Open Tail Hydraulic Hinge Fixed Long Spine Plate F806K

Product Overview

TheF806K hinge is the open tail member of this hydraulic hinge family, built on a fixed base with a long spine plate. Three words in the model code describe it: open tail for the form of the arm end, fixed because the arm is fastened to the plate rather than released from it, and long spine because the plate carries its screws over an extended run of the cabinet side.

Closing is hydraulic. A sealed damper works inside the arm and takes over only near the end of the swing, so the door turns freely and then arrives under control instead of dropping shut under its own weight. Nothing is added at the door and nothing is adjusted on site: the hinge is supplied as one assembled unit.

The open tail form is what distinguishes this hinge from the closed tail version that shares its plate and its damper. The end of the arm is left open rather than looped, which changes how the hinge meets the plate during fitting and what can be done around it on the cabinet side. It is a detail that matters most to the person doing the boring and hanging, which is why it is written into the model code at all.

Everything else is conventional in the useful sense: a bored cup in the door, pressed steel hinge parts, a plated finish for interior furniture, and a plate with round and slotted holes so the door can be pulled into line after the hinge is screwed down. The photographs here are of the actual hinge so the tail end, the arm and the plate hole pattern can be checked against your own drilling drawing before samples are ordered.

What The Open Tail Form Changes

A hinge tail is the rear part of the assembly, and on most cabinet hinges it is a closed form. Leaving that end open is a deliberate construction choice, and it has three practical consequences for a buyer rather than being a cosmetic difference.

First, the fitting sequence. An open form lets the arm be brought onto the plate from the side or the rear rather than being lowered into a closed seat. On a door that is already hanging, or on a cabinet where the plate was fixed first and the door is offered to it afterwards, that freedom of approach is what makes the operation a one person job.

Second, clearances on the cabinet side. Where the mounting strip is short, where a return panel or an adjacent fitting sits close behind the hinge line, or where the plate has to land near the back edge of a shallow carcase, the open tail gives the fitter room that a closed form does not. This is the most common reason a project specifies this hinge instead of the closed tail version of the same family.

Third, the fixing interface itself. With the tail open, the load path from the door into the plate runs through the fastened joint and the plate screws, which is exactly what the long spine plate is there to support. There is no release clip in the load path on this hinge, and that is one reason a fixed hinge is often the cheaper and longer lived answer on a door that will never be taken off.

It follows that this hinge is not the one to specify when the user must remove doors without tools. That is what the detachable member of the family is for, and the choice between them is decided by the door's life, not by price alone.

The Long Spine Plate On A Heavy Door

The spine is the web between the two screw rows of the plate. Lengthening it moves the fixings further apart along the cabinet side, and that single change is what carries most of the load argument on a tall or heavy door.

A hanging door puts shear into its screws and a bending load into the fixing line. Spread over a longer spine, each screw carries less, and each one bites into board that has not already been pre loaded by the screw above it. In particle board and MDF, where screw grip rather than screw strength is the limiting factor, that is usually the difference between a hinge line that stays true and one that ends the warranty period with the door sagging at the top corner.

The price of the long spine is the strip of cabinet side it occupies. That strip is shared with shelf pin holes, drawer runner screws and the structural fixings of the carcass, so on a crowded side the family also supplies a short spine plate. Both versions bore the same cup in the door, so a single shipment can carry both and the machine setup does not change.

Where a project uses solid timber, a tall pantry panel, or a board known for poor screw retention, the long spine is the correct default and this hinge is built on it. Where the door is a light wall unit panel and the side is congested, the short spine version is the better fit.

How The Damper Behaves In Service

The hinge swings without resistance for most of its travel. The damper engages close to the closed position and controls only the last part of the arc, which is why the door does not feel heavy to open and still arrives quietly.

