I have been saving this one for a while. I have been waiting for a day where I needed a topic quickly, today isn’t that day but I have been sitting on this for over a month. I am going to discuss the finer points of the HingeMate 350 today.
What is the HingeMate anyway? It is a template set that is used to create mortises for doors and hinges. It has pretty much everything you need to do that job, except the router. I purchased it at Lowes for $38.50.
There are plastic templates for the router to use from 2 1/2″ to 4 1/2″ hinges. It can accommodate three different styles of hinges in those widths, 5/8″ radius, 1/4″ radius and square. In addition, you can also mortise strike plate mortises as well as lock plate mortises.
This was a job that was traditionally done with a mallet and chisel. And it can be done, it is not too hard. But it is tedious and takes quite a while (at least for me). I recently replaced doors on my project after spending hours truing up the frame and opening, so I wasn’t too excited about ripping out the frame along with the finished trim, I thought that I would give this a try.
When would you replace a door only? I would say that if you are happy with the swing operation and the trim detail, it is a perfect scenario to only replace the door. The trick is that this is kind of a precise operation, hinge placements need to be exact in order for the door to work. It is easiest to transfer measurements from the old door to the new door for the best results.
The way that this product works is that you select the template that you want to use and place it in the template holder. The template holder is adjusted for the door thickness and placed in the precise spot that you want to work on the door. The whole apparatus is screwed to the door. The bit is put into the router (not included) and then you adjust the depth of cut for the hinge thickness.
Rout the hinge mortise, remove the template and test hinge fit. If you are satisfied, drill the holes for the hinge screws and mount the hinge. Here is a tip, for best door operation, the top of the hinge face should be completely flush to the door edge, not proud and not inset. Otherwise you get into all kinds of binding and geometry problems.
How did it work? Well, it worked perfectly on my first door. It fit on the first test. My second door I had to make modifications to the door in order to make it fit, but I dont believe that it was a problem with the HingeMate but rather the opening was still a half an inch out of plumb.
So, what is the verdict for the HingeMate?
| Advantages | Disadvantages | ||
| Value | 4/5 | You cant argue with the price. The professional Porter-Cable version is over $250 | You need to supply your own router. That is another $100 if you do not already own a 1/4″ collet router |
| I bought this to cut hours of chiseling, I felt that I could do an entire door in the time it would take to do one hinge by hand. | If you are only cutting one hinge size (or hinges only) you get a lot of extra pieces that aren’t necessary | ||
| Would like to have a storage case for all the parts. You have to cut the packaging open to get them out and there are a lot of loose parts around. | |||
| Quality | 3/5 | Followed the included instructions and got acceptable results. No flex, no wander | I noticed that the compression fit of the templates tended to loosen with repeated installation into the fixture. I fear over time, the fit would become too loose. That is not substantiated at this time |
| It was fairly persnickety to accurately place the fixture, the marks are not very precise and required a lot of verification measurements. | |||
| Performance | 3/5 | Hinges fit tight and flush. I was very happy with the mortises and the speed of the job. | The precision of this jig depends on how good you are at measuring and setup. 1/8″ will be extremely difficult to set the door (or repair). I measured four times before cutting. |
| The only real thing I didn’t like was the screw holes that remained after the fixture was removed. Those had to be filled. It is a cheap and effective way of holding the fixture in place. | |||
| The trim router that I used was too small for the template and wanted to fall through in the middle of the cut so I had to freehand. Use a full sized router or an extended base plate to eliminate this problem. |
The bottom line is that price for performance is there. I wonder about the durability of this product, but for me I am don’t really see using it much more. Again, my main motivator was saving time on installing the new doors, check that box. If you have a need, I can recommend this product. If you are a finish carpenter, go for the Porter-Cable.
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