Mounting hardware on cabinet doors and sides is not an easy process. From correct installation hinges depend on the balance of the sashes, their trouble-free operation for a long time. How to install hinges on a cabinet with your own hands , you can learn from this material.
Mountings installed on large-sized furniture , Are semi-mechanical the elements , which are responsible for the opening of the flaps. Much depends on the material and thickness of the doors, so what the hinges are made of is also important.
The hinges must be able to withstand the specified loads.
For installation the most commonly used overhead devices with four hinges, the so-called frogs. Such fastenings suitable for any design that requires swing doors- pay or kitchen cabinet, other types furniture.
Metal parts are made of durable alloys that are resistant to corrosion and mechanical deformation.
Furniture hinges are divided into several types, depending on how they are attached:
- N slip;
- P full bills;
- In treasure;
- And inverted;
- P oyalnye;
- P hen;
- Inmates, etc.
Views furniture hinges.
For cabinet overhead structures with cup bases are often used, which are connected to the panel using self-tapping screws. Mechanical inserts with "shoulder" are inserted into these bases and fixed on the door and side panel.
Such fasteners are quite reliable and durable, since they have a reinforced connection with the planes.
Depending on the type cabinet and its dimensions, as well as the material chosen suitable view connecting parts. Some the elements used exclusively for classic furniture where all the details must match the style. For conventional wardrobes, select standard invoices and semi-invoices. fastening.
For installation on sashes, it is necessary to use certified industrial products - this is a guarantee of the strength and long service life of the furniture and its individual parts.
Preparing for installation
- Before starting work, it is necessary to prepare a set of tools and materials for furniture ... Be sure to have on hand a screwdriver, a drill with the appropriate attachments, a pencil, crayon, ruler or tape measure. You will also need screws that are the right size (usually sold with hinges), and self-tapping screws of a certain size.
Hinge installation tools.
- When installing fasteners, consider the material you are dealing with and its structure. For loose or fibrous wood panels apply different types fastenings and fixing methods. Glass surfaces also require a special approach. Two are predominantly used fastenings - above and below. If the sash weighs a lot or exceeds a meter in length, then for reinforcement, you can add one more detail in the center. If 9 kg is exceeded, the door is equipped with additional hinges - added for every 5 kg of weight. For kitchen cabinets usually two hinges are used, for large-sized items - from three.
The maximum number of fasteners that can be placed on the door with a large length and weight of 20 kg is 5 pieces.
- From the top and bottom inner corners the door must be measured at least 10 cm, otherwise the sash may "loosen" over time, and the screws will come out of the grooves.
The hinges must not be placed at the level of the shelves - the door will not close.
- Before starting the installation fasteners must be marked. This will help connect the elements much more accurate.
Use a pencil or fine crayon.
- Average length of an indent from the edge of the sash cabinet to the center of the loop is 2.2 cm.
This is the distance for standard mountings.
- Before installing the hinges on the door cabinet wipe the surfaces. Mark the future joints with a sharp nail or awl.
Preparing furniture for the installation of fasteners does not tolerate fuss. Depends on correct work doors.
Check all the parameters of the sash carefully cabinet , arrangement of shelves, etc. You can make a preliminary sketch.
Installation of fasteners
Cabinet doors pre-try on the sidewalls to make accurate markings. Initial installation phase hinges - drilling holes for attaching cups.
It is not always convenient to make hinges in the vertical position of the door. This will potentially reduce the accuracy of the join.
Place the sash on a flat surface, securing it. Use a drill and cutter to drill holes for the cup. It is important not to make too large indentations, 1.2 cm is enough. Insert the cups into the holes and screw the screws in the door part of the mount.
It is necessary that they enter the grooves exactly, without skewing, otherwise the door will be fixed incorrectly.
For installation position the drill vertically - any tilt will make the work of poor quality, chips may appear, due to which the mount will not hold securely.The striking plate on the side of the product can also be installed in the vertical position of the panel, having previously marked the joints.
The drill must also be kept very level when drilling.
If overhead parts are used, then they are made "deaf" so that they do not creep out during connection and assembly. Such fasteners should not have gaps and distortions.Use help when connecting the sash and side panel.
Together, the work process will be more convenient, better quality and more accurate.
