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Last Updated: , Created: Thursday, September 14th, 2000

Making Piano Hinges work

Piano hinges are one of the strongest of the very discrete hinges available for lids and doors. The problem is that the screws often work themselves loose, or the heads of the screws prevent the hinge from closing completely.

Use long screws, like 2-1/2" #6, even into the edge of half inch plywood. Drilling a good pilot hole first allows the screw to develop a lot of holding power over its length with little force pushing sideways trying to split the plywood or pressboard.

If the heads hit each other, use every second hole only, and offset one side with the other as in the photo. That way, no two screws are lined up together.


Keywords: Hinges, Hardware, Screws, Techniques

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