Door Hinges Make Great Drill-Press Stops
Drilling holes in cabinet doors for European-style hinges can be tedious. I used to set a stop on my drill-press fence and drill all the holes for the bottom hinges first, then set another for the top hinges and repeat the process. I wanted a way to handle each door only once, so I made a set of flip stops for my drill press with parts from two heavy-duty door hinges. They're easy to make and use.
First, remove the pins from the hinges and, leaving one leaf of each hinge intact (part C), cut the other leaf, where shown by the dashed lines in the drawing at top. Drill and tap holes for set screws in the barrels of parts A, B, D, and E. Insert a 1⁄4 "x2' steel rod through the parts as shown and fasten this assembly to a wooden auxiliary fence so that the hinge leaves overhang the edge of the fence.
Clamp the jig to your drill-press table to set the edge-to-hinge distance for the cabinet door you're drilling. Measure and position one of the jig's leaves to stop the bottom of the door and the other to stop the top. Tighten the set screws on parts B to lock the stop leaves in place.
Flip the bottom stop down and the top stop up and drill your bottom hinge hole. Now, flip the bottom stop up and the top stop down and drill the top hinge hole.
You can adapt this stop system for repetitive jobs on your other shop tools. Try it on your radial-arm saw, mitersaw stand, or router table.
—Lee Fishback, Portland, Ore.