That construction produces the two observations that reach our sales team most often. A sample tested out of context can feel as though it barely closes, because damping is a fixed force competing against a light door in a cold room. The same hinge on a heavy panel in a warm kitchen shuts with authority. Equally, a door that has to be pushed through the last few degrees is not a weak hinge but a misaligned one: the damper is being worked against the cabinet instead of against air.

Three rules keep these hinges working for their full life:

1. No lubricant of any kind. The damper is sealed. Oil or aerosol spray carried into the arm alters the closing force and drags grit into the mechanism.
2. No forcing. Correct the door at the plate screws. A hinge forced sideways is loaded far outside what it was tested for.
3. No packing behind the hinge. Packing compresses, the reveal returns, and the hinge is left taking a load the cabinet should be carrying.

A hinge that has lost its damping is replaced as an arm. There is no serviceable part inside it and no recharge is offered.

Key Features

1. Open tail arm form — the rear of the hinge is left open, which gives room to approach the plate and to work in tight clearances behind the hinge line.
2. Fixed screwed base — arm and plate both fastened, with no release clip in the load path and nothing to wear out.
3. Long spine plate — extended screw spread for heavy, tall or soft board doors.
4. Hydraulic soft close — sealed damper inside the arm controls the closing arc and stops the door against the carcase.
5. Concealed mounting — the hinge sits in a bored cup and is invisible with the door closed.
6. Pressed steel with plating — cold rolled steel hinge parts with an even plated finish for interior furniture.
7. Adjustable after fitting — round and slotted plate holes take up door alignment before final tightening.
8. Shared boring — the door side follows the same drilling as the other members of this hinge family.

Technical Reference

Opening angle, cup diameter and depth, hole centres, plate dimensions, screw size, load rating and cycle life are issued on the drawing and test sheet with your quotation. They are not printed here because they must be matched to your door and your cabinet rather than read off a catalogue line.

Fitting And Adjusting This Hinge

Bore the door first and bore it to the drawing depth. Depth matters more than position on the horizontal axis, because it decides how the door face sits against the cabinet and how much preload the hinge arm carries once the screws are home. A shallow cup leaves the hinge proud of the surface, and a hinge that is pre loaded while the door is being closed is a hinge whose damper is working twice as hard as it was designed to.

Fix the plate to the cabinet side on the marking line, leaving the screws just short of tight so the plate can still be nudged. Work from a jig or a stop block rather than from eye: two hinges that are not on one line will produce a door with an even gap at the top and a bad one at the bottom, and no amount of adjustment at the plate will hide it.

Bring the door to the cabinet and engage the arm on the plate. With the open tail form the arm can be offered from the rear or the side, which is the practical advantage on a door that is already too heavy to hold and screw at the same time. Check the reveal along the full length of the door before tightening, then set the alignment at the plate: side to side through the slots, front to back through the fixing position, and door height through the cup side.

Test the swing before the last screw is driven. A hydraulic hinge that is being pulled sideways by a twisted carcase will be blamed on the hinge long after the truth comes out, and the correction belongs to the cabinet, not to the hinge.

Where Buyers Specify The F806K

Kitchen base units and tall pantry doors are the main use. These doors are the heaviest in any fitted kitchen, they work all day, and they are never removed after installation, which is the profile that suits a fixed hinge on a long spine plate rather than a release hinge on a short one.

The open tail earns its place where the fitting is constrained. Shallow wall units, cabinets with a return panel behind the hinge line, narrow mounting strips, furniture built around an appliance or a service void, and refurbishment work where the existing boring cannot be moved are the jobs where fitters ask for this form by name. In a new build with a standard side panel and clear space behind the hinge, the closed tail version of the family is usually chosen and the two shipped together.

Beyond domestic joinery the same hinge appears in hotel and apartment package work, bathroom vanities, office and locker furniture, retail fit out, and laboratory or medical casework. In each case the buyer is specifying the same three properties: control on closing, screw spread for the panel, and an arm form that fits the space available.

