Milescraft 1213 Hinge Mate 30

Complete kit for door hinges and strike plates. I used this on the door for the deadbolt plate and I used it on the jamb for the strike plate. It is easy to set up and works to make a perfectly clean mortise for the plates. I’ve always used chisels and they has worked fine but never leaves the rounded corners like this does with the included router bit. Overall very happy.

makes cutting hinges much easier! why havent i bought this sooner

I've been a carpenter for 24 years and have use many versions of this template by other companies. They are meant to be cheap and easy while having decent results. There are 3 things about this kit that make it really flawed. The first thing is that it can't be use on an existing jamb with casing on. The adjustable nubs on the back are more than 5/8 of an inch. Casing usually has a 1/4 inch reveal. That is why these jigs have had 1/8 inch nubs on them since the beginning of time. I'm not sure why they advertise this as being able to do existing jambs. I could remove the nubs and use it if I lined it up correctly but I feel that I shouldn't have to do that. The second thing is that even if I do remove the nubs to use on a jamb it can only be used on a door with 3/8 stop or less. The jig has to set partially over the stop and is raised only 3/8. This will be okay for most jambs but not in older houses where the stop is 1/2 inch. All they had to do was raise it another 1/8 and it would have worked in all door jambs. And thirdly, I am having a difficult time fitting the plastic inserts. The fit is simply too tight and I can't get them to lay flat. I am going to warp the metal trying to force it to lay flat. I also hate the "case" and the fact that even for a chance for it to work I had to spend 15 minutes carefully opening it. Like I said, this is a simple design that many companies have used. It should have been easy to improve upon but in my opinion Milescraft not only fell short but made it worse. I hope I can send it back even tho I had to destroy the packaging to open it. I originally gave this 1 star. After using it I would like to update my review. 90% of the doors I do are 1 3/8 with 3 1/2 hinges. I install only a couple a month and rarely need to mortise the jam. So what I did was remove the silly adjustable knobs and screwed the jig to a 3/4 x 2 1/2 x 12" board. The length needs to be long enough for clamps to not interfere with the router. I then inserted the 3 1/2 template insert and mortised my fence to a hinge depth. This gave me an exact mark to line up with my hinge marks on the door. I just line it up and clamp and rout. Much faster and precise than holding the jig with one hand and trying to screw it to the door with the other hand, plus no screw holes. The template inserts need a little attention before using. I pushed the insert in place as far as I could then turned the jig over to where it was laying on the insert and used a thin board to gently tap the frame down to the insert. After it was laying flat I took it back apart to remove the plastic shavings from having such a tight fit. Now it snaps in and out perfectly. I planed a bevel on the knob side of the door and when I routed the latch plate I had to use small tapered shims on the low edge of my fence before I clamped it for the template to lay flat on the beveled edge of the door. Not a big deal and better than screwing it to the door.

Bought this for the huge amount of templates that come with it, the price and the template router bit thats included. After reading some reviews, didn't have terribly high hopes for the product, but figured it'd be good enough for government work for a custom basement door I had to build since it was a weird size. To my surprise, this product worked great! I didn't experience any of the problems other people had, and in fact it looks like they updated the product based on complaints. They have screws included instead of nails, and the template fit in the jig very snugly. They created a beautiful finish on the door and I couldn't be happier. The included bit worked great for me, no flexing from what I can tell. It was better than I expected considering I have some bits that were more than the cost of this entire jig! The finish was good, better than whats needed considering hinges and plates are going to be covering the mortise. The only complaint is the templates are such a tight fit, they dont always fit perfectly flush and even on the jig, but if you put some downward pressure on your router, it worked fine.

Works Great if you have any idea what you're doing. As for the 1 and 2 star reviews, clueless users. 1. If your templates are red, you didn't purchase the 1213, they're black. 2. If the cut out in your templates are not the stated size, that's because they're not suppose to be, the extra space is for the bearing to ride along the inside edge. The mortise will be cut out at the correct size. 3. The cutting edge of the router bit should never come into contact with the template, if it shatters your template by hitting it you have no business using a router. 4. The screw holes in the side of the door are no big deal, use a little wood filler. The hinged side of the door is rarely ever seen and no one will ever notice it. Use clamps on the jamb instead of the screws, no holes. 5. If none of the templates fit your hinge, why would you purchase it ? The hinge sizes that it will fit are clearly stated. Or why wood you purchase it and then purchase a hinge that the templates won't fit ? This is most likely another case of someone who thinks the cut out in the template is too big, refer to #2. 6. If the instructions for your templates are only correct for outswing doors, you are definitely clueless. The instructions shouldn't need to tell anyone to screw the template facing the opposite direction to install the hinge in the opposite direction. The template itself shows you which direction to place it on the door. 7. If your steel frame will only adjust for doors up to 1 3/8" in thickness, what can I say, you're beyond clueless. Actually the steel frame will only adjust down to 1 3/8" in thickness, try turning the knobs in the other direction so they point at the 1 3/4" and then you can mortiss a 1 3/4" thick door. Interior doors are made 1 3/8" thick, exterior doors are made 1 3/4" thick. The frame is made to mortiss 1 3/8" and 1 3/4" doors, it isn't that difficult to figure out how to operate this thing.

Love this set of templates as there is a template for everything required in order to core a door. Works great and easy to use!

These templates are denoted in inches, which should be a giveaway. However I had 5 doors with 90mm hinges to hang, and these are on paper virtially the same length as a 3 1/2 inch hinge. However in reality they are more different in every dimension than you might think, and the radius of the curved edge is different too. In short, they don't fit. And don't think you can make them fit especially if you have curved edge hinges. It's puzzling why thjis product is even offered for sale in Australia shipped locally overnight.

me parecio un poco caro cuando lo compre, pero vale la pena, haces los trabajos mas rapido y con un terminado mas preciso. Soy carpintero y creo que vale la pena la inversion.

Can't tell from the description, but it would seem that standard US hinges are far wider than those in the UK. I guess you could make your own spacers, but may as well make your own template if that was the case.

I bought this product to help with a large door building project I had. Coupled with a good compact router, you'll get professional results when making slots for hinges or strike plates. There are several templates in the package for many different door combinations. I did not give it perfect marks because the screws provided with template to fasten it to the door were just bad. I ended up using a couple of short, fine drywall screws instead. There are also some instances where this template does not work. For example, installing a bullet strike for a closet door...there are no templates for the smaller strike plate (I ended up using a larger one and centering the plate manually in the larger slot. It would be handy having a template for a mortise style lock, but this also is a limitation. One last thing, if you are cutting a slot near the edge of a door, one of the screw holes will not mount so this is a limitation of the tool. This happened when I installed my bullet catch and also if installing any thing that needs to be on an edge of a door like a flush dead bolt.