Everything you need to know about frog loops

The look of furniture that has doors in its design depends on the correctly selected and installed mounting hardware. The furniture hinge is a complex functional mechanism with which you can adjust the position of the doors, the angle of their opening, as well as the reliability of the entire structure of the furniture product.

Furniture four-hinge frog hinge is considered the most versatile and widespread fastening element, with the help of which the swing doors of furniture cabinets, pedestals, kitchen sets are fixed. Four-pivot hinges have a special method of fastening, as well as a different angle of rotation, depending on their modification. Most often in the furniture industry, inset or overhead hinges are used that can hold the weight of both small kitchen cabinet doors and heavy wardrobe doors.

By their design, four-hinged mounts have certain features. Despite the variety of modifications, the fasteners have common parts.

• Cups located on a special mounting bar. To fix the cup on the furniture door, a blind hole is drilled from its seamy side with a crown, equal to the diameter of the fastening.
• The next element is the lever hinge, which is attached to the cabinet structure.
• A hinge-type device that allows the furniture hinge to move.
• Furniture hardware for hinge fixing.

It is noteworthy that overhead furniture fasteners do not require preliminary drilling for installation, while inset hinges are fastened with preliminary preparation of the base for fixation. There are differences between inset and overhead furniture hinges.

• When using overhead fasteners, the door, when opened, covers a part of the end plate of the cabinet structure. When using a flush-mounted model, during opening, the door goes into the inside of the cabinet body.
• The choice of fastening design depends on the thickness of the walls and doors of the cabinet. To install the hinge with a cup, you will need to cut a hole at least 11 mm deep. The standard thickness of furniture structures is 16 mm. If the thickness of the product is less than the norm, then when installing the doors, overhead hinges are used.
• For mortise furniture fasteners, the bending of the mounting plate is small, therefore, when the door is opened, a hinge mechanism is triggered, which is not provided for overhead hinge types.

The four-pivot furniture mount is designed as a mechanism consisting of a pair of levers. On one side of the mount there is a hinge mechanism, and on the other - a hinge checker, fixed in a blind hole in the door. The hinge is designed so that the levers are in the position where the cup is parallel or perpendicular to the cabinet body. The hinge mechanism consists of a pair of coil or flat type springs. The expanding force of the spring mechanism creates the force of pressing the door against the cabinet body. Modern models of fasteners have an adjusting screw to correct the degree of this pressure.

The four-hinge mounting plate has special side lugs with holes, with the help of which the hinge is attached to the cabinet.In expensive models of hinges, there is an eccentric adjustment of the position of the hinge relative to the cabinet structure.

The counter mounting plate and the mounting cup are connected with a special fastening screw screwed into the plate. The loop itself goes into the counter bar so that the fastening screw moves freely along the groove located at the end of the bar shoulder. Correction of the location of the furniture hinge mechanism occurs by tightening the adjusting screw, which rests against the counter mounting plate. Such a screw can be covered with a plastic or metal decorative cover. In some models, the connection of the fastening body with the counter mounting plate is carried out using a special snap-on mechanism.

Furniture four-hinge hinge has several varieties, among them there are the most common types.

• Frog mechanism. It is considered a complex pivot-type mechanism equipped with a spring and 4 pivot points. This design makes it possible to open the cabinet door by 175 °. A furniture hinge of this type can be installed on heavy-weight massive cabinet doors made of natural wood or chipboard, while withstanding significant loads.

• Closer mechanism. This mechanism provides a soft and smooth movement of the hinge when opening / closing the cabinet door. Thanks to the shock absorption system, the doors of the cabinet do not slam, their movement is silent. This is achieved by the fact that the closer mechanism is placed in a special case filled with a viscous liquid. The body is hermetically sealed, and liquid leakage is impossible. Furniture hinges with a door closer are designed for heavy cabinet doors and can withstand significant mechanical loads during operation.

• Overhead models of the Austrian brand Blum. A mechanism is installed without milling, it has a three-dimensional type of adjustment. Blum mechanisms are robust and can withstand tens of thousands of door open / close cycles. They are used for kitchen furniture - products are resistant to high humidity and temperature extremes.

The efficiency of the furniture four-hinge mechanisms depends on their correct installation. To correctly install the furniture hinges, it is necessary to determine the weight of the door and its dimensions. In some cases, a large mirror may be located on the cabinet doors, the weight of which must also be taken into account when installing the fasteners. Usually, 2 fasteners are used for kitchen cabinet doors, while 4 fastening mechanisms are attached to the door for large bookcases or wardrobes. If the furniture door is made of heavy solid natural wood, then 5-6 hinges can be installed on it. To carry out the installation of fasteners to a furniture structure, you will need to prepare the following tool:

• tape measure, ruler, pencil;
• electric drill, screwdriver;
• drill for wood, drill bit;
• furniture hardware.

Before installing the furniture four-hinge hinges, you will need to measure and mark the attachment points. From the upper and lower edges, the indentation to the point of attachment of the loop should be no more than 12 cm. The remaining distance is divided by the number of loops to be placed. The distance from the adjacent edge of the door must be at least 20 mm. To facilitate the marking task, special ready-made marking templates are used. When marking, take into account the design of the four-hinge hinge and the place of its fixation.

After the marking is completed, preparatory holes are made for the four-hinge hinge cup and for its fasteners. The holes for the self-tapping screws are made with a simple wood drill, and the hole for the cup is made with a crown to a depth of 11 mm.For self-tapping screws, holes are made to a depth of 2/3 of their length.

First, a four-hinge hinge is marked and attached to the cabinet door, and only after this part of the fastening is installed, they proceed to marking and fixing the hinge on the cabinet surface. When attaching the fasteners, it is necessary to check how correct their placement is and. The tightness of the door-to-cabinet contact is adjusted by tightening the self-tapping screws and the hinge adjusting screw. With its help, distortions and gaps between the door and the cabinet are eliminated. The result of the work should be a tight fit of the door and its free opening / closing.

Some models of overhead four-hinge fasteners have 2 adjusting mechanisms, and when adjusting the position of the door, first loosen or tighten the near adjuster, and then the same manipulations are performed with the far adjuster.

For information on how to install a furniture hinge without milling, see the next video.