Two environments call for something other than this hinge. Where furniture sees water, salt air or regular wash down, a corrosion resistant hinge should be specified rather than this plated steel one. Where the door has to come off without tools, choose the detachable member of the family.

Common Faults And What Inspection Shows

Ordering, OEM And Quality Control

Send the door height, panel material, panel thickness and door count and we confirm the hinges per door, the screw type and the carton total for this hinge. Mixed shipments are routine, because one cabinet package rarely needs a single hinge: the open tail fixed hinge where clearance is tight, the closed tail version where it is not, the short spine plate on congested sides and the detachable hinge where a service door has to come off, all cut from the same cup boring on your machine.

Brand marking can be stamped on the arm, plating can be matched to your own standard, and packing can be bulk cartons, boxed pairs for a hardware shelf, or carded sets for retail. Damper viscosity is the first parameter changed when a buyer wants a firmer or a gentler close, and it is set at assembly rather than in the field.

Batches are released on swing feel, damper engagement point, plating adhesion and plate squareness, with sample sets cycled on a bench rig drawn from finished cartons. A pre shipment inspection report is issued against the sample you approved, so the hinge that lands matches the hinge that was signed off.

Choosing Between The Family Members

These hinges share the cup and the boring template, so the decisions are the arm form, the plate joint and the spine length. A single order can carry several members without a second machine setup, which is how most kitchen packages are actually specified.

• This hinge — open tail, fixed plate, long spine, hydraulic: heavy doors in constrained fitting positions.
• Closed tail fixed hinge, long spine — the same load carrying plate where the arm form is free to be closed.
• Open tail fixed hinge, short spine — the same arm on a compact screw line for crowded cabinet sides.
• Detachable long spine hinge — a clip on arm for doors that must be lifted off by hand.
• Hinge without damper — free swing for stores, service cupboards and budget specifications.

Read the choice as four questions. Does the door have to come off without tools? Does the space behind the hinge line allow a closed arm? How heavy is the panel and what board is it hung on? Should the hinge close the door itself? Four answers and the model code writes itself.

Hinge Count Per Door

Hinge count is decided by the door and not by habit. A hinge takes shear at its plate screws and bending at the edge of the cup bore, and both rise with door height and panel weight well before the hinge itself yields.

Two hinges serve a normal wall unit door. Three spread the same door over a longer run of cabinet side, which is what a full height wardrobe or pantry panel needs, and three is also the answer when a soft board relies on screw spread rather than screw strength. A fourth hinge does not improve a light door, and on a damped hinge it adds a second closing resistance to the same swing, which is how a door ends up needing to be pushed shut.

Because this hinge pairs the long spine plate with an open tail arm, it is normally the hinge chosen for the upper end of the door weight range in a constrained position. Give us the panel height, thickness and material and we will state the hinge count for your door rather than leave it to the fitter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does open tail mean in practice? The rear end of the hinge is left open instead of closed, which gives room to bring the arm onto the plate and to work where space behind the hinge line is tight.

Can the door be lifted off this hinge? No. This is the fixed member of the family; both arm and plate are screwed down. For tool free removal, specify the detachable long spine version.

Is the plate interchangeable with the closed tail hinge? Yes. Members of this family share the cup boring and the plate line, which is what allows a mixed shipment from one setup.

Will the soft close wear out? The damper is sealed and is rated for repeated cycling on a test rig, but it is not serviceable. A hinge that has lost damping is replaced as an arm, and the usual cause of early failure is forcing a misaligned door or adding lubricant.

Is this hinge suitable for a wet room? This hinge is plated steel for interior furniture. For wet, coastal or wash down service, a stainless hinge should be specified instead.

Contact And Quotation

Send the door specification, order quantity and destination port for a price, packing list and sample arrangement for the F806K open tail hydraulic hinge with long spine plate. The drawing with cup depth, hole centres and plate dimensions is issued with the quotation, so your machining team can confirm the fit on your own cabinet before production starts.