Hinge Mount Tear Out Repair

My wife and I recently was given an old Pioneer home audio system. This system has a nice wood cabinet with a glass front and a flip top to access the record player. Unfortunately while loading the cabinet into my truck to take it home the top flipped opened and broke away from the hinges. This instructable is my attempt at repairing the damage.

Tools needed:

• Router with a straight bit
• Straight edge and/or square
• Tape
• Clamps
• Chisel
• Table Saw
• Drill with bits
• Sandpaper

Materials needed:

• Plywood/Hardwood or any scrap wood on hand
• Wood dowel
• Glue
• Stain

Using a square, I marked out a area around the damaged area to be routed out. This was approximately 3.75"x 1.25" for both areas. I then taped off those marks to further define the area that needed to be routed out.

Setting the depth of cut is fairly easy. With the router pointed up, I placed a piece of the wood I planned on using to fill the damaged area next to the router bit and moved the bit up or down until it was flush with the wood. I used a straight edge to verify it was flush. If you have a router with a guide plate that can move you can make the adjustments that way.

To give me a nice straight edge to work off of I used the square to clamp down to the surface. I took the radius of the router and subtracted the radius of the bit to give me the distance the square needed to be from the cut edge. Running the router along the square ensure a nice straight line. I did have to re position the square for each side of each area needed to be routed.

With the bulk routed out I used a chisel too square off the corners. I used a razor blade to score the top surface before using the chisel.

When making the plug to fill the area that was routed out it is good practice to cut the piece slightly over sized and cut it down little by little until it has a snug fit with as little gaps around the edges.

To give the plug added strength I added some dowels that bridged into the main piece of wood. I clamped the plug in place and drilled twice the depth of the plug. for two dowels in each plug. I cut four lengths of dowel just longer then the depth of the holes.

With the plug removed I applied glue onto every mating surface. After placing the plug back in I glue in the dowels making sure to hammer them all the way in. Clamp everything in place and let sit over night.

Once the glue is cured I removed the clamps and cut off the extra bits of dowel and sand the back edge smooth. I carefully cleaned up the seams without scratching the original finish. I found that some red mahogany stain matched the original finish fairly well after 2 coats.

When reattaching the top to the cabinet I first needed to loosen the screws on the bottom of the hinges to release the spring tension so the hinges laid flush against the back of the lid. I then lined everything up before drill pilot holes for the hinge screws. These hinges anchored both on the back and the underside of the lid.

With the lid now securely in place I tightened the screws on the bottom of the hinges until there was enough spring tension to hold the lid open on its own.

Thank you for your interest in my instructable and would love any feedback or any ideas of how I could have done this differently.