Hinjig Hinge Making Tool

This is a little tool I made while making hinges for buildings. I don’t doubt that the Swiss have something like it on the market but it was more fun to make my own.

MDF is 1/8” thick. On its edge its useful for measuring and cutting 1/8” card strips without having to use a ruler.

The marks along the edge are measured between each mark, not from the end. More precise for me to see.

In the right corner is a 1/4” deep band saw cut. The slot is just the right thickness for card strips. Insert card one way for a 1/8” deep bend…

and another for a 1/4” bend.

Wire bending holes are .0292 inch for the 22 gauge black annealed steel wire I use for bead hinges. Put a piece of bent wire through the hole…

Flip Hinjig over and trim the end off. And there’s nothing stopping you from putting in a straight piece of wire and cutting it off if straight pins are needed.

The 1/16” length is a bit different. The bent wire is slipped into a slot from below, then up through the hole and trimmed off.

The other side of Hinjig. A piece of 1/8” fingernail emery board was glued to the edge for sanding clearance slots.

The Z bending portion. The left part is a 1/2” square piece of 1/16” basswood with double card on its bottom that starts 3/16” from its front edge. It’s also inset a bit from the base edge. The part on the right is also basswood with double card covering its entire bottom. Double card is used so the card strip I’m using will slide into the jig easily. The slot between the two parts is a bit over one card’s thickness.
Shown: A 1/8” wide strip of card is first bent 90 degrees and slid underneath the left part. The strip is then bent down onto the right part…

Slide it out and TA DAA, a completed Z bend.

Hinjig Jr.? Small MDF bits glued together with a slot for bending two wire hinge pins at the same time to ensure the same length.