaf of the hinge isn't quite as broad as the edge you are fitting it to in which case the absolutely correct way is to stop your mortise so it doesn't go the full thickness of the back. This is a job for very good chisels or a router. The hinge should project beyond the edge about the thickness of the hinge sleeve. I hope this helps. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: Keith Patterson To: Blind HandyMan Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:31 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Piano Hinge Putting a thirty inch piano hinge on a toy box lid I am completing for the niece for Christmas. If I put the hinge flat on the back of the box and the back edge of the lid, (easiest) the hinge is exposed, on the back of the box of course. If I hide the hinge, fold it in half, putting it on the top edge of the back of the box, and under the lid, (hardest) the lid doesn't lay flat any longer. OK, it is only a sixteenth of an inch, but I did try hard to make the lid to lay flush and flat. I could remove a sixteenth of an inch off the top edge of the back, I suppose, but don't really want to go there. So, is one way correct and the other not, or is it just a matter of preference? Keith Patterson [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
