misaligned hinge screw

[Gerry S. Wojtowicz]

Hi all,

I'm desperate. I was trying to apply hinges to a box I made and they came out improperly aligned. Is there a way to fix this, or do I have to scrap the whole box.

Please tell me I can fix it.

Thanks

Gerry

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Gerry,

Can you remove the hinge, glue a plug in the screw hole, reposition the hinge and reattach it?

[Sam Murdoch]

The plug can be a whittled down match stick or the like. Ken's way is a good save. Sometimes you can just enlarge the countersink hole in the hardware a bit to help the alignment. Small hinges are difficult to accurately center for the screw but for hinges using a # 5 screw or larger, it's always good to use a vix centering bit for the pre drill. Worth having 2 or 3 sizes of these on hand. One source among many - http://www.mcfeelys.com/product/VIX-...130803032253:s

[Lee Schierer]

I prefer using hardwood dowels. I buy 1/8" dowels and sharpen them with a pencil sharpener so they fit in the screw hole a bit better, coat them with glue and tap them into the hole. Let the glue dry, trim them flush and drill a pilot hole where it needs to be.

[Tom Ewell]

yeah, fill the holes and re-do, normal stuff.

welcome to woodworking.

most cases, round toothpicks will work too.

[George Bokros]

For larger screws I use golf tee's.

George

[Roy Harding]

I make small boxes for a living - everybody above is dead on correct.

The only reason I posted was to mention that I use #2 screws a LOT - but I still use a small (5/64" I think) self centering drill bit such as Sam Murdoch mentioned above to mark the holes - then I use a jewellers drill to actually drill the pilot holes. The Vix bits help me establish where dead centre is, the jewellers drill then sort of "slides" into position.

Bottom line - don't worry about it - fill the hole with SOMETHING (I've used just about ALL the suggested methods above - I need to look into the golf tee idea), and re-drill.

[Bob Glenn]

I use wooden BBQ skewers. They can be purchased cheaply at most grocery stores and you can find them in different diameters with a little searching. If you want to size down a skewer, use one of the wire stripper pliers used to crimp electrical connectors. You can make them any size you need.

[George Bokros]

I BBQ skewers.

Never gave them a thought. I will try them next time I have a smaller screw hole to repair, seems much better than toothpicks to me.

George

[Tom Giacomo]

I use round tooth picks with a little glue for small sizes.

[Mort Stevens]

Sometimes you can take a sharp scratch awl and 'move' the hole to where it needs to be. I often have problems centering screws in hinges, etc... I usually use a scratch awl to mark the location, but the wood grain always takes it off center, same for so called 'self-centering' center punches. I read a trick once about using a nail set, because it won't follow the gain, but I've never had success with that method either. Anyone have any good tricks for getting the screw hole centered?

[Gerry S. Wojtowicz]

Thanks to all for your responses, and 1034 pardons and apologies for not responding sooner, but things came up. I managed to get my box completed. The hinges were not perfect, but for my first box I let it go. I got a spring loaded center punch, which helped, but not as much as I would have hoped or thought. I will look into a self centering drill bit. And I'm really interesed in the jewellers drill that Roy mentioned. Roy, if this thread isn't dead I would like to know more about that tool.

Thanks again to all.

[Gerry S. Wojtowicz]

Thanks to all for your responses. Apologies for not responding sooner, but things came up. I finished my first box and whereas the hinges were not perfect I let it go. I got a spring loaded centering punch, which helped, but not as much as I would have thought. I will look into a self centering drill bit, and I like Roy's idea of using a jeweller's drill. Roy, if this thread isn't dead I would be interested in knowing more about that tool.

Again , thanks to all.

[Roy Harding]

... Roy, if this thread isn't dead I would be interested in knowing more about that tool.
...

Sure - you can get it here. I use it to drill pilot holes for small (#0, #1, & #2) screws. As I said earlier in the thread, I use a self-centring vix bit in the hardware to establish the centre of the hole, then drill a pilot hole with the jeweller's drill. It's basically a miniature version of a Yankee Drill - I use bits in it as small as 1/64" - and it may even hold smaller bits.

[Gerry S. Wojtowicz]

Thanks Roy.