# How'd you repair this (kitchen cupboard hinge holes) for maximum longevity but best economy?



## redefined_cycles (28 Sep 2022)

Don't want the missus confiscating my tools or worse still, not allowing me to buy more with my pocket money! Needed to repair this hinge hole for a while now - but other stuff like broken head gaskets got in the way - but don't want it being a bodge. Also don't want to spend more on brackets, especially if I don't know what's best thing to look for.

I was thinking to use hole cutter with my drill and wedge/glue in another bit of softwood into the conti. Then make my drill hole into that and screw the machine screws into it. That bracket below was sometingthe council put in when just them hole were failing!

Feel free to tell me mine's a daft idea. Before that I was contemplating to just wedge a shaped dowel into them holes and hack em off. But then the conti probably couldn't handle it!

Ideas please?


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## redefined_cycles (28 Sep 2022)

Oh... option 1 was to just fill it with some smelly wood filler then drill holes and get them scrwws back in...


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## rogxwhit (28 Sep 2022)

Got a router?


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## redefined_cycles (28 Sep 2022)

As it so happens, I have. Fresh from the ITS sales. Not even bought any bits for it yet so maybe I'll learn loads (for when I syart using it on my own workshop cabinets/drawers). Tell me what/how... (please


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## redefined_cycles (28 Sep 2022)

Found something up above. He has a Festool drill/driver so it probably doesn't get as elegant as that... You were messing with me about using the router, right - I am sometimes rather gullible : - )


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## rogxwhit (28 Sep 2022)

Use a straight bit in the router, set and lock a depth about half that of the chipboard thickness, and rout out a narrow area freehand, bigger than where the damage is. You need to prevent the router base falling into the recess as you're making it, but the perimeter of the recess doesn't have to be exact. What's needed is a flat-bottomed recess - a good glue contact surface. Cut a piece of ply or softwood (or any wood!) to fit inside the recess. Glue it in. Make good round the edges with filler later. No I'm not taking the piddle!

Looks as if there's no room for cramps? Use csk screws. It's'a patch job - the patch'll take the hinge screws and spread the load.


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## redefined_cycles (28 Sep 2022)

Thanks very much for that rogxwhit... I'm doing the first patch just now (and just realised that I had depth stops for the drill in the Makita bit set - lovelt when that happens as I've always used electrical tape). Chances are it'll fail soon and I'll be buying my first ever router bit and (trying to) follow your method.

Really very much appreciated.


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## redefined_cycles (28 Sep 2022)

I'm happy with that... especially so that I managed to get it straight and square. Though at first glances it didn't seem likely.


Managed to find a dowel somewhere and though I managed to get it in at an angle (cos I'm an silly person), you can't tell. The wife seems happy.


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## TomTheToolMan (29 Sep 2022)

For info you can buy repair plates from screwfix


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## JohnT (29 Sep 2022)

Amazon


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## TheUnicorn (29 Sep 2022)

Can't fault the video, I was thinking along the lines of method 1 but using repair putty instead of dowel. The quick and dirty method 2 seems a bit of a red herring, as you have the time and cost of tracking down the repair plates. I can see their appeal for a care taker who was doing regular repairs. horses for courses I guess


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## clogs (29 Sep 2022)

same problem here and the repair patches messed the clearances up....
so took the top of the burst chipboard with a sharp chisel.....
then made some wooden plugs from odds n ends and epoxied them in the holes with a tap of a hammer....
the house is a rental and the repair has lasted 2 years so far...


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## redefined_cycles (29 Sep 2022)

Yes. That vid worked veey well for me and I'll be investing in my own dowels


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## Fergie 307 (30 Sep 2022)

I worked on the basis that the board is just sawdust stuck together with glue in the first place, so just took out the loose bits and filled with a mixture of sawdust and epoxy. Trim/scrape it flat once it has started to go off but before it's fully set, then once it is fully cured, drill new holes. Can't remember when I did it but a few years now and still good.


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## MikeJhn (30 Sep 2022)

The repair plates work very well and the adjustment on the hinge's take care of any clearance issues, four years in and still OK.


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## trvlr (30 Sep 2022)

There are mini plastic/pvc? plugs designed to fit into pre drilled holes in the cabinet panel, into which the hinge plate screws are driven.

Possibly you can use those plugs (glued in if necessary) to allow a firm screw point?

Also, you could reposition the hinge on the cabinet and door? There are very handy jigs to allow this quite easily; having used that approach in effect when designing and fitting temporary doors on a new airing cupboard - the final doors yet to be installed using the appropriate jig.

I’ll dig out some sources and post details here later. Some Blum etc. hinges come with those plugs as standard.


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## MorrisWoodman12 (30 Sep 2022)

My partner reckons it's a good enough reason for a new kitchen! 

Oh sorry this isn't the joke thread! Then again there's enough non-joke comments on the joke thread.


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## trvlr (30 Sep 2022)

This url will take you to eBay.co.uk and there are numerous sources of those little plugs/dowels listed.

also found similar on eBay.com

These inserts don’t usually need to be glued in. Drill the correct size hole (as spec’d) and they are a very firm fit; may need a wee tap with a light hammer. They expand as the screw is driven in and thus become a very tight (permanent…) fixture.

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