Installing fittings on glass doors requires special care and attention. For such doors, special fasteners are purchased. On the side of the sidewall, you will need holes that are drilled with a drill.
The glass sheet is fixed with clamps.
Leveling and adjusting
Furniture fixtures need adjustment. For this in the process installations check their fixation in depth and distance. You can do this with the parts horizontally or vertically. cabinet. After assembling the furniture all preliminary calculations will turn into a result, so it is important to devote more time to the markup and connection parameters in advance.
When choosing, you must first of all pay attention to the strength of the product, it should serve throughout the entire life of the furniture.
After installing the fasteners on the cabinet doors it is necessary to carefully try on the flaps to the sidewalls so that they match exactly. Mark the joints with a pencil. Lock the door and do the fastening work on both sides. It is important that the accuracy of all details cabinet was one hundred percent. Finish the assembly and test the work.
When opening and closing for the first time, the sash can move somewhat tightly, if the hinges have not yet been lubricated and developed.
After fixing the hinges to the cabinet finished, it is recommended to drip a little machine oil inside the mechanism. Then wipe the surface with an absorbent cloth.
Check that all elements are working properly.
For cabinet it is better to take wide loops from chipboard, since the base material can crumble.
The higher the quality of all the elements of the assembled furniture, the more reliable their operation will be.
Installing hinges on the door cabinet , do not forget that after a while the sashes can sag under their own weight, especially if they often remain open. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically strengthen the hinges by tightening the screws. In modern mounts, this is easy to do - there is an additional recess in the oval part.
Try to debug the parts carefully so as not to loosen the grooves.
It is also necessary to lubricate the hinges from time to time. cabinet so that they do not rust or squeak. By adjusting the fasteners , it is necessary to fix not only the screws connecting the cup or bar, but also the closer parts. The mechanical part can wear out from operation. Therefore, it is important to have 2-3 spare parts in order to replace the broken part with them. A "drawdown" is indicated by a skew, a loose cover. Work is carried out more often in rooms with uneven floors and high humidity.
If the adjustment does not help, it is worth replacing the old parts with new ones.
When changing fasteners on used furniture, you need to look at how much they fit for it. It may be necessary to change the location of the new hinges due to the loosening of the grooves.
After adjusting, check for gaps, tightness of the doors when closing, general mobility and evenness of the sash along the axis.
Or, as they are also called, cup, hinges are by far the most common fittings for hanging hinged facades. Due to the variety of their shapes and modifications, you can install any facade exactly the way you want.
In this article, we will analyze the process of installing a simple cup hinge (complex ones with closers, etc. are installed in almost the same way).
From a tool for work, we need a screwdriver, a pencil with a ruler or square and a drill with a diameter of 35 mm. It is worth mentioning that there are also loops with a landing diameter of 26 mm. I have not seen cutters of such a diameter, so I drill for such loops with a simple 25 mm cutter, shaking it around the circumference, thus, the missing millimeter is selected.
Do not make too wide and heavy doors, the width should not exceed 500 mm, otherwise, the load on the hinges will be too large. The above diagram will allow you to find out how many loops to put on one facade, depending on its size. Better to make high doors 300 mm wide
We mark the hole for the cup on the facade. To do this, at the desired height, stepping back from the edge 21-22 mm 
(ours will help in marking) we drill a blind hole with a Forstner cutter. From the upper and lower edges you need to retreat at least 70 mm, otherwise, you can screw the loop opposite the lower or upper horizons of the box, which is unacceptable. It should be strictly perpendicular to the plane of the facade and have a depth of 11-12 mm. Then we drill a blind hole. 
It is necessary to drill on a solid, even substrate so that the spike of the cutter does not push the facade from the face. With a drill, you need to make small rocking-circular movements (it is much easier to drill this way).
I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that most budget cutters are made with a centering spike 3 mm long, so there is a high risk of drilling through the part. For prevention, you should either shorten the spike on an emery or grinder (observing the centering), or just fill your hand, exercising on scraps.
Pay attention to the black pipe lying near the cutter - this is a vacuum cleaner. Collects fine dust and part of large sawdust, which has a beneficial effect on the cleanliness of the workplace.
Insert a loop into the resulting hole, align it perpendicular to the edge, mark with a pencil the holes for the screws, 
with a thin drill or awl we deepen the markings.
