Aligning hinges and pins on doors

[Stephen Tashiro]

Are there any good tricks for aligning hinges and pins on doors so that they are all in a striaight line?

For example, to align the pins on the top and bottom of bifold doors, you could trust the top and bottom of the doors to be parallel and in the same plane and drill the holes for the pins by drilling in perpendicular to the ends of the door. But this is not a direct verification that the pins are indeed on the same line.

If you have a long enough ruler edge you could use it align the top and bottom hinges on a door, but I never have such a thing handy.

[Peter Quinn]

Pins? Are you talking butt hinges? The pins are usually not seen, no? To align hinges I use a quick template made of 1/2" mDF on the TS with a cross cut sled. Blade height equals hinge depth into the stiles from face to back, typically door thickness minus 1/8". I add a shim to use the templates on a FF or door jamb to equal the door gap, the template is clamped flush to the top of the doors, always referencing from the top down. The template guides a router or chisel, like a template and story pole in one. A good template will align the hinges on a run of cabinets or a whole house full of doors.