For me, the most .frustrating part of making and installing a heavy, handmade entry door has been finding the right hinges. Even with a good set of heavy butts, the hinge barrels begin to grind down after a while. Soon, the door sags so much that the bottom rail drags on the threshold. A solution to this problem became obvious when I discovered thrust bearings at a bearing-supply outlet recently. Thrust bearings (see drawing) are simply a set of needle bearings captured in a circular metal collar. They come in a variety of sizes. These bearings are used in conjunction with a pair of thrust-bearing washers, which are machined to close tolerances.
To fix the door, I used a hacksaw to cut a section out of the appropriate barrel of each hinge leaf, replaced the section with the thrust bearing and the washers, then reinstalled the hinge pins, as shown. My hinges show virtually no wear after six years of use.
—Clint Lewis, Woodland Park, CO
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #14
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Can that be cheaper than buying ball bearing hinges??
glad you brought that up. I've used BB hinges on all doors, in and out, for years. For a few $ more they should be trouble free for 20 yrs +.
They can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $10 a pair for 4" BB hinges.
No doubt a clever solution for the problem, but one has to:
- Disassemble the hinge.
- Cut one leaf.
- Find & obtain the appropriate washers & thrust bearing.
- Reassemble the hinge.
Seems like a lot of effort when one can just purchase ball-bearing hinges.
Also:
As pictured above one has to be careful about which leaf goes where - in this case the leaf on the right must be attached to the door.
“[Deleted]”
I doubt that Amazon was even a glimmer in Mr. Bezos' eye when this tip was first published.
While Amazon may not have existed in 1983 ball-bearing hinges did. One just had to know where to get them.
If this were a truly Professional Publication, that lame "tip" would not be published! That is something a "handyman" might do NOT a Pro! Stanley’s Bolt Manufacturing, which is the predecessor to StanleyWorks of today, was founded in 1843 in Connecticut, and won a patent for hinges with ball bearings, in 1899.
Wow...I'm just...at a loss for words. My gosh I've been in this business since the late 60's, and was taught to use Ball-bearing hinges since then. I'm sorry, but this guy is some kind of special idiot, and this publication should be embarrassed to put something like this out there.