Fashionable interior trends dictate their conditions, thanks to which people began to change both entrance and interior door leaves more often. At the same time, their replacement is associated with certain costs, the lion's share of which goes to pay the workers who will install the door. An obvious solution to the problem would be to install it yourself, but this requires skills and special tools. For example, to carefully cut into a locking device you will need a cutter; we will talk about this in more detail later.
What is a milling cutter, what advantages does it provide when installing a lock on a door?
A hand router (popularly just a milling cutter) at one time made it possible to make a breakthrough in woodworking, because with such a tool complex wood carvings can be done practically “on the knee”. The advantage of a hand router is its portability. In the daily work of a carpenter, various situations may arise when work needs to be done locally. Previously, you had to either drag the product to the workshop or use a chisel and, accordingly, get a rougher and more approximate result. 
Now you can simply take the router with you, bring it into any room, drag it onto the roof or other hard to reach places and take the necessary actions without wasting extra time. Door installers have made their work much easier by starting to use manual router.
Using a suitable cutter, you can insert the locking device many times faster, saving an additional 30 minutes of time. This is quite significant, considering that it takes a specialist 2 hours to install a turnkey interior door.
We should not forget that earlier craftsmen, when cutting into a lock, were forced to “pick out” a deep groove under it with a chisel. Anyone who has “handled” a chisel knows how labor-intensive this work can be, how much time it takes, not to mention the risk. After all, a chisel can jump out from careless movement and damage the surface of the door leaf. In this case, on the one hand, the master will discredit himself, and on the other hand, he will suffer financially, because he will pay for new door from your pocket.
Types of cutters: which ones are useful when installing a locking device?
Currently, there are a huge number of cutters for hand routers. With their help, a nondescript piece of wood in skillful hands turns into finished product right before your eyes. All cutters can be divided into three large groups. 
- Edges. They are used for making various carved elements on the surface of the material; they are also useful in making the edges of products.
- Grooved. Used for making grooves, recesses, recesses, grooves of any depth on any wooden surfaces.
- Curvy. Designed for creating various carved decorative elements on furniture facades, on the surfaces of door panels and other products.
To install locks in interior door leaves, you will need a groove cutter of suitable length. With its help, cutting the perfect recess in the end part of the door leaf costs nothing. However, it may be difficult to install door hinges, because you also need to cut even grooves under them. But if you have an overrunning cutter at hand, no problems will arise.
Important! If you need to cut through a large round hole in a door leaf, for example, to install a knob handle, you will need a spiral cutter for inserting locks.
Getting ready to install a locking device: selecting a tool
For correct installation It is important to select locks for interior door leaves the right tool. It's best to stock up on everything at once. necessary equipment, tools and components before starting installation work. So that when you get down to business, you won’t be distracted by searching for and purchasing “what was missing.” Therefore, it is advisable to consider the entire list of tools that will be needed to install doors, which is called “turnkey”. 
- A construction tape and a square are necessary for taking measurements so as not to make a mistake when fitting the locking device.
- A simple pencil - its purpose is clear.
- The slipway is useful for securing the canvas to the floor, gaining easier access to its end part.
- Phillips screwdriver - needed to attach the locking device to the door leaf.
- Drill – necessary for drilling holes for fasteners.
- Chisel and hammer - needed to process the edges of the recess.
- Manual electric router - it is needed to prepare recesses for inserting locks and grooves for hinges.
Important! It will not be possible to do without a chisel and a hammer, because even a spiral cutter for cutting in locks leaves unsightly edges, which, however, can easily be brought to perfection using the “old-fashioned method.”
Lock installation process
Having selected the most necessary tool, you can begin installing the door leaf. We will not describe the entire process from beginning to end, since this is not related to the topic of the article. Let's talk only about the process of inserting a locking device, breaking it down into stages for ease of presentation.
To summarize, we note that for installing locks in door leaf Minimal carpentry skills and suitable tools required. You can do all the work from start to finish with your own hands. You need to know not only what tools are needed, but also what kind of cutter is needed for a particular stage of work. If you manage to study and prepare all this, then the work will give you pleasure and the result will bring satisfaction.
