Lock drilling jigs

[Drudgeon]

Hi guys,

I make occasional doors for people but I've never made enough doors that I've ever felt it warranted making/buying a jig for chopping the locks in.

I have a job coming up that involves 8 doors and I figured maybe would be a good time to invest in something, I've been looking at the Souber jig, it looks pretty good to me, and not very expensive either, has anyone used it, or does anyone have any other suggestions?

I know I could make up a jig that will work for the locks on these 8 doors, but the way I look at it is that for a hundred quid or so I can buy something that will pay for itself on this one job, and any future uses are a bonus.

Thanks
Dan

 

[petermillard]

Yes, I have the Souber lock morticer and it's a fantastic time-saver. I put off buying one for years due to the cost (pretty sure they were a few hundred quid at the time) but when the price dropped I picked one up a couple of years ago; the price seems to have come down again, recently (£120 now at Axminster) so I'd say if you have more than one lock to fit, it's a no-brainer. All I had to add to the kit was a 16mm bit, as it doesn't come with one.

HTH Pete

 

[Drudgeon]

Many thanks for the reply Peter, sounds like the way to go then, and yes, I think you can pick them up on line for just over £100 now, plus any bits you need, I've got a sample lock coming from the main contractor this week so I can see what size bit I need.

Thanks again
Dan

 

[Stu_2]

I'll have to look at that Souber kit as I've got some doors to do soon, too. I was thinking of getting the new Trend adjustable lock jig, which I was hoping to see in action at the FFX tools show, but the Trend stand was a real disappointment. They people staffing it looked like they didn't want to be there, and refused to demo it, so I walked away without one.

Cheers
Stu

 

[RobinBHM]

Ive often wondered about these jigs and this one seems well reviewed on Axi. If I was hanging ready made doors I would certainly buy one.

When making doors though I would always mortice out the lock hole at the same time as morticing the door stile joints. I have a set of jigs for routing the faceplates. (Jigs made from birch ply, and a couple of toggle cramps).

 

[chippy1970]

Damn I knew there was something I wanted the other day from ironmongery direct. I had a 30% off email but it ran out on the 31st March

The souber kit would've been £84 , have to wait and see if I get another.

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[Drudgeon]

Quick update:

Just purchased my Souber jig yesterday, went in to Axminster, yes I know I could have got it cheaper elsewhere, (internet) but I wasn't sure about a couple of things and wanted to have a good rummage through, I am using it this week, and therefore I couldn't afford to find out I didn't have everything I needed.

First couple of observations, it comes with 3 cutters, but oddly no boring cutters, incase you don't know, you need one cutter for the faceplate and a different type of cutter for the boring cut for the lock cassette, very strange that the jig doesn't come with any boring cutters for the cassette, it also doesn't say this anywhere in the paperwork, so only after opening the box and checking through everything was this apparent, but a small gripe is that you cannot fit a lock without this bit, and therefore the kit in its standard for will NOT fit a lock.

I also needed the extension chuck as the locks I am fitting are 5" to the spindle, they're in a victorian house and are the traditional type, but I knew before buying that I would need this add on, I also had to buy an extra cutter for the face plates as the supplied are not the size I require.

I'm going to pop into the shop today to have a play around with it, prior to needed to use it properly on Tuesday, I've 7 locks to fit, and I'm hoping this proves to be a breeze, these are for a building contractor, not in an occupied house, so mess/protection etc is not an issue, I would expect to fit one by hand around 1hr, so will be interesting to see what difference this jig makes.

Reading the reviews on Axi, it would paper (and make sense) that the way to go would be to fit the boring bit, and do all the boring (excuse the pun) work first, then go back over all the doors to do face plates etc.

A bit gutted as the site manager lives around the corner from me and I asked him to bring a lock home so I could practice one the real thing but he forgot, so I'm just going to have to play with what I've got.

Anyway, I'll report back later in the week when I'm (hopefully) done.

 

[chippy1970]

You're wrong you don't need the plunging cutters to fit a lock. The plunging cutters just drill in quicker , more like a drill where as the standard cutters cut like router bits as far as I can tell.

