Outside Hinges

[Chariots of Fire]

There are several ways of making outside hinges or exposed hinges but the two I like the best are using "H" hinges from Micro-Mark and making hinges using small brass tubing and steel wire.  Here are some examples.

In the photo above the small "H" hinges have been used.  The come apart easily and instead of using the individual brass pins I substitute stainless steel wire long enough to hold both hinges at the same time.  This allows for alignment on the doors and the door jam.  CA works well to support them but drilling out the holes and adding small nails that come with the hinges keeps them secure.  I grind off most of the nail heads afterwards so that the hinge does not bind.  Both pieces are notched into the door and jam rather than just sit on the outside.

Another example of an exposed hinge is this set made of brass strip stock, sections of brass tubing and again some very small brass tubing the stainless wire.  In this case the hood of the International Loadstar is a butterfly type that opens on each side of a permanent center section.  There needs to be clearance between the point of attachment of the hinge and the hood otherwise it would not open.  Tubing sections were sliced in half and soldered to the brass strip stock.  Then the half sections of tubing were soldered to a length of the small tubing at the ends.  In the photo you can see the size of the small tubing between the hinges.  These longer pieces are separate from the hinges themselves but the stainless wire runs through them all.  The longer small tubing is secured to the hood with CA and is also set between two small pieces of plastic strip for extra grip.

Here's a better look at the hinge parts after they were all soldered together.  After soldering was done the extra small tubing was cut away leaving only the part soldered to the larger half round sections.

The hood is open and everything is clear of binding.  A similar piece is on the other side and opens the same way.

[NOBLNG]

Nice job. I like the hood hinges!? I have made some piano hinges out of .005” brass. I am tempted to go to a local shop with a laser and get some jigs made up.

Edited July 3, 2021 by NOBLNG

[250 Testa Rossa]

Perfect. This is going to help when I make the outside hinges for my '55 Nomad project. 

[Straightliner59]

Thank you, Charles! This is excellent information. I have some of the "H" hinges I was planning to use for the doors of my Model A project. They aren't really correct for that application, so I ended up scratching a set. I did use one side, along with one from a strap hinge to make a throttle pedal for the old hot rod, too!

[Paul Payne]

Charlie, this is great info for my Power Wagon project- the challenge will be attaching to die casting material instead of plastic.