A hand-held electric tool such as a milling cutter can be successfully used to perform various types processing of products made from wood. With the help of this equipment and a set of working attachments, you can not only perform decorative design surfaces of wood products, but also to prepare them qualitatively for installation furniture facade or door, using a router for cutting locks, door and furniture hinges. Of course, you can perform the procedure for selecting grooves in a wooden product manually (using a regular chisel and hammer), but when using a router, the productivity of such an operation increases significantly, and the quality of the final result also increases significantly.
Types of manual milling machines
On modern market are represented by electrical equipment of the following categories:
- devices of vertical or submersible type, which are mainly used for cutting grooves various depths and width (a typical representative of a power tool in this category is a router for inserting hinges and locks);
- edge milling cutters, which are also called edging cutters (using power tools of this category, decorative processing edges of products made of wood);
- combined type milling cutters, used primarily in professional field(they are called combined because they combine the capabilities of edge and vertical routers);
- special-purpose power tools, the most common types of which are lamella and dowel milling cutters (as the name of the category of such devices implies, they can only be used to solve a specific technological problem).
How to choose the right hand router
When choosing a router that you plan to use for inserting locks and hinges, as well as a device for any other purpose, you need to pay attention to the following parameters of such equipment.
Device powerTo perform not too intense and not too complex work In a home workshop, low- and medium-power milling cutters are quite suitable, which can also be used for tapping door locks. More powerful devices that are used primarily in the professional field, although they are capable of handling more complex tasks, cannot provide a high rotation speed of the tool used. In addition, as power increases, the weight of such power tools also increases significantly.
Ability to adjust tool rotation speedThe presence of such a function allows you to optimally select modes for each of the technological operations performed by the milling cutter. Of the manual routers that have this option, it is better to choose models whose speed switch is protected from external mechanical influences and contamination from wood dust and sawdust. In addition, it is better to give preference to models with switches that operate on a discrete principle.
The amount of overhang of the working part of the tool above the end of the chuckIt should be borne in mind that the most important parameter is the actual offset value, and not maximum length tool stroke, which is indicated in the marking of each model.
To assess this parameter, you should take into account several characteristics of the device, such as the weight of the router, its functionality, convenient location of equipment controls, length of the electrical cord. Not only the user’s comfort, but also the quality of the processing performed depends on how convenient it is to use a hand router.
Review quality working areaThis option is provided not only design features router, but also by the presence of special lighting in its equipment.
Milling unit equipmentThe functionality and ease of use of the equipment largely depend on this characteristic. That is why, when purchasing any router (including for inserting hinges), opt for models equipped with various holders, additional attachments and other elements.
When choosing a router, you must not only hold such a device in your hands, but also be sure to turn it on. This way you can evaluate how freely and easily the working head of the equipment moves, test the moving elements of the milling cutter for the presence of play and distortions in them, and determine the level of noise emitted by the device during operation.
Recommendations for setting up a router for cutting door locks and hinges
Before you can start using your handheld router to cut locks, you need to set it up. In particular, you need to correctly configure the following parameters of such a power tool:
- the depth to which the cutter cuts into the material being processed;
- rotation speed of the tool used.
The depth of the groove created during the processing process depends on the thickness of the door hinge material or on the geometric parameters of the lock being embedded.
To set the equipment to a certain milling depth for hinges or door locks, you must perform the following steps:
- The router is installed on a flat and hard surface.
- Then the threaded element that secures the feed pin is loosened.
- The cutter that will be used for processing is lowered to the level supporting surface, and the number zero is set on the processing depth scale.
- If grooves for hinges are created using a router, it is necessary to determine the thickness of the material from which they are made.
- The resulting value is set on the scale of the router feed pin.
To get a clearer idea of how to adjust the depth of processing performed with a manual router, you can watch the corresponding video.
If you plan to insert a lock with a router, during which it is necessary to form a groove of considerable depth in the end part of the door, then this procedure is carried out in several stages, at each of which a layer of wood no more than 5 mm thick is removed.
