Fit long door latch

[sealed]

Hi,

I’ve got these long ball latches from LPD doors. What would be the best way to install them on a new door?

https://www.lpddoors.co.uk/ironmongery-manhattan-ball-latch/

thank you

 

[foxhole]

What made you buy those?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I'm normally doing multiples, so I use a Souber DBB (there are cheap Chinese copies of this around but not sure how good or bad they are) to cut the lock body recess and the face plate recess, finishing the square corners with a corner chisel and a sharp ordinary chisel. The door side drillings I often do with spade bits (Irwin - avoid the type with a threaded pilot), marked out using a combi square. This is the process using a Souber:

The one thing I would say is that it ideally needs a corded drill capable of 2500 to 3000rpm - a lot of cordless drills lack the speed and power to run the DBB in hardwood doors

If I'm doing a one-off I tend to mark out my openings (both for the lock body and the face plate) using a mortise and marking gauge plus a centre line (to guide the drill bits when starting them), drill out the waste with an appropriate size auger bit (see note below) and clear the waste out with a chisel. If the lock body is 18mm and your nearest drill is either 16mm or 19mm, go for the larger of the two rather than trying to ease-out the side of the opening with a chisel.

There is a far more detailed description in this thread in ridiculous detail about how to do keeps - a lot to read, I'm afraid (and I'd recommend starting at page 3...). This video shows a more complex 2-hole mortise/latch keep installation, but the principle is the same (it's Dutch, but there is no sound track...):

 

[oldbutnotdead]

With spade bits, I made a jig (bit of 2 x 2 fixed to a chunk of ply, perpendicular 19mm holes in the 2 x 2 set on door centreline)- clamp the jig to the door using the ply and that gets the holes started square.

 

[JohnD]

What made you buy those?

Why indeed.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

With spade bits, I made a jig (bit of 2 x 2 fixed to a chunk of ply, perpendicular 19mm holes in the 2 x 2 set on door centreline)...

How did you drill the holes in your jig perpendicular in the first place? Also, how does having a hole boring jig stop a spade bit running off line? Surely an auger bit, which can ride on the outer surfaces over much of its' length, would be far better? Spade bits aren't really guidable to any degree of accuracy

 

[oldbutnotdead]

How did you drill the holes in your jig perpendicular in the first place? Also, how does having a hole boring jig stop a spade bit running off line? Surely an auger bit, which can ride on the outer surfaces over much of its' length, would be far better? Spade bits aren't really guidable to any degree od accuracy

Pillar drill for making the jig.
I always struggled with starting the spade bit dead square- the 2 x 2 helps a lot with that, if you start square they seem to run square for long enough.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Auger bits are actually far, far easier to drill true with, partly because you can eyeball how straight you are drilling. They'd work better with a jig, too.