Milling doors for fittings: how to install handles quickly and accurately

Recommendation points

• Why milling cutter
• Measurements and markup
• Pocket milling
• Installing the lock and handle

If you are doing repairs yourself and want to flawlessly install interior doors, buy a simple manual router. This tool greatly facilitates the process of inserting door fittings and improves the quality of work. How – read the instructions from .

Why milling cutter

When inserting interior locks, it is required to make a recess for the body and end plate. This is usually done with a pen drill, but this method is laborious and not accurate enough.

With the help of a milling cutter, it is possible to facilitate the process of removing material when making a cut-in pocket. At the same time, the absence of impact on the door guarantees its safety, and the precision of processing eliminates the risk of unreliable fastening of the lock or its distortion.

True, before starting work, you will have to go through a small educational program on the basics of handling such a specific carpentry tool. The milling cutter is suitable for almost any – with a power of 1.2 kW. You will need to buy a four-blade end mill with a diameter of 8-10 mm and as long as possible. You also need to purchase a pair of small carpentry clamps or make them yourself according to the instructions on .

The most tangible benefit from a router is if you have to cut in up to a dozen identical locks at a time. In this case, it is enough to calculate the dimensions once, after which the installation process itself will be completed in a matter of minutes..

Measurements and markup

The process of cutting the installation pocket in the described way practically does not require control skills of a hand router. Instead, it will require proper marking and making simple fixtures..

So let’s start with the height of the handle. If the lighting is already installed, the handle should be located on the same axis with the switches. There is another rule: press the arm parallel to the torso and bend it at the elbow at an angle of 45 °. If you now hold the handle in your palm, this will be its optimal height..

Now you need to decide on the width of the pocket. The difference between the thickness of the door body and the lock must be divided by two. The obtained value is used when installing the side stop of the router, it is this distance that should be between the thrust jaw and the edge of the cutter blade.

The milling height is determined by the location of the two overhead stops. To make them, you need to twist two planks in the form of a letter G at right angles. The long side of the stop is pressed with a clamp to the canvas, while the short one serves as a stop for the cutter. To correctly install the stops, you need to add the distance from the edge of the cutter to the edge of the sole on each side of the insert of the lock.

The marking of the end is done as follows: first, the axis of the handle installation is marked with a line, then the required distance to the upper and lower edges of the lock recedes from it. After that, they retreat from these lines at a distance from the cutter blade to the edge of the sole. It is enough just to calculate at what distance from the edge of the canvas the extreme marks are in order to immediately carry out the markings on all doors.

Consider one point: the corners of the pocket are rounded and, if the marking was carried out on the basis of “pure” values, the lock body will not fit. It is necessary to additionally retreat up and down by half the cutter thickness. You can also make the pocket more loose, the maximum tolerance is half the projection of the end plate above the lock body on the side.

Pocket milling

Many have probably already grasped the essence: the milling cutter is pressed by the side stop, the cutter is immersed, then the tool moves between the overhead stops with the periodic addition of the milling depth. Everything is simple only at first glance: in order not to spoil the door leaf, you need to take into account some ambiguous points.

First, the door must be securely fixed. To do this, you can lean it against the wall, and sit in the opening yourself, holding the canvas between your legs. It will not be superfluous to invite an assistant who will securely hold the door while the master is focused on the lock insert.

The second rule is the feed direction of the cutter. It should coincide with the direction of rotation of the blades so that they do not bite into the material, but remove it against the feed force. Otherwise, the tool is almost impossible to control: the milling cutter tears towards and it is difficult to hold it in your hands.

The third point is the feed depth. It is reasonable to first fix the cutter by immersing its shank all the way into the collet. In this case, the maximum milling depth will probably not be enough, but this eliminates the singing of the cutter, deviations from the dimensions and torn edges. When the pocket is cut to the permissible depth, you need to measure how much you need to go deeper, set the cutter with the required overhang, adding an additional 3-4 mm.

So here’s how the pocket insertion works. The milling cutter is installed with the sole on the end of the door, pressed by the cheek of the side stop against the left side of the blade and moves close to the near overhead stop. Before switching on, you need to adjust the speed – about 23-25 ​​thousand rpm for cutters with a diameter of 8-10 mm. After switching on, release the sole lock and, pressing the handles, carefully immerse the cutter by 3-4 mm. After plunging and fixing the base, the router moves forward from itself until the sole touches the far stop. When working, it is imperative to press the tool from the side of the stop location, so as not to accidentally remove excess material.

The opposite side of the pocket is milled in the same way, but the router must be moved towards you. After every two passes, you need to cut into the door body by 5–7 mm until the pocket depth is sufficient to insert the lock body. If, after milling in the center, a thin partition remains, it can be easily removed with a chisel, or cut off with a mill, after removing the side stop.

Installing the lock and handle

To begin with, insert the lock into the pocket and, aligning it along the longitudinal axis of the door, screw the end plate with two screws. After that, you need to walk along the contour of the plank with the blade of a sectional knife to cut the lamination layer to a depth of about 2 mm. When the outline is outlined, the lock can be removed.

With proper dexterity, you can cut a ledge under the end plate without using stops. It is only necessary to preset the overhang of the cutter above the sole, it should be equal to the thickness of the end strip. When removing a thin layer of material, it is not necessary to bring the cutter close to the notch line, you can safely retreat inward by 1–2 mm. After milling, the residual material at the edges can be easily removed with a chisel or with the same sectional knife that made the cut. If at the same time the material is removed a little deeper – it’s okay, because the bar will still rest against the milled plane. It is only important not to fill up the edges and not to form chips on the decorative coating..

The next stage of installing the handle on the interior door is making through holes for a square rod, a lock cylinder and a tie. You will need to perform a marking, having previously measured how far the axes of the holes are from the end plate and from the edges of the case. You can make through holes with drills of large diameter, they will still be closed with faceplates. It is important, however, to drill from both sides so that large chips do not form when the drill comes out..

When a pocket is made and holes are made, the lock body is fastened in place, the coincidence of the axes of the handle and the lock cylinder is checked. After that, a square rod is installed, a larva, if any, then the front plates are pressed with screw ties. The tie screws must be on the side of the lock knob.

It remains to install a striker on the door frame. When closing the door from the inside, you need to mark with a pencil the position of the latch tongue and lock bolt. According to these marks, the strip is screwed to the strip in such a way that the edge of the window is at a distance equal to the offset between the flat part of the tongue and the front plane of the canvas. When the plank is secured, the windows need to be deepened 15–20 mm using a hammer and a chisel.