Different types of drill bits have distinctive uses, but for cabinetry and furniture making, a hinge boring bit is the best solution. You need to fit the hinge into the groove by drilling a hole and fix the hinge to provide a pivot point.
The hinge drill bits are designed to create flat-bottomed and precise holes with clean edges and smooth walls for hinges. They are widely used for drilling straight, angled and overlapping holes in cabinetry and cupboard-making applications. These bits can also be used for the installation of drawers, splints, doorknobs, and more.
In this ultimate guide, we will discuss the hinge boring bit, including its basics, features, applications, and considerations for choice.
What is a Hinge Boring Bit?
Traditional hinges only need to adapt the size of the hole. So, in terms of structure, they are not significantly different from other regular drills. Because people have higher requirements for furniture now, modern hidden hinges appear. Contemporary hinge boring bits are more suitable for their needs.
Modern hinge drills are specially designed to install special hinges when connecting cabinet doors, which can make the connection more beautiful and solid.
Structure of a hinge boring bit
-
Locating edge: The body of the drill bit is in the shape of a “cross” and the sharp locating edge is at the center.
-
Cutting edge: It is responsible for removing most of the material in the drilling work.
- Scribing edge: The two scribing edges are on the outermost side and are responsible for completing the cutting around the target hole before the cutting edge starts working.
- Shank: There are two types of shanks, round shanks and round shanks with a flat mouth.
Features of a hinge boring bit
- It continuously makes clean and precise holes for hinges, ensuring a perfect fit and smooth operation.
- It separates the positioning and cutting functions, which allows excellent bore quality and tear-free edges.
- It is capable of handling a wide range of materials such as softwood, hardwood, chipboard, plywood, and MDF.
- The bit is equipped with a tungsten carbide tip, ensuring durability and sharpness.
- Available in both left-hand and right-hand rotations.
How Does a Hinge Boring Bit Work?
The special structure of the hinge bit reinforces the positioning, scribing and cutting work. It provides a hole with a smooth wall and neat edges for hinge installation. This makes the bit widely used in the installation of cabinet doors and furniture.
The work coordination between the three edges of the hinge drill bit is also closely elated to their heights. The locating edge is the highest, the scribing edge the next, and the cutting edge the lowest. The sequence of the three must be from the locating edge to the scribing edge, and then to the cutting edge.
When in use, the locating edge contacts the material first, providing a stable cutting environment after slight drilling. Then the scribing edge touches the material vertically, making a hole in a "scribe" pattern. This pattern prevents the surface of the material from being torn by later cutting. Finally, the cutting edge will complete the drilling work.
Application of a Hinge Boring Bit
Hinge boring drill bits can be installed on various equipment, but you need to focus on different points according to the equipment. In this part, we will discuss three common tools for hinge bit.
1. Hand-held Drill Driver
It is portable and can be adapted to most working environments. However, it requires auxiliary positioning tools to avoid positional deviation because of its hand-held feature. Holding it for a long time may produce a large load on the operator, unsuitable for large-volume hinge hole boring work.
2. Benchtop Drill Press
When using a hinge boring bit on a benchtop drill press, first make sure that the material is firmly fixed on the tabletop. When you are drilling, it is necessary to maintain a smooth drilling speed. This helps you avoid two problems. First, it avoids too fast a speed that affects chip removal. Second, it prevents you from creating too much friction that damages the hole’s inner wall with a too slow speed. The benchtop drill press can meet almost any individual production requirements.
3. CNC Machine
It is an automated machine that can better play the role of tungsten carbide hinge boring bits, relying on the pre-written program without any assistance. It is also possible to control the downward speed accurately so that you can get a perfect hole. However, the rotating speed of this machine is generally high, making it more suitable for industrial-scale mass production.
Choose a Right Hinge Boring Bit
Hinges of different sizes require different drill bits, usually 25mm, 30mm and 35mm in diameter. You also need to use smaller drill bits to make holes on both sides of the hinge to ensure that it can subsequently be fixed to the door panel with screws, usually 3mm or 8mm in diameter. Taking the Austrian Blum hinge as an example, it is generally paired with a 35mm hinge bit and a 3mm drill bit.
Choosing the right hinge drill bit for softwoods and hardwoods is also essential for optimizing your woodworking projects. When drilling into softwoods, such as cedar and pine, using a sharper-angle, finer-pointed bit can help minimize splintering and ensure a smoother finish. In contrast, for hardwoods, such as oak and maple, it is necessary to use a bit with a steeper angle and stronger construction so that it can penetrate the dense material without dulling quickly.
In addition, you should take the rotation direction into consideration. Bits are color-coded, with black for right-hand rotation and red for left-hand rotation. Make sure you select the correct bit for your drill’s rotation direction.
FindBuyTool offers you quality tungsten carbide-tipped hinge boring bits with a shank length of 30mm and cutting diameter sizing from 15mm to 35mm. And both right-hand and left-hand spirals are available.