Setting the rotation speed of the tool with which the processing will be performed is carried out experimentally. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the milling cutter does not experience overload during processing, and the wood being processed does not burn. To adjust the rotation speed of the tool, a special regulator mounted on the milling cutter body is used.
Preparing grooves for door hinges and locks
In order for the grooves created using a hand router for mounting door locks and hinges to be made as accurately and efficiently as possible, it is recommended to use special templates for inserting hinges and locks. Purchase a template for inserting locks and hinges on the modern market various designs and size does not pose any problems.
In order not to spend money on such a device for inserting, you can make it yourself. You can independently make a very easy-to-use template for inserting hinges and locks from available materials – wooden planks and bars, slats, chipboards, threaded fasteners.
How to make a simple templateWe measure the offset of the cutter Mark the template Make 2-3 passes with the cutter
Getting the finished hole Installing the stop block Testing the template
The process of forming grooves using a hand router and subsequent installation of hinges for installing doors is carried out in the following sequence:
- An entrance, interior or furniture door, on the end surface of which it is necessary to form grooves, is installed in special clamps and securely fixed in them.
- The places where the hinges will be installed are marked.
- A template is installed on the marked area of the end of the door leaf and securely fixed to it.
- In the inner part of the template, using a pre-configured milling cutter, material is sampled to the required depth. In the event that loops are inserted with a router without a template, the material is sampled with a tool along the contour of the pre-applied marking.
- After removing the template from the end of the door leaf, the processed surface of the formed groove is refined with a chisel.
- The door hinge is installed in the resulting groove and secured in it using the screws that come with it.
Preparing the site for installing the second half of the hinge, which is mounted on the door frame, is carried out using a similar method. Exactly the same technology is used to prepare the groove into which the door lock will be installed.
Hi all. Today we’ll talk about the correct and simple installation of hinges with a router into the door leaf and door frame. Loops can be cut in several ways, the most accessible is, but it takes the longest and the result will largely depend on the evenness of your hands and accuracy. Tapping with a router speeds up the process several times and the quality of each installed loop is the same, which is very good for serial tapping.
Personally, I install the hinges at a distance of 200 mm from the edge of the canvas; this, in my opinion, is the most optimal option.
Let's start marking, set aside 200 mm from the edges of the door leaf, this will be the edge of the hinge. Apply a loop to the mark and align it. In order to mark a loop on the door leaf, I recommend using a regular segment knife; simply cut the veneer of the door leaf with it and move the knife from the edge of the loop to the center.
If you move the knife differently, your hand may tremble and a scratch on the veneer will be outside the hinge, which in the end will not be very good. We mark the edges of the loops in this way.
Now you need to prepare the router for work. I have a Makita RP0900 router, it’s a completely normal machine, but it has a significant drawback, as for me, it’s a sharp start, when you press the button it jerks, because of this you can mill in the wrong place. The principle of setting up a router is the same for all manufacturers. First, we install the cutter. To mill the hinges, I use a regular groove cutter 18 mm in diameter. Like this:
We align the cutter flush with the router platform and tighten the screw that is responsible for fixing the platform.
There is a depth stop on the side of the router; on my router it looks like this:
We insert a loop between the bolt and the limiter rod and fix it to fix the thickness of the loop.
We set the width of the loop insertion; to do this, you need to attach the loop to the side stop of the router and turn the cutter so that the edge of the blade coincides with the edge of the loop; to adjust, we move or under move the side stop until the blade coincides. When setting up a router, it must be de-energized, otherwise you risk becoming a man with nine fingers.
We check our depth settings on some piece of wood. Personally, I check immediately on the door leaf, just make a small approach in the middle of the hinge. I apply the hinge and see if it is flush with the door leaf or not. If it’s not level, I adjust the setting and try the depth again.
After setting, we mill the loop. Be very careful here so as not to mill too much.
We mill a little short of the scratches.
Using a chisel, we make the corners straight and remove the excess before scratches.
The result should be a rectangular groove into which the loop ideally fits.
