How to install furniture hinges on a cabinet with your own hands

Small mechanisms, called door hinges for their design, are responsible for the proper operation of swing doors. Their rather simple device provides free movement of the door during its opening and closing. A fully functional mechanism makes it easy to use the door leaf, without accompanying its movement with any creaks and backlashes. At the moment, door hinges are used both in the construction of entrance openings in buildings and in furniture. In the latter case, smaller mechanisms are used, but with similar operating principles. Do-it-yourself installation of furniture hinges may be required in the case when the independent installation of new doors is carried out in a kitchen cabinet or a sleeping wardrobe. Despite their small size, hinges during installation can cause a lot of inconvenience due to the need for accurate calculations of their fixation points. Also, some work will have to be carried out by weight, which in some cases may require the involvement of additional hands to help with the overall furniture components.

Features and types

The simplicity and functionality of the door hinge mechanism has spawned many of its varieties, designed for use in various types of home furnishings. Now such devices are found in the following variants:

• Overhead. Used in wardrobes and cabinets with swing doors;
• Deposited. For small pedestals with a low weight of doors;
• Calcaneal. More often used in interior doors, they can serve well in cabinets with small facades;
• Royals. They are found in folding tables with a book construction;
• Adit. Suitable for the doors of false panels and fixed panels of sliding wardrobes;
• Corner. Designed for the corresponding types of compartments installed in the corners of the premises and having limited space for opening doors;
• Half waybills. They are used in cabinets with a large number of fronts;
• Mezzanine. They are also "horizontal" hinges used in hanging cabinets in the kitchen.

The use of this or that type of door hinge in a cabinet depends on many factors, including its style, dimensions, weight of doors and how they are fastened. In some cases, due to the physical placement of the door relative to the frame, the compartment requires the use of exclusively angular hinges, which have a large power reserve in comparison with traditional waybills. In products with a texture for the classics, only such mechanisms can be used that will correspond to this style.

Required materials and tools

The work on installing the door hinge will require disassembling the mechanism, which means that you cannot do without tools to perform delicate, neat procedures. In addition, you will need other manipulators for general work with the door. A complete list of all tools for installing an overhead hinge model is as follows:

• Screwdriver with a Phillips bit.
• A set of screws.
• Building level.
• Ruler or tape measure.
• Screwdriver.
• Drill.
• Pencil or easy-to-erase marker.
• Milling cutter with a diameter of 35 mm.

The standard hinge layout involves disassembling it into three components:

• The base is in the form of a strip, which is responsible for fastening the hinge to the cabinet panel.
• A cup, which is mounted on a working door.
• The hinge body is a movable part that connects the door to the cabinet body.

The door hinge mechanism is installed by means of fastening screws screwed into the holes of the mounting plate and cup. The adjusting screw in the case is responsible for the parameters of the device. Thus, the hinge mechanism has up to six required fasteners, which are best prepared in advance as spare.

Markup

The markings are an integral part of the cabinet layout for the correct installation of the door and the correct operation of its hinges. Errors made at this stage, at least, will spoil the appearance of the product, at the most, they will make it impossible to correctly use the swing door mechanism. In the process of marking, you will need a pencil or marker, which will mark the areas for creating holes for the mechanism cups. Therefore, it is worth starting with the main points of the markup instructions:

• Depending on the weight and dimensions of the door leaf, the number of installed hinges can vary from two to five.
• It is not necessary to mount the mechanism cup on the very edge of the door front. It is recommended to maintain an indent of 2–2.2 cm.
• The average distance between the hinges on a meter-long door leaf is at least 50 cm. In this case, it is necessary to take into account its weight, which may require a larger number of fastening mechanisms.

Make sure that the areas for installing hinges on the facade are not opposite the cabinet shelves. Otherwise, there is a risk that the door will not close completely due to the fact that the body rests on the shelf platform.

Hole preparation

Holes are created using a drill based on the markings. An electric screwdriver with an appropriate attachment is also suitable as an alternative tool. In addition, a prerequisite is the use of a cutter, which guarantees the structural integrity of the door façade and cabinet panel. Otherwise, drilling a hole can lead to chips and deformation of the wood panel. The inset should be made no more than 12 mm deep, which will be enough for a secure hole for the hinge cup platform. It is better to select the drilling speed yourself, based on the density of the material from which the facade and cabinet are made. If chipboard panels are easy enough to such processing, then natural walnut or ash are distinguished by high strength indicators. For the same reason, you need to ensure that the drill works strictly at an angle of 90 degrees, from which it can easily deviate if you are dealing with hard natural wood.

