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Kind of annoying but it still is a well built template and certainlt makes the job easy. Also, 2 of the templates are off enough in size that after using a router you still have to back with a chisel or knife and clean up the mortise so the hinge will fit. A few little things that have to be done that should be done by the manufacturer before the tool can be used. The extension bars have to filed down a little or they wont slide into the templates, an easy thing to do but for a $300 tool you would think it should have been done.
i bought this as a time saver seem to spend much of that time repairing the rivets that holdthe jig against the door or frame the pins that fall out and fitting different shims and filing down bits in all a waste of time and money
i took it back and bought a vintage stanley at a pawnshop that needed a few replacement parts.its quality is incomparible to the new bosch. the 83038 simply sucks. i had a handfull of doors that i had to hang,and figured that i might as well go out and finally get me a nice jig.so i spent the $275.00 the local lumber company wanted.i hung 4 doors and on my 5th door pieces started falling off(the piece that serves as a stop against the door).i was surprised on how cheap this tool is made.well anyway.
Bosch claims that this kit is fully compatible with the "competition's" template guides. Over time, replacing full single hinge templates got costly, so we switched to the Bosch kit because of being able to replace smaller parts. After more filing, this problem was fixed.Next thing I noticed, the top gauge assemblies. None of the critical components worked the way they should have out of the box. Just don't be careless and you'll be fine.All that said, this kit has caused me nothing but headaches.
While this is true, the provided router bit does not work (safely) with a Porter-Cable style template guide with a ring that screws on from the inside of the router base. The trade-off is that the larger diameter at the top makes it trickier than it should be to pull the nails out with a standard claw hammer, as the cutout in the claw won't fit around it.I had spent about a day of mortising and hanging windows, and came to one that gave me problems. This doesn't make for any kind of repeatability.I went to set up my router (a Ridgid router, which I Highly recommend) to mortise. If you plan on using this kit with a non-Bosch router, be prepared to use a longer bit.Getting to actually using this template kit, I had to make wooden rails to accommodate the windows I was mortising, which isn't a huge deal.
When I've hung door pairs, one door always hangs at least 1/8" lower than the other. The stop tab is made of a very malleable metal, and one actually came out of the box twisted. This left me having to hand mortise the hinges 1/8" higher, and do a repair to fill the lower portion of the mortise.One of the big selling points of this template is that you can get parts for each of the templates if you nick them. After a lot of filing, they finally slid in. If you are simply looking to see whether or not I think you should buy this tool, my simple answer is "NO".Here's the long answer:We used to work for a very large custom millwork company, and for a long time we used the Porter-Cable template.
I mortised it, and when I hung it, the reveal at the top was 1/8" larger than all the rest were (with the same jig settings). The Bosch is slightly better for 6-8 or 7-0 doors, but I don't like it for any other sizes.We noticed a large problem with the jamb stop (provides the proper gap at the top of the door). When I took the template out, and tried to get accustomed to it, I noticed that the spacer rails did not fit into the templates. I came to find out that the screw that locks the top gauge assembly had loosened and the gauge had moved. It uses a rivet as a pivot point, so you can rotate the stop to fit on both the left and right hand sides of a jamb.
Our boss was careless, and regularly nicked the template with the router. That kit worked quite well and solved those problems.Since then, we've left that company and started our own. We now also have the Porter Cable template guide, and I use them for different purposes. I've never nicked a template. I have mortised many doors now, and work at a pretty fast rate. I find that the Porter Cable is MUCH more adjustable and accurate.
This is VERY noticeable.I've managed to fix this problem, but it involved serious modification and using the stop entirely differently than intended.I would not buy this product again if I had the choice. It turns out that on both stops provided, the rivet is not straight, so no matter what, the tab will be higher on one side than the other.This may not sound like a big deal, until you see the results. This resulted in many hours trying to fix the problems with the template, and many hours trying to fix the problems this template caused.Buy the Porter Cable instead.
We thought that the metal tab (the part that was rotating) was twisted, as door pairs were not being hung evenly. Using our knowledge from the previous company, we chose the Bosch 83038 kit over the Porter-Cable.That leads me to my need to write this review.Upon first impression, this kit comes in a nice, sturdy box. We will be switching to the Porter-Cable kit._____________________________This is an addition several months later.
after that, I noticed that there is no depth setting for 1 1/2" thick doors, so I had to shim the template every time I used it.The spring loaded nails are most definitely stronger that those on the Porter-Cable. I then found that if you slide them past the opening, they lock up again on the raised lettering on the template itself. In order to get the right mortise depth, the bit has to be inserted with enough of the 1/4" shaft exposed that you seriously risk bending the shaft and/or throwing the bit.
I'm dissapointed with the lack of information provided by Bosch. I was able to get within 1/8" with my old method. This combination produces a perfect 5/8" radius but the Bosch 83038 does not have sufficent adjustments for a 3 1/2" hinge. You would think that Bosch believes the 5/8" radius is some rare cut. This produces a router pattern which is about 1/8" two large. I purchased this Bosch 83038 and proceeded to route hinges.
I read one of these reviews and found where a 1 1/4" router bit and a 1 3/8" templent guide will do the job. I'm currently in the process of elongating the 2 holes in the fine adjustment plate. Well I started fine tuning for a 3 1/2" hinge with a 5/8" radius. I bought this kit inorder to produce perfect hinges. For information I'm using a Porter/Cable 7529 plunge router. I haven't been able to find the correct router bit and templent guide.
The closest I can get is by setting the hinge pin at 3 1/2" and completely removing the 2 screws and the plate on the fine adjustment.
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