fitting small hinges

[sunnybob]

My jewellery box hinges have finally arrived (7 days at heathrow, another 7 at my local airport), but now I'm unsure about the fixing screws.
They are TINY!

They are only 2 mm across x 10 mm long and iron with brass coating with slot heads.
I am obviously going to have to drill pilot holes in the walnut, but how wide? I dont want the screws to break off as I tighten (which has happened before to me), but I need them to grip properly.

So 0.5 mm? 1 mm? 1.5 mm?

 

[MusicMan]

I use tiny screws for some musical instrument repairs. In principle, you should make the holes the same diameter as the inner core of the screw.

If you can't measure this, try on a scrap of wood. Use the larger sizes first since these will be less likely to break the screw, and you can see if they hold well.

If you are unsure about the holding, a dap of epoxy as you screw them in should fix it.

My guess would be 1.5 mm.

In musical instruments repairs in a hard wood, we sometimes use machine screws and tap the holes first. You could get such screws from e.g. Dawkes Music.

Keith

 

[SteveF]

I would try a 1mm in a piece of softwood to try out first
you will soon know if too loose and will give you a starting place
also a bit of candle wax will help
Steve

 

[NazNomad]

I use dolls-house hinges and if I get a loose screw, a drop of CA on the screw sorts it out.

 

[sunnybob]

How stupid am I? Didnt occur to me to try different sized holes in scrap. DOH!

1.5 mm hole did the job nicely, thanks very much.
These stop hinges are quite nice, I bought a spare set and shall definitely use them.