We put the hinges in place and fix each hinge with two countersunk self-tapping screws.
We attach the facade to the rack, align with respect to vertical dimensions
We mark the attachment points with a pencil. 
In order for all the hinges to stand exactly, you can use this method: support them with a long ruler, an even bar or the same facade. 
Now we attach the finished door to the body in open form and mark the holes for the fasteners with a pencil.
It is advisable to do this when the box lies on the floor "on its back" - it is much easier this way.
We drill them with a thin drill. If the cabinet is already standing, and the facade is too large and it is inconvenient to apply it vertically, then we mark and drill the holes on the case for the overhead strip, according to the drilling map. In our case, a bar without euro screws is used. We mark the axis of the hinge, along it we mark 37 mm in depth (in the case of an overhead facade) and 37 + 16 mm (in the case of an inset and on both sides of the axis by 16 mm.
We fix the striker with self-tapping screws.
We install the facade itself, for this we insert the shoulder groove under the fixing screw of the bar, while making sure that the notch on the adjusting screw takes its place in the groove on the counter bar.
We tighten all the screws.
You can start adjusting the facade.
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Choice of fasteners for wooden doors
The modern furniture market offers a wide variety of types of furniture hinges. This can include as many as four hinge hinges, and simply articulated, used since Soviet times. Today, even modern furniture hinges sometimes cannot serve as a substitute for those types of door fittings that were produced during the Soviet era, despite their high level of quality.
Let's take a closer look at all types of furniture hinges that exist at the moment. Universal four-hinged cabinet doors are able to withstand significant loads, having a large margin of safety. They can be installed on doors with an opening angle in the range of 90-165 °. It is possible to regulate them in 3 different planes.
The accessories for furniture doors includes 2 elements. The first of them is the hinge itself, which is attached to the door, and the second is a mounting plate, fixed to the side wall of the products, connected to the hinge installed on the cabinet door.
There are 4 types of 4-pivot hinges used in furniture production, each of which should be used depending on the types of cabinet doors fastening.
- Invoice used when the door must cover the sidewalls of the niche in which it is located.
- Half overlay hinge used when overlaying 2 doors on the same side panel.
- Internal (used for internal fastening of the cabinet door), which is located inside the sidewall of the niche, and does not close it.
- Hinge used to fix the door at an angle of 45 °. This type of hinge is used to fasten the doors of corner cabinets or cabinets.
Before buying fasteners for the cabinet doors, it is imperative to clarify the type of proposed furniture fittings from the seller. It must be borne in mind that four-hinged types of hinges are attached with 4 * 16 screws to the side walls of the cabinet. The mounting cup must have a diameter of 26 mm. The holes should have the same diameter.
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Glass door options
Special hinge for cabinet with glass doors are reliable when used. At the same time, the collected ready product will look very nice. Using four-hinge glass door hinges, they can be attached at different angles.
The use of furniture hinges for glass cabinet doors allows their adjustment in 3 different planes.
With other types of loops, such manipulations are impossible. The only drawback of such loops is the need to make all the holes for fastening at home, which is a certain difficulty.
The structure of furniture hinges for glass cabinet doors includes 4 elements:
- mounting plate, fixed on the side of the product;
- a loop;
- sealing rings for connecting glass and hinges;
- a plug that allows you to hide the hinge from the outside.
The choice of the shape of the rings and plugs will not affect the strength of the joint as a whole.
There are piano hinges for furniture that have a simple mechanism that is not very reliable. The composition of such loops includes the same brass or steel strips, interconnected in the middle due to steel wire. This kind hinges are used mainly in the assembly of kitchen furniture, for which the use of other types of furniture hinges is not acceptable.
If it is not possible to purchase four-hinge hinges for glass or it is impossible to install them, you should pay attention to the usual hinge hinges for glass doors. They include 2 types of elements, the first of which is the hinge itself, and the second is plastic seals, fixed in the hole for the hinge and on the glass.
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Leveling and adjusting
If there is a need to strengthen and, which may be due to their breakdown or displacement when moving, then it is not difficult to do this if you have certain ideas about how to do it correctly.
