entertainment center door question

[Mike Steinhilper]

I am renovating an old computer armoire... needless to say it is a challenge. It had two full length doors. The wife wants it split in half so the bottom can be closed to hide the equipment, dvds, etc. So, I built a face frame and attached it. I had to pull the old base off because it was damaged. So I'm adding a new base also. Here is my question: I don't want to spend $40 for some sliding hinges; but the doors need to open as fully as possible. Any suggestions on hinges keeping in mind that there is a face frame? Also, do any of you cut half-laps on a tablesaw? Can't decide if table saw or router is the way to go. By the way, yesterday some of ya'll recommended the pocket screws for face frames. I picked up the Kreg jig yesterday. What a great little invention!

[Don Baer]

you can get euro hinges for 3 or 4 bucks each at your local borg.

I use my router for half laps. I route out the cavity and finish the corners with a wood chisel.

For full laps I use the TS.

[Bob Aquino]

A while back I built a mission style entertainment center that used face frames for the tv section as well as the two side cabinets that hold the stereo equipment and bookcase. I used the sliding hinges that allowed the doors to disappear into the cabinet and I offset them to match the width of the face frame so that the doors when pulled all the way out and then closed were even and flush with the face frame. I also used half lap joints on all the doors, cut them with a homemade jig on my old sears saw at the time. Actually came out quite well.

For what it does, I dont really see an alternative to the sliding hinges, unless you want to make the doors fold 180 degrees back or make them bifold. I am guessing they are already built and you want to keep the modifying to a minimum. You either spend the money for the hinges or spend the time re-engineering the doors.

[Lee Schierer]

I can't really help on the hinges except to tell you they make higes with a 270 degree swing for use on entertainement centers. These would let your doors fold back against the sides of the cabinet when open.

I cut half laps all the time on my table saw. I usually cut the face cut with a cross cut blade and switch to a rip blade and cut off the material using a delta tenon jig. For places where there are shoulders on each side (dado) you can either nibble out the material with several passes using a crosscut blade or make the initial sizing cuts wit a cross cut blade, then remove the bulk material with a dado blade. If you work it right you can size the lap thickness to get perfect alignment of the surfaces when the joint is glued up.

[Jim W. White]

I'll just echo what Lee said. I do half-lap joints on the tablesaw often. It helps to make a simple jig which slides over your fence and holds the upright peices at a perfect 90 degrees to the table (if you don't own the official tenon jig)

[Hal Flynt]

I've seen the face frame hinged rather than fixed, and then the doors hinged to the frame. Each hinge would approach 180 degrees just like normal AND so would the face frame, giving you a "wrap the door around the outside" type solution.

The only funky thing about the way it looks is 2 hinges separated by the width of the face frame.