We mark the places for the screws and drill holes of a slightly smaller diameter than the screws themselves.
Mark the hinges on the door frame. On the side post from the top we set aside the thickness of the part of the door frame that will be on top. In my example, the thickness of the door frame is 25 mm.
Add 3-4 mm to the gap from the door leaf to the frame and place the side post on the door leaf, aligning this mark with the edge of the door leaf.
We transfer the edges of the hinges from the door leaf to the side post of the door frame.
Then we perform all the same steps as with the door leaf. We mark with a knife, mill, and clean with a chisel. If the door frame has a quarter, then when milling you need to use a gasket whose thickness is equal to the height of this quarter.
After milling all the hinges, we screw them into place.
This is how hinges are installed using a hand router.
What is a router for cutting locks and hinges?
What features and advantages does such equipment have?
How are these products different, and what are they?
What are milling cutters and what are they for?
Today, milling cutters for cutting locks and hinges can easily be called a special, unique group of hand tools.
Products in this group are specialized tools, which are intended for manual production.
Most of these products are very original technical solution, as well as an enviable practical device that greatly simplifies the process of inserting hinges and locks.
And this is not to mention the reliability and durability of almost all such milling cutters.
On the modern tool market today you can find unique developments, for example, a milling cutter for inserting locks and hinges, which can replace a full-fledged workshop drilling and mortising machine.
With all this, such products are favorably distinguished by a high degree of mobility, which makes it relevant to insert locks with their help directly at the installation site of the doors.
Various types of routers
A worthy purchase for the tool kit of absolutely any door manufacturer or master installer will be another special milling cutter for inserting locks and hinges - a model that is designed for milling in door frames and the doors themselves have samples for hinges.
With the help of this power tool, the process of adding loops can be greatly accelerated and simplified, and this is not to mention more high quality and processing accuracy.
By the way, such a tool even makes it possible to use independently made, unique templates.
Thus, the use of such a router becomes possible for most door hinges in their widest range of standard sizes.
The only modification that will need to be made after using such a router is cutting out the corners. For this purpose, you can use a regular chisel.
Milling cutters for wooden products without sealant
There are tools on the modern market for construction and repair and milling cutters that allow you to work with wooden windows or doors in which a seal was not originally provided, but there is a need for it.
Such models, due to their special design, which includes a side stop and replaceable guide rails, make it easy to select grooves for the seal even on already installed windows and doors.
Hi all!
What router is used for cutting hinges and locks?
If necessary, install the handle-latch on a new one interior door or embed a full-fledged lock into it, you can save on calling a technician if you have basic skills in working with tools. The main thing is to follow the prescribed sequence of actions and work extremely carefully so as not to spoil appearance doors. We’ll discuss how to fit a lock into an interior door correctly in this article.
Tools and materials
To mortise the lock, we need to prepare the following tool:
- tape measure, pencil and carpenter's square;
- screwdrivers or screwdriver with a set of bits;
- electric drill, wood drills (6 mm and feather) + suitable crowns in two sizes;
- chisel and hammer;
- chisel or hand router.
Please note: There are special kits on sale for inserting locks, which include drills and crowns of suitable sizes.
Preparatory stage
The installation technology depends on the configuration of the selected lock.
The easiest way is to embed a handle - a latch, under the compact mechanism of which it is easy to drill a hole of a suitable diameter. Inserting a lock with a handle and a cylinder (or a rotary lock) is a more complex process, since you will have to work on the socket at the end of the door and make two holes in the door leaf - for the handle and the cylinder.
Before embedding a lock into a new door without fittings, it is important to correctly determine the installation height of the handle. If the door is made of wood, there are no technical restrictions; you can choose any convenient height. A frame door is more capricious: in order not to damage the structure, the handle should be mounted at the location cross beam, which is usually located at a height of 90 - 100 cm from the bottom edge of the canvas.
As a rule, the lock is cut into an already hung door leaf, but this can be done in advance, before installation door system. If the lock socket is to be cut using a hand-held electric router, the door leaf should be securely fixed in a horizontal position with the processed end facing up.