First, you need to understand the problem that has arisen. Only then proceed to the troubleshooting step with the installation of loops. Basically, it may be necessary to adjust the hinges. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the angle to which the cabinet door opens.
A door close fault occurs when the hinges begin to pull on the cabinet door, which can also happen with piano hinges. The fastening of the poppet hinge must be accurate and the furniture hinge must be attached to the inner side of the cabinet.
For fastening you will need:
- furniture hinge with hinges;
- circular drill with a pointed tip;
- mounting plate;
- screws.
The sharpened tip of the core drill is used as the center guide, and the knives are needed to mill the poppet hole. A conventional poppet hinge has a diameter of 35 mm, so the purchase of a hole drill for precise and even milling is a must first.
Before carrying out any alignment work on the cabinet door, determine the exact position of the door. At the top and bottom of the door, small slots should be provided, which are necessary so that the doors can open and close freely. Screw holes are positioned if templates are available. Then on required depth a poppet hole is made and the mounting plate is secured. After the door is leveled, the screw should be tightened.
The cabinet door is adjusted on the basis of a tape lever furniture hinge which is equipped with 3 screws. The hinge is adjusted using the middle screw, which allows the cabinet door to move simultaneously in 3 different planes.
For fastening and further operation of doors in furniture production, they use Various types loops. If you bought a cabinet and decided to assemble it yourself, then you cannot avoid the process of installing doors on furniture hinges.
Figure 1. Furniture hinge device
On modern market furniture presented different kinds door hinges, which include both four-hinge hinges and simple hinge hinges, which were very popular back in Soviet times... Today, four-hinge hinges are very popular, which are distinguished by simple and reliable design as well as easy installation. They possess high level strength, which provides an unlimited number of working cycles of opening-closing. Another significant advantage of such a mechanism is the ability to adjust it in 3 planes, which will allow you to align the cabinet doors without any problems.
The four-pivot hinge consists of the following elements (fig. 1):
- Cup;
- shoulder;
- mounting (mating) bar.
The hinge is fixed to the furniture box with a mounting plate, and with a cup - to the door. Self-tapping screws are used as fasteners. The shoulder acts as a lever and connects the cup to the striker using a four-pivot device. An adjusting screw is located in the cover of the strip, with which you can adjust the position of the door relative to the base.
According to the method of applying the sash to the body, the hinges are divided into:
- Overhead. They are used when the door covers the sidewalls of the niche in which it is located. This method of fastening doors is the most popular, so it can be found on almost any furniture set.
- Half waybills. They are used when 2 doors go onto the same sidewall of the furniture product. Hinges of this type differ from the rest by a slight bend in the base, which provides a small distance between the two facades.
- Internal. Apply in case internal fastening facade, that is, the door does not cover the sidewalls of the niche in which it is located, but is located inside it. The base of such weights has a pronounced bend.
- Corner. With the help of such mechanisms, you can fix the doors at a certain angle.
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Preparatory work
To install a furniture hinge on a cabinet with your own hands, you need to prepare tools such as:
Figure 2. Marking the loop
- screwdriver;
- end mill with a diameter of 35 mm;
- ruler;
- building level;
- awl;
- pencil;
- self-tapping screws - 3.5x16 or 4x16 mm, 2 pcs. for 1 loop.
After preparing the tool, a marking is made, which consists in marking the center of each hole for the hinge. Depending on the height of the door, as well as on the placement in height of the shelves, about 7-12 cm recede from the edge of the facade. If the door has large dimensions, then it is necessary to use not 2 hinges, but 3 or more. In this case, the step between the canopies should be at least 50 cm. The dependence of the number of loops on the height and weight of the facade is shown in the table.
After marking in height, the centers of the holes are marked from the edges in width. For standard door hinge the indentation from the edge should be approximately 21-22 mm (fig. 2). When marking, it is necessary to ensure that after the installation of the hinges, they do not come into contact with the shelves of the cabinet, because this will interfere with the normal functioning of the door.
Hanging facades, installing furniture hinges on them and adjusting them is the final stage of assembling cabinet furniture with your own hands. It depends on how smoothly it is possible to adjust the swing doors of the cabinets, whether the furniture will delight with its aesthetic neat appearance. Or irritate with an unevenly exposed front part and a constant creak that accompanies the opening and closing process.