Loop fastening

Due to the fact that it is the door leaf that is a movable object, unlike a cabinet, you need to start fixing the hinge from it. This will make your job easier by eliminating the need to adjust the facade to the hinges when you have to hang it. Installation work with swing mechanisms can be carried out in accordance with the following instructions:

1. At the stage of installing the door hinge, all the flaws in the marking and work on the holes can appear if you first apply it to the place of future installation. Try to carry out a similar check first, making sure that the platform of the patch hinge cup fits snugly against the surface of the door leaf throughout its entire area. Even the smallest deviation can cause the door to bend in the future.
2. Using a pencil and applying a loop, a new marking is made for self-tapping screws in such a way that they fit exactly into the grooves of the loop.
3. After that, you can install the platform last by screwing in the fasteners with a screwdriver or screwdriver.

Hanging the facade

The complexity of this stage of work lies in the need to manually hang the door leaf with the hinges installed so that their bodies fall under the platforms fixed on the cabinet panel. All installation work is carried out in the following sequence:

1. If possible, turn the cabinet over to a horizontal position. This will simplify the process of trying on the facade for further installation.
2. Using a pencil, create a markup for the future mounting plates, in which the hinge mechanisms will be installed.
3. Place the planks exactly under the markings and secure with self-tapping screws using a screwdriver.
4. Install the door on the side of the cabinet, being careful not to deviate from the marked positions for the hinges.
5. You can start a full-fledged assembly of the hinges by connecting their front and base platforms with the help of the case. The result is a ready-to-use swing mechanism.
6. At the last stage, you will need to adjust the hinge using a screwdriver. The main role in this task will be played by the corresponding screw in the housing of the central component of the mechanism.

Buttonhole adjustment

Although some users carry out the peep adjustment procedure when the cabinet door leaf has not yet been installed on the furniture structure, this approach cannot be called correct. When you start the adjustment phase after hanging the façade, you will get a complete picture of how Thus, your manipulations with the hinge adjusting screw will affect both the appearance and the ease of use doors. Prepare in advance for the fact that it will take several times to unwind and tighten the screw in the housing of the mechanism before you reach the ideal positioning of the door leaf. In the process, a manual rather than an automatic tool is recommended, which is why it is better to give preference to a Phillips screwdriver. A screwdriver, although capable of manipulating the screw much faster, may overload the component and erase its head. It will be necessary to make adjustments according to three parameters of the location of the facade, which will be discussed in more detail below.

Adjustment for horizontal misalignment

The position of the door leaf is adjusted by moving it to the left or right. Your ultimate goal is to avoid too large gaps between the front and the cabinet panel. Please note that too narrow a gap will make it impossible for the door to move along the axis of its hinge. Also, adjustment is required in rooms with non-standard walls, where the cabinet can be located at a certain angle.

Vertical adjustment

In contrast to horizontal adjustment, vertical up-down adjustment is made by manipulating the oval mountings in the hinge mechanism. The next difference from the horizontal adjustment procedure is the fact that the vertical position of the facade can "sag" over time due to the constant influence of gravity. For this reason, the vertical adjustment has to be done on a regular basis.

Door depth adjustment

Depth means adjusting the position of the door relative to the cabinet body, which also affects the gap between them. For most users, provided that they are installed correctly and marked correctly, this type of adjustment is almost not required. Most often, the facade adjustment is carried out in rooms with uneven floors, which can cause a complicated door movement.

Fastening hinges to glass doors

With the growing popularity of tempered glass furniture, the range of fittings that can work properly with this material has also expanded. Despite the increased strength indicators in comparison with traditional glass, tempered glass is still much more vulnerable to mechanical stress than wood and chipboard panels. Therefore, separate types of hinges with a fundamentally different type of fastening element are produced for doors from this material. The first difference between these mechanisms is the increased strength and load capacity due to the high weight of the glass. The following metals are used at the heart of glass door hinges:

• Bronze;
• Aluminum;
• Zinc alloy;
• Stainless steel alloy.

According to the fastening principle, hinge mechanisms can be overhead or mortise. The latter traditionally require the creation of holes for fixing screws, while the former rely on holding the glass facade by high pressure on it. At the same time, the surface plates can work on the principle of clamping the platforms on both sides of the glass door or using fixing screws that press the facade inside the hinge mechanism.

Conclusion

In order to ensure the proper operation of swing doors in many types of home furniture, hinges need to be precisely calculated during the installation process. By following the instructions provided, you will be able to successfully install facades on various types of wardrobes and dressers. Competent adjustment of the profile of these mechanisms will provide the door with free movement and tight fixation to the body of the furniture product in the closed position. To complete all stages of the work, expensive third-party contractors and the use of rare tools are not required. It is possible to install swing hinges even in the absence of such automated equipment as a screwdriver, using a classic screwdriver.