Ps I don't own one yet but have researched them a lot so hope I know what I'm on about

The last job we did probably had around 300 doors to fit so the souber would've been handy. None had normal tubular latches either they were all full size locks even for latches.

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[Drudgeon]

Hmm, well theres 2 issues, one in that the supplied cutters would be too wide to use as the boring cutters, and 2, the supplied cutters state on them "do not use for plunging cut" but I dare say you may be able to get away with it, but as I said, the width would be the issue, just checked and worth not a major drama as theres a 19mm cutter supplied, which would be ok, although a tad loose, for most lock casings.

You are correct in that the standard cutters are very similar to a router cutter, the plunging cutter is like a large lip & spur bit.

It is just odd that they would state you cannot plunge the other cutters, although you could just take a few mm's at a time, to me this would take longer and defeat the purpose of have a jig? Time will tell.

 

[petermillard]

I only use the standard cutters - had no idea plunging cutters were available tbh, and there were no warnings on my supplied cutters not to use them for plunging cuts. One of the advantages of this setup for me was that It took away that 'nervousness' of using a spade / lip & spur bit in a glass door - no point to dink the glass.

As I said further up, I added a 16mm cutter to mine as the supplied 19mm is a bit loose on standard lock casings.

HTH Pete

Edited to add - just took a look at the plunging cutter and the point doesn't actually extend beyond the side cutters, so cutting a mortise in a glass door shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Drudgeon]

That's odd, but anyhow, as long as it works, FYI Peter, I think there are 3 different sized 'plunging cutters' available, I think they were about 12 quid each, they do look more suitable for plunging, but clearly you've not had any problems with using the standard cutters for this.

It says on the small blue plastic case for the bits, that they should not be used in a plunging mode, only for up/down use removing a few mm at a time, but as I said, this has obviously not caused you any issues.

I'm please I've eventually got one, had been waiting for a while for a job that would allow me to buy one and have it pay for itself, and am yet to hear any bad words about them.

 

[Setch]

The standard cutters work fine, just apply a little forwards pressure and then go up and down. If you get the right rhythm you can advance about 6mm each pass.

I also like to bore an undersize hole with a spade bit to speed things up, either a row of holes to big out most of the wood, or a single hole at the ends of the mortise. This lets the cutter plunge more aggressively, as the centre of the but doesn't need to cut. You do have to be carefull not to just bore straight down your smalk holes.

All that said, I note usually opt to fit locks using flat bits and a chisel these days , as I find the souber jig produces a lot of fine dust, which really travels if you're working on an external door with a breeze.

 

[petermillard]

I'm pretty sure when I bought mine the plunging cutters weren't available, just the standard ones - maybe if you have a lot of locks to do the plunging bits will make a difference?? Either way, the standard cutters will work, and for ~12 quid apiece the addition of plunging bits won't push the overall cost up too much, which makes a change!

Cheers, Pete

 

[chippy1970]

19mm should be fine bearing in mind I haven't seen the locks you're fitting. I never do locks tight you should have a bit of play in the mortise . Years of lock fitting taught me that lol

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[chippy1970]

All that said, I note usually opt to fit locks using flat bits and a chisel these days , as I find the souber jig produces a lot of fine dust, which really travels if you're working on an external door with a breeze.

That's a good point as it routs out rather than drills out. Much easier to clean up the mess from drilling a door as it's all big chunks usually.

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[chippy1970]

That's odd, but anyhow, as long as it works, FYI Peter, I think there are 3 different sized 'plunging cutters' available, I think they were about 12 quid each, they do look more suitable for plunging, but clearly you've not had any problems with using the standard cutters for this.

It says on the small blue plastic case for the bits, that they should not be used in a plunging mode, only for up/down use removing a few mm at a time, but as I said, this has obviously not caused you any issues.

What they probably mean is a dead straight plunge like for a tubular latch. As others have said too you do an up and down movement as you plunge this clears the waste

There's a few videos on YouTube one from a member of the festool owners group showing how it works
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