Handle insert - latches
First, let's look at how to install the handle-latch. First of all, marking should be done. Having decided on the height of the handle, place the lock mechanism on the door leaf flush with the edge, circle it, mark with a pencil the place where the eyelet is located - this is where you will need to drill a hole for the handle pin.
Using a carpenter's square, the horizontal lines of the lock's outline on the door must be transferred to the end of the door. Using a tape measure, find the middle of the horizontal lines at the end and draw a vertical line with a pencil. The middle of this axis is the center of the future hole for the lock mechanism. You can do it easier and use the door mechanism itself to mark the location of the handles.
Having completed the markings, drill a hole in the door leaf for the handle using a crown mounted on a drill with a diameter of 6 mm.
Important! To avoid chipping and other damage to the decorative layer, drilling is performed with a crown on both sides. When the end of the pilot drill goes through the door and the crown is about halfway through the door, start drilling on the other side of the door, inserting the drill into the hole. The size of the crown is selected in such a way that nothing interferes with the lock mechanism’s normal functioning, while the hole must be completely covered with decorative overlays of the handle-latch.
At the end of the door, a hole for the latch is drilled using a feather drill. suitable size or a small crown. If necessary, the recess can be expanded with a chisel.
Then insert the latch mechanism into the hole in the end and trace the outline of the strip. It must be installed flush with the surface, so you will have to make a recess under it using a chisel. For a veneered door, the veneer layer is first removed in the marked place.
Next, the handle-latch is installed. The mechanism is inserted into the hole and secured to the end with standard fasteners using a screwdriver or screwdriver. The handle should be disassembled according to the diagram provided by the manufacturer.
Pay attention to the location of the latch tongue and the handle on which the door closing button is provided. After installing the decorative trims, pass the pin through the hole in the latch mechanism and secure the handles by tightening them with screws (in some cases, additional holes must be drilled for the tightening screws). Make sure the lock-latch is functioning properly.
At the final stage, a strike plate is installed on the door frame to secure the latch tongue. Carefully closing the door with the latch exposed, mark the location for the hole. Using a chisel, make a recess, attach and trace the contour of the striker - you will also need to make a cut under it in order to install it flush. Secure the bar with standard self-tapping screws.
Insertion of the mechanism with the “larva”
Installation door lock with the “larva” is performed according to the same scheme. After marking the end, using a suitable sized drill bit, you should make a vertical row of holes with a minimum spacing from each other.
Using a chisel, remove the jumpers and prepare a neat nest of the required size. In the door leaf (drilled with a crown on both sides), make holes for the handle and cylinder (or rotary key) castle. Next, using a chisel, a sample is made for the lock bar, the mechanism and handles are installed, and the back bar is mounted.
If you have the skill to work with a hand router, nests and cutting for planks can be made with this tool, resulting in perfectly even recesses. It is necessary to work with a chisel and chisel extremely carefully, especially when cutting out curves, so that the door with a lock looks aesthetically pleasing.
Video on the topic “Inserting a lock into an interior door with your own hands”:
Selection and rules for using a hinge router
Drilling holes with a manual wood router - master class
Neat holes with walls strictly perpendicular to the surface are a task that can be easily accomplished using a hand router. Consider the technology of drilling holes professional quality using an inexpensive groove cutter, copying bushings and simple device- a homemade template.
A device for drilling holes with a hand router - how to calculate and make a template
Install the copying sleeve in the base of the milling machine and tighten the fixing screws.
Prepare a piece of flat plywood slightly thicker than the protruding flange.
Measure the outer diameter of the ring with a caliper.
Calculate the diameter of the template hole using the formula below.
Calculation principle
For example, there is a 16 mm straight cutter and a 30 mm diameter copy sleeve. It is required to make vertical holes for round bench stops with a diameter of 21 mm. Substituting the values into the formula, we find the size of the circle cut out in the template:
- D = 21 + 30 – 16 = 35 (mm).
Mark the plywood and make a hole with a drill bit of the appropriate diameter.
Sand the edges and surfaces with sandpaper.