Rules for installing furniture hinges
As in the article about, we will consider the installation of a four-hinge fastener, with three degrees of adjustment.
The four-pivot hinge consists of two detachable parts:
- The mounting (mounting) bar is attached to the body. At the same time, there is a difference in the markings for internal (inset) and overhead hinges.
- The hinge itself is fixed to the facade by installing it in a special technological hole. The hole depth is about 12-13 mm, the diameter depends on the size of the bowl. Basically, fittings are used with a bowl with a diameter of 35 mm, less often - 26 mm.
Correct installation of furniture hinges with your own hands involves a preliminary calculation of the required amount, depending on the height and width of the door, its weight.
Hinges from three pieces to one swing door distribute at an equal distance from each other, while it is necessary to track along the markings so that the fastening strip does not "hit" the shelf.
From the edge of the facade, 100 mm are usually receded along the body. Since the door is always 3-4 mm less, then for the overhead version the indent to the center of the hole under the bowl is about 98 mm.
Scheme for calculating the number of furniture hinges for installation
There is no unequivocally clear answer to the question of how many hinges are required to be installed on one swing facade. Each manufacturer of fittings and components gives their recommendations. Usually, the scheme for calculating the number of furniture hinges is based on two quantities, the size and weight of the door:
- The height of the door determines the number of connection points to the frame. If there are not enough hinges, the door can bend over time. Its width is equally important. It is recommended not to include facades in the project, the width of which is too wide relative to the height.
- The weight of the door also plays a role. It is logical to assume that the laminated chipboard facade, on top of which the mirror sheet will still be glued, will require additional fasteners. Setting a standard number of furniture hinges may not be able to support the increased weight - reinforcement will be required.
The standard scheme for installing furniture hinges is as follows.
It can be adhered to if there are no other recommendations from the manufacturer.
Installation of overhead furniture hinges with markings
Before installation, it will not be superfluous to make a markup so as not to make mistakes when drilling, fastening the mounting plate and bowl. You can use ready-made template(by the conductor) or manually measure. We take into account the following nuances:
- The overlapping facade does not completely cover the box. Taking into account the gap, for example, for a kitchen cabinet with a height of 720 mm and a width of 400 mm, it will have dimensions of 716x396 mm. And this means, if 100 mm retreats from the edge along the box for installing the fastening strip, then the indent along the facade will be less, equal to 98 mm.
- A hole 11 mm deep is selected for the four-hinge hinge on the door. This can be done using a Forster drill with a scoring edge and a spout, designed specifically for installing furniture hinges (diameter 26 or 35 mm). Special ones have a limiter that will not allow you to pierce the front part through during milling. Provided, of course, that the facade thickness is at least 16 mm.
- The depth of fixing the mounting strip from the edge of the cabinet side when installing the surface-mounted hinge is 37 mm. The distance between the holes at the strip is 32 mm.
Installation of inset (internal) furniture hinges
The only difference when installing an inset furniture hinge is the fastening of the mounting plate to the side of the cabinet. With a standard thickness of the facade made of laminated chipboard (16 mm), 54 mm recede from the edge (the thickness of the facade leaf is added to the 37 mm set and 1-2 mm for the free stroke, for the possibility of adjustment).
DIY furniture hinge adjustment
According to the scheme for installing furniture hinges, a mounting plate is separately attached to two self-tapping screws 3x16 mm and a bowl (also to two self-tapping screws), to the side of the box and with inside doors respectively. After the furniture is put in the designated place, they begin to hinge the facades. For this, the shoulder of the hinge with the bowl is inserted into the fastening plate and tightened with the fixing screw. It is not worth tightening the fasteners close to the plank too much - it all participates in the process of adjusting the furniture hinge with your own hands.
If the floors are piled up towards the center, then most likely the doors will not press tightly against the box. Depth adjustment of the furniture hinge allows them to be pulled tighter or, conversely, to loosen the hold-down.
At uneven floors It can be useful side adjustment(horizontal) in combination with vertical. With its help, you can level the gaps on double facades, more evenly set them relative to the box.
Also, the adjustment "removes" unpleasant squeaks when opening and closing. It is worth tightening the screws on the hinges from time to time - furniture doors inevitably sag under their own weight. Timely adjustment will extend the life of the fastening hardware.