A Self-Closing Hinge
The Blum Compact 33 hinge, I would like to help answer the questions you may have on this series of hinges. For starters, the Compact 33 series, is a dye cast, self-closing hinge from Blum that replaces the Compact 31 series. The only difference between these two, is the hole profile on the hinge cup, with the pattern on the 31 being obsolete; this means that in order to replace an old Compact 31 with a new Compact 33 (or any other Blum face frame hinge) you will need to drill new holes in the cabinet door. The rest of the hinge cup and mounting plates for both the Compact 31 and 33, operate the exact same way.
Being as the Blum Compact 31 and 33 series hinges are dye-cast, they have been known from time-to-time to break. If the self-close mechanism in the hinge cup breaks, the hinge is still functional in a traditional sense, but will no longer provide a self-close and will make a clicking sound. If either the cup or the arm was to break however, the hinge cup will need to be replaced. This can easily be replaced, as the hinge cup and mounting plate are ordered separately. The cup is available in either a screw-on (33.3600), screwing the hinge cup directly into the door material using two screws, or a press-in (33.3630), using an insertion machine to dowel the hinge cup into the door material. If the mounting plate was to break, this too will need to be replaced. There are two factors to look at in ordering a mounting plate; if the plate is to be edge mounted (1330.11) or face mounted (133.0240), and what the desired overlay will be. The overlay is determined by the mounting plate and stamped right onto the plate itself, making finding the replacement size very easy.
In order to connect the hinge cup and the mounting plate, the hinge arm will need to be attached to the mounting plate with a set screw. This set screw is best used with a Pozi drive screw driver, a regular Philips drive screw driver can be used but has a tendency to bounce out of the slot on the set screw. Once the arm is fully seated in the mounting plate you will have the expected overlay for the mounting plate you ordered; it does have enough play to allow you to reduce the overlay up to 1/8 of an inch, but it cannot increase the overlay.
It can at times be tricky to remove and reinstall doors that use the Blum Compact 33 hinges, this is due to people often wanting to try and slide the door on from the outside of the mounting plate in toward to center of the cupboard. In actuality, you want to go the other way, from the inside of the cupboard toward the outside of the mounting plate. To assist with lining up the mounting plate and hinge arm, the screws on the mounting plate can be loosened to adjust the plate by sliding it up or down.
If this is a new, first time installation of a Blum Compact 33 hinge, it is also important to mention that the space between the edge of the door material, to the edge of the seat for the hinge cup has to be 1/8 of an inch, or 3mm. The hole the hinge cup sits in also needs to be 35mm in diameter, and 1/2 an inch deep.
UPDATE: BLUM DISCONTINUED THE COMPACT 33 HINGE, WE WILL BE HAVING A NEW BLOG POST AND YOUTUBE VIDEO FEAUTRING THE BLUM COMPACT CLIP HINGE B030C AND B031C COMING OUT SOON. -WOODWORKER'S HARDWARE 08/07/2023
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