Drafting curves without French curves using a door hinge

I used to carry a whole set of French curves in my bag, plus a flexi curve for the weird stuff. Then last fall I was on a job near Tulsa and needed a smooth radius that matched an existing cabinet edge, nothing in my kit was close. I grabbed an old door hinge from the truck, the kind with two loose leaves, and taped a pencil to one side. That gave me a perfect circular arc without hunting for the right template. Now I keep a pair of hinges in my drafting box and it handles most of my curved cuts faster than the plastic stuff. The trick is adjusting the gap between the leaves to change the radius, took me about 10 tries to get it right. Has anyone else used hardware store parts for drafting geometry, or am I just cheap?

0 comments

0 Comments

No comments yet

Be the first to share your thoughts on this discussion.