It has been a while since I last shopped for piano or continuous hinges so I went off to a couple of hardware stores today to do some shopping.
What I was looking for was one that was a foot long (no big deal cutting one to size if that is needed). I was looking for what I believe is called a two inch, flat open it is two inches wide.
I was looking for heavy duty as this is for a fixture I'm building. When I last got these I seem to recall the straps being .060" thick for heavy duty and .040" for standard duty.
After going to three hardware stores (different brands of stores) I came home with nothing. None of the stores had anything wider then 1-1/2". None of them gave information on strap thickness how ever one store had one which was physically heavier then the others which I would guess meant it was thicker. All of them were a poster-board with the plastic stick on covering so you can't really tell what they are like without opening them... which they don't want you to do.
The one which was heavier was also a lot more expensive. The 12" ones were in the just under $5 range except for this one which was almost $18. I should also mention that these are all a plated steel, which was also what I wanted.
This evening I looked at a few of the big box stores online to find they really don't speck the hinges... I guess they want you to physically come in to the store???
I checked a couple of places I order from online and they are not very good at telling you what you are getting either. And then the postage!!!!
So the question is what are you buying and from where? Any deals to be had online?
Geez! Once again, my ignorance has been bliss!:) Never even thought that I should search for hinges that were stouter than what was easily available. Since I never needed a piano hinge longer than 4 feet, I have always bought mine at a local hardware or one of the big box stores. They always served the intended purpose of holding chest lids, and large cabinet doors secure and straight.
The only special consideration I gave to attaching the hinges was to drill the screw holes using a self centering bit - then first inserting a steel #4 screw in each hole then removing it before installing a #4 brass screw. Yes, I used beeswax on all screws. Oh Yeah! When buying those local, packaged hinges, it works best to discard the packaged screws and buy replacement brass screws - and be sure to use a #1 Phillips screwdriver.
All cabinets in the attached photos have 1.5" wide hinges. The cabinet doors successfully support quite a bit of weight.
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outside_library_cabinet.jpg (120.73 KiB) Viewed 1136 times
Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
Chuck
What a deceptive way to show off your cabinets by telling us you want to show us their hinges:D
I think you have posted them before and they look great! I know you had sent me pictures of them when I was redoing my shop.
I'm with you I usually use Big Box store hinges.
Although my parents lived beside a guy that did commercial work for a chair factory. He gave my dad a bundle of piano hinges, some were chrome some were brass. Most were 4ft long and between 1.5 -2 inches wide. Many years ago my dad gave them to me and I have used them for various things ever since. Far stronger and heavier than anything on the common market today.
I hope to make it out tomorrow to home depot to see what they have as I was unable to find their information online. If not I see a few other places that would have what I need and I can order it.
The shop is down to 40 degrees so I may not need it until spring anyway.
I'm not sure how much stress the hinge will have on it. The design I'm basing this on is a lot like the bevel miter gauge that works with the joint-matic. The hinge on that is of course all metal and very heavy duty. In addition I plan to make it at least twice as large...
Would a lighter weight hinge work? Maybe but I tend to find myself building a prototype and then using it, even when my intention was to make a second more finished version. That being the case I'll opt for the heavier hinges.
Again thanks for the input,
Ed
{Knight of the Shopsmith} [Hero's don't wear capes, they wear dog tags]
