wanttaja@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ronald J Wanttaja) (05/17/85)
Some folks requested a summary of the responses I received from my "Deadbolts in metal doors" query, so here it is: ------------------------------------------------------------------- I had to do the same thing: put a deadbolt into a metal/foam door. My first attempt was to use a hole saw attachment for my drill, but I quickly wore down the teeth, as they were not designed for metal. A hole saw might work very well if you can find metal-cutting blades for one. What I ended up doing is drilling the biggest hole I could with extra-wide drill bits (the kind with a cutting head that's wider than the drill shaft). I then used a saber saw with a metal cutting blade to very carefully hand-cut out a circle, doing this from both sides of the door. You have to be pretty accurate here, as you want the dead-bolt face plate to cover up the somewhat irregular hole. This will also probably scratch the paint off the door, as you work the saber saw around in a circle, so be prepared to repaint the area around the deadbolt. The final result was fine, but it was a pain in the patoot. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I also have metal doors with foam core and had no trouble at all installing my own deadbolts. The only thing that you have to be careful of is getting a hole-saw for your electric drill that is designed for metal. There are ones available that say they will drill wood or soft-metal, but don't believe them. The ones designed for metal are about twice as expensive but work beautifully. If you are interested, the locks that I installed are Schlage double cylinder. The installation instructions were reasonably easy to follow. If you have the right tools the job should only take about an hour/lock. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, I installed deadbolts in 2 of my metal doors. It is not any harder than wood doors because the metal is very thin. You can drill a hole using an electric drill and an attachement sold in hardware store. If possible get the carbon tipped type because the attachment (I forgot its proper name) gets dull very easily when drilled on metal. It should take you less than 1 hr to do all three of them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I put a deadbolt in a metal door that you described using a wood-door hole drill. It went ok on one side, but had dulled down by the second side. I had to do some punching and shucking and jiving, but I finally got it in. If you could find a metal hole drill, I think it would be a breeze. I know I would do it again if I needed to. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I, too, have metal doors with foam cores and wanted to install deadbolt locks. Following the normal instructions but using an adjustable hole cutting drill bit, rather than the flat wood hole drill bits seemed to work fine. The main thing is to make a clean hole in the metal to start with. Also, you should drill a small pilot hole through the door. Of course, you should not try to drill all of the way through the door in one pass - doing so will leave a raised rough edge on the metal as the bit exits the other side. Following the pilot hole from the reverse side and essentially drilling into the door from both sides will give you a clean hole - I had no problem with the foam interior. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ron - My solution to the metal door problem is as follows: a) Buy the appropriate hole saw for the installation. b) Find a sabre saw/jig saw with a metal cutting blade. This is a common item, and need not be in the least bit fancy. c) Get a regular drill bit no larger than the pilot bit for the hole saw. d) First, mark the location of the hole on the door. Most metal doors do have either the pre-drilled edge hole with the plastic cap that Mark Horton described, or else has a wood edge. Note that the door should have a wood block where the lockset goes - I'll come back to that. e) Mark (with a punch) and drill a hole with your regular bit in each side of the door separately. Something like a 1/4" or even smaller bit works fine. If you're lucky and/or skillful, the two holes will line up. This is also where you find out whether there is a wood block in the door or just foam. f) Use your hole saw to inscribe the circular pattern for the actual hole. DO NOT try to cut all the way through the metal - this is a losing proposition. Just let the drill scratch a definite circle on the door. g) Drill a larger hole in the center (like 3/8" or so) big enough to insert your sabre saw blade. You'll probably do best to use a piece of wood about 1-2" thick as a spacer between the saw and the door. This will prevent the blade from going all the way through the door. Use your sabre saw to cut out the metal disc on each of the door. Once the metal is cut, I just used the same saw to cut out a hole in either the wood or foam - I've had one door of each kind. h) If there is no pre-bored hole in the edge, use a wood boring spade bit to drill one. I seem to remember either a 7/8" or 1", but that should be mentioned in the directions. i) If your door is only foam core, you will probably need to stiffen it around the ock ---------------------------------------------------------------------- My thanks to all who responded.... Ron Wanttaja (ssc-vax!wanttaja)