Cabinet Hinge?

[Steve-Gwenne]

Has anyone with the frosted glass cabinet doors had a problem with the hinges coming lose? We have a couple of times. Today as I lightly banged [lol] a  door shut, with one hand, the whole door flew off! The screws, clear plastic washers, and sliver outside bolt fell off onto my semi-unmade bed. :) Steve found everything except a clear washer. He used a small piece of paper instead.

 

So, my question is --- has anyone else had this happen to them & if so, do you have a solution? As these doors come loose previously &/or a hinge has become dislodged I have gotten into the habit of tightening the bolts occasionally.

[topgun2]

I've had them come loose but not fall off as yours did.  After tightening those three or four times I re-assembled them with a couple of drops of Locktite (blue) on each bolt.  They have not come loose since.

 

Bill

 

p.s.  be careful to not overtighten and see if you can find that washer.  The plastic can crack if you overtighten.

[mountainoliver]

That would be my advice as well. Use the blue (low strength) loctite brand and only use just a tiny bit at that! If you use the red or green color you may never get the hinges apart!

[ADKCamper]

We have had the same issue on several of our cabinet doors as well. Ditto the advice above about using Blue Loctite (#243) or equivalent on the threads.

I also noticed that the machine screws holding the doors to the hinges only engage with a few turns of the threads. I don't know if this is the same on all model years or not. I changed out the machine screws to a slightly longer one that engages more threads (and thus the Loctite thread locker *should* perform better). The jury is still out on this as I've only recently made this change.

OEM screw size: M3-0.50 x 6mm long, stainless steel, Phillips truss head

Replacement screw size: M3-0.50 x 8mm long, 18-8 stainless steel, Phillips truss head, with an oversized M3 18-8 stainless steel washer under the head. I ordered mine from McMaster-Carr, but you can likely find smaller or per-unit quantities from another supplier.

• M3-0.50 x 8mm Phillips truss head Screws: https://www.mcmaster.com/92467A119
• Oversize M3 washers (9mm OD): https://www.mcmaster.com/91116A120

Edited Wednesday at 02:35 PM by ADKCamper

[Mountainman198]

On 5/27/2019 at 5:03 AM, topgun2 said:

I've had them come loose but not fall off as yours did.  After tightening those three or four times I re-assembled them with a couple of drops of Locktite (blue) on each bolt.  They have not come loose since.

 

Bill

 

p.s.  be careful to not overtighten and see if you can find that washer.  The plastic can crack if you overtighten.

Yes. Same here, although I do re-check tightness before each trip as one cabinet door that fell down previously had damaged a small area of Gelcoat and want to avoid this again

[Stevon]

I found the slightly longer fasteners at my local Ace hardware. 

[Patriot]

All fasteners are one of our regular inspection areas on our checklist. Good reminder!