I've been a little skeptical of molded plastic jigs and anything not made of precision metal or hardwood. I'm changing my view. The latest jig to win me over is the Hingemark, used to mark the placement and alignment of Euro-style concealed hinges on doors and hinge plates on assembled cabinets. I've had jigs that can do one or the other, but not both.
The Hingemark is a molded polypropylene jig with swing-out wings on each end for door hinge positioning, 90 degree indents below the wings for cabinet hinge plate alignment and three spring-loaded steel pins for location marks. Its backside has an extended edge for positioning on the cabinets face and doors edge.
In using it the only adjustment I made were with the "wings," either positioning them flush or swung out 90 degrees. Once in place, I simply hammer tapped the spring pin marked "Door" for my 35mm bore or the two pins marked "Cabinet" for my hinge screws. After assembly my door needed very little adjustment.
The Hingemark is useful for cabinets already assembled or for projects where setup and hinge pre-assembly take more time than this jig. For more information, go to www.hingemark.com.
Another tool is a combination drill/screw bit called the Trim Adjustor made by the Copemaster Company. It's used to close gaps in baseboard coped and butt joints which might be caused by irregular framing, warped walls, etc.
To test it, I shimmed a piece of wallboard to lean in at a slight angle then installed baseboard moulding. On the adjoining wall, I installed a strip of coped moulding. No surprise I had a gap in the joint. I drilled the Trim Adjustor into the bottom portion of the shimmed wall moulding near the joint area until only its threaded portion was still visible. I then reversed the direction of my driver so the threaded portion would begin to tap into the molding (left hand thread).
Once the Trim Adjuster makes contact with wall framing, further driving will swing the moulding out to close the gap with the adjoining coped piece. The bit leaves a 1/4 inch hole which needs filling or shoe molding to cover it. The Trim Adjustor is designed for 5/8 to 13/16 inch base moulding, although with I found it could be used on 1/2 inch moulding.
The Trim Adjustor comes in packages of 20 with a square drive included. For more information, go to www.copemaster.com.
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