Bosch 83038 Deluxe Door and Jamb Hinge Template Kit

by Bosch

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Deluxe Door and Jamb Hinge Template kit works with wood or metal stops. Use it for installing new door panels or for adding a new door to an old cased opening or jamb. There is no need for measuring tools or a straight edge or for tedious calculations. All adjustments are easily accessible and the well-balanced template transfers directly from the jamb to the door (or vice-versa) with hinges on either side of the door. There’s no need to turn the template end over end. Works with or without stops installed. --C. Dwight Barnett

What's in the Box
Deluxe hinge template, metal case, 1 regular and 1 3601321516 extra-long top gauge assembly, 82864 template guide, 85159 bit

Product Description

Includes Deluxe Door & Jamb Hinge Templet Kit - 83038, Deluxe Hinge Template, Regular Top Gauge Assembly, Extra-Long Top Gauge Assembly - 3 601 321 516, Template Guide - 82864, Bit - 85159, Metal Case

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Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 11.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0000224KW
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: 83038
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,367 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best adjustable template kit, January 5, 2004

By 

"arf567" (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bosch 83038 Deluxe Door and Jamb Hinge Template Kit (Tools & Home Improvement)

The Bosch hinge template kit is the best of all the numerous metal adjustable templates available. Bosch bought the tool from Stanley tools decades ago, and Stanley bought it from someone else years before that. It is an old design that is yet to be improved upon by anyone else. Although the initial price seems high compared to lesser capable templates like the Porter cable, you will make that money back very quickly in time saved and problems avoided.

I use this tool for retrofit and for new construction and no longer carry fixed templates anymore. For new construction, you simply spend a few minutes assembling and configuring the template and then it is good to go for days of door hanging. It takes just moments to switch the hinge size for different door thicknesses, a time saver compared to fetching another full size template that could be lost in a different part of the jobsite. Retrofitting new doors in old jambs is cake as you can easily match the template to the old hinge layout for perfect mortises that fit the first time.

The rails have holes that engage ball bearings on the template frames. This prevents the hinge layout from changing if you should drop the tool on end. If you have ever used the PC template and bumped it while transferring from the door to the jamb, you know what a problem it is too have the template spacing change on you.

On room additions, it is easy to match the hinge layout for the new doors and jambs to match the old doors due to the adjustability of the Bosch template (this is important in situations where the new doors are close to old doors and the homeowner would notice the hinges not lining up). The kit comes with 2 top guides of different lengths that accomodate any top hinge spacing you will find in the field. The rails allow infinite adjustment so you can quickly match any hinge layout.

One thing the PC has over the bosch is that edge stops retract. This is only an issue when remortising the hinge gaines on an old jamb that has casing and caulking too close to the jamb edge. On the Bosch, the fixed edge stops can sometimes hit the caulking or casing and prevent the template sections from laying completely flat. On the PC, the stops can retract to counteract this problem, but overall the Bosch is significantly more accurate in retrofit situations.

When you first get your new Bosch template kit, you need to fine tune the hinge length stops. From the factory, they are not correct. Two screws loosen and allow an adjustable plate to be moved into the correct position. A quick run on a 2x4 lets you check for perfection before you ever touch an expensive door.

As mentioned by others, the small metal case is much more user friendly than the extra long PC box, but it doesn't hold the 4 hinge conversion kit or the 3 hinge extended rail kit. What most guys do is buy an additional standard kit, and make custom wooden rails for 8 to 10 foot doors. This way you have 6 template sections instead of four, and you can theoretically have 2 guys hanging 6-8 doors for more production.

The nails are very strong, I have spares but haven't had a problem with breakage at all. In fact, you can order from Bosch any part you need and can get stuff shipped next day if the parts are in stock.

The jamb gauges only fit Timely or hollow metal frames, so you need to file them down to fit wood jambs for retrofit jobs. But there are other ways to match existing hinge layouts so I don't recommend the jamb gauges unless you like to order book doors for commercial jobs or do nothing but retrofit.

Like any metal template, when you hit it with the router bit, it gets nicked and the bit can get damaged. But the template sections completely disassemble so any damaged part can be replaced. More than once I forgot to put the template guide in the router and got some healthy gouges in the template. A call to Bosch and all was fixed. Usually, though, you will nick the sides or length adjustment plate and these are quickly fixed in the field. The sides can be "reversed" and the length stops can be filed flat and readjusted. The hinge size adjustment bar can be rotated to move the nick out of the way. Very reliable even when damaged!

This is a terrific professional tool for the professional door hanger. And it works with any router that has a 1/2" mortising bit and 5/8" template guide. It even works for 5/8" radius hinges with a 1 1/4" mortising bit and 1 3/8" template guide. A homeowner would not need this tool, and it is not efficient for hanging just 1 door.

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Bosch kit solves all of the problems, November 15, 2003

By 

Bob Feeser "MillCrafters.com" (Springfield, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bosch 83038 Deluxe Door and Jamb Hinge Template Kit (Tools & Home Improvement)

If you have ever hassled with trying to install hinges on a non pre-hung door, you are familiar with the challenge. Figuring out the proper layout of the hinges on the door. Trying to take a single templet and align it perfectly straight up in order to prevent an off angle hinge. Trying to mount that templet at exactly the correct amount of depth to get a uniform edge. Routing without a glitch, or even moreso hand scribing an edge, then chiseling a flat base. Even if all of that goes perfectly, then we have the challenge of transferring those settings to the jamb in order to hang the door. How do we close the door on the hinge and scribe out the edge of the hinge onto the jamb. Opening the jamb and laying the hinges on it kinda works, but then how do you keep the distance correct for the clearance of let's say 1/8 inch at the top of the door. In plain words using the door with the hinges mounted is a rough way of getting the job done.
What Bosch does with this kit, is give you three adjustable for hinge size templates for routing, that are attached, and once again adjustable. You can preset the distance between the hinges, and be sure that the templates will be perfectly upright. No off angles, which is all too often the case without this kit. Once you attach the entire apparatus, with the built in pins you rout away. Then you remove the kit from the door, attach it to the hinge jamb and rout away.
This is an all metal kit that should give you years of service.

So why not just buy pre-hung doors and not bother to deal with it? The problem is that in order to trim the jamb to the thickness of the wall, you have to remove it from the door, disassemble it, then run it through the table saw, then reattach it. Or, in the event of a wall thicker than the pre-hung jamb, having to live with a seam, or a very large molding to cover it. With this kit, you can buy doors that are not pre-hung, and buy jamb boards that are wider than the jamb, trim them to size on your saw, then assemble for installation. Additionally you might want to create your jamb out of something other than the standard pine.
My hat is off to the Bosch engineers for designing this one. A complicated job made simple. Highly recommended. This tool falls in the category of most favored tools. It solves all of the problems.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty rinky dinky, June 23, 2005

By 

James R. Pieri "Yiquan one" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bosch 83038 Deluxe Door and Jamb Hinge Template Kit (Tools & Home Improvement)

I have used this templete for awhile, it works but the accuracy of it is not very good. Each templete is a little different in height from the each other which gives you different depths of cut. The one that is off the most is the fourth one I needed to buy. The hinge setting pivot that adjust the width of your door is very loose and some keep falling off their pivot. It is made with a cheap little rivot that does not hold up to use at all. I have heard the older models where better and that they cut back and made newer cheaper ones.

It could be a lot better, I was almost thinking of making my own templetes that would be more reliable and accurate. Its hard to beleive that they would sell this on the open market.

I have used the Porta-cable, even thou the Bosch is easyer to set up the porta-cable is built a lot better.