Use one piece of plywood for several templates at once. Just don’t forget to label the holes, indicating the caliber of the cutter used and the diameter of the circle being cut.
How to cut a hole with a hand router
Place the template along the markings and secure with a clamp. Install milling machine into the working area, move the “head” of the tool down until the cutter contacts the surface and clamp the lock lever.
By rotating the wheel, lower the depth stop until it stops at the bottom step of the position support.
Read the desired routing depth on the scale and tighten the thumb stop.
Release the lock and lift the tool body. By turning the turret support, set the depth of the first pass.
Start the hand router, after gaining speed, press the body all the way and lock the position. Cut the material by moving the tool smoothly along the plane being processed, first around the circumference and then in the center. Having completed the passage, remove the raised side with sandpaper if there is fiberboard on the surface.
Release the router body and set the next cutting depth.
Repeat the operations until the hole is completely removed.
If there is no sawdust removal system, use a vacuum cleaner to clean the work area, eliminating milling defects.
How to make holes for furniture hinges with a router
Overhead hinges are located at a certain distance from the edge of the panel.
To select a blind hole for a cup with a hand router, it is more convenient to use a device (template) with a stop bar, which facilitates positioning on the furniture board.
Drawing of a template for inserting a furniture hinge.
The template is designed for inserting a standard loop with a cup with a diameter of 35 mm. For products with other installation dimensions you should calculate the diameter of the hole and determine the position of the stop according to the distance from the middle of the loop to the edge of the panel.
Cut out the pieces of the fixture from plywood and secure the strip with glue and small nails.
To make a hole, secure the template to furniture panel, resting the bottom bar against the end. Set the routing depth on the tool to 11.5 mm and cut the recess in several passes.
To quickly and accurately cut door hinges It is best to use a hand router. You can also use a hammer and chisels for these purposes, but a router produces better results, especially if there is, for example, a knot or complex wood texture at the insertion site.
Let's look at setting up a router using the Bosch POF 1400 ace as an example.
It is better to use a small diameter cutter, for example 9.5 mm, so that less material I had to cut the corners by hand. You can also use a cutter " dovetail"so that the loop can be inserted more tightly.
Let's start by adjusting the depth of the cutter. To do this, attach the loop to the sole of the router and extend the cutter to the thickness of the loop.
In order to adjust the position of the sole relative to the cutter, there is a lever on the router body.
To do this, we apply the router to the door so that the cutter is at the hinge contour mark.
Then we press the stop to the edge of the door and fix its position with the wings intended for this.
Within the future groove we make a sample of several mm in order to check the depth of the groove.
To do this, put a loop in it and check it. We adjust if necessary. That is, we increase or decrease the immersion depth of the cutter.
We carefully make a sample of the upper edge of the future groove; the parallel stop will not let us go further than the side line, and the ends must be drawn extremely carefully. You can even leave a little material and then trim it with a chisel.
In the same way we derive bottom part loops, and then boldly, leaning on the side support, connect the top and them. When removing the upper part, it is more convenient to look from above, as if holding the router to your chest and leaning over it. And when the lower one and everything else, it’s more convenient to look at it point-blank, holding the router on outstretched, slightly bent arms.
Within the boundaries of the made contour, we smoothly move the router up and down, removing everything unnecessary.
The sample from the cutter produces rounded corners.
We cut them with a knife or chisel to a right angle.
If necessary, trim the ends further.
The groove is ready, you can insert the loop.
Now let's talk about how to adjust the depth of the cutter for inserting a loop in a box beam.
In this case, the door leaf is two millimeters wider than the quarter of the frame. In the photo, the box connected by the letter G lies on the door, and the door protrudes 2 mm from the plane.
Therefore, the rip fence needs to be moved 2 mm relative to the setting with which we cut the groove on the door. The hinge on the box must be pulled out, otherwise the door will “bite” a quarter and will not be able to close.
We place the router on the box parallel to the plane of the quarter and extend the cutter to the surface of the quarter.
Using a depth limiter, here it is in the photo,
measure the thickness of the loop and tighten the lamb.