Internal door hanles

Wife has decided to change 8 sets of door handles and guess what? All the securing screws are not at the same pitch as the ones we have now :-(

What I propose to do is buy some doweling and a spade drill slightly smaller than the dowel. If the spade drill is making too large a diameter hole, I'll grind the side edge until it makes a tight fit for the dowel and then glue the dowel in to provide a blank location for the door handle attachment screws.

Can anyone see a problem with this, apart from the fact that the screws will be going down the grain, instead of across it.

Dave

Reply to
Dave
Loading thread data ...

I would not choose a spade bit. Rather just an ordinary or lip & spur wood drill.

But it might just be easier to shove some matchsticks, preferably coated in decent PVA, into the existing holes. If needed, tap in with a hammer. Let set, use a chisel to remove any excess. Fit new handles.

Reply to
Rod

Seems like a Sledgehammer To Crack A Nut solution. If you must do it that way ( and I cannot for the life of me see the need) then use an ordinary drill. Better just to poke a slither of wood in to the existing hole to take up some space ..a matchstick is the time honoured way .

Reply to
NOSPAMnet

A spade drill will let me make the hole to my dimensions. I can grind the sides to reduce the diameter.

The holes are too close to do that, so I have to blank off old holes and new with the plug I want to use. The handles are being replaced for the third time :-(((

Dave

Reply to
Dave

I did that last time I changed the door handles. Now, some of the screws are very close to the new holes I need. ie overlapping.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Just buy a proper dowel drill which will be exactly the right size for the dowel.

formatting link

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

formatting link

I would have thought a normal metal drill would be better, wont the wood drills wander around when you try and drill through an existing hole?

Reply to
Kevin

I think I must be not getting the picture! If there is an existing screwhole, and you fill it with matchstick(s) and glue, you can make a new hole for a new screw anywhere - including half a mm to the NW of the original hole. If there are three holes in a cluster, fill all three!

If you nonetheless decide to use dowels, or even just to get new holes started nicely on an imperfect surface, you could help yourself by using some sort of drill guide. Like these:

(Annoying those steel guide bushes are in prehistoric units. In metric I would own a set.) Note also the other versions at the bottom of that page.

Reply to
Rod

"Dave" wrote

You can usually cheat and knock a bradawl in alongside the existing hole then push the grain across toward the existing hole. It takes a bit of experience knowing how far away to position the bradawl hole such that the wood between the new and the old hole is forced across by the new screw to the final position you want IYSWIM.

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster

Doesn't work so well in hardboard... :-(

Reply to
Rod

Err, but the hardboard is the outer layers of a sandwich where the handles are fixed. If the original job was done properly, there'll be solid wooden core at that point. How else are you going to hold a door lock in place?

Reply to
The Wanderer

I popped into aldi and bought some plug cutters yesterday. They make wooden plugs to fit holes in 6/8/10/12 mm and are available either tapered or parallel. You do *need* a bench drill to use them safely.

Reply to
dennis

Spade drills are for fast rough drilling. Not ideal for fitting a dowel. An auger or similar gives the cleanest entry.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Many thanks to all who replied. I picked up some quite good ideas.

I ended up getting some small dowel and measured it. It was 4.3 mm. I dug out my engineers drills and selected one that was 4.1 mm. Job went according plan and I have fitted 3 door handles successfully. The only problem I have now is the paint lines showing from the first door handles. Once I have fitted them all I'll get my sander out and make good.

Thanks again

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Of course - but where you might manage to push over a sort of splinter of wood on a solid door, on a hardboard door the outer layer will disintegrate if you try to do so. It was meant somewhat lightheartedly.

Reply to
Rod

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.