Roger Bisby is beating a path to the door with Dale Hardware’s JigTech Pro.
Door hanging is one of those jobs that never seems to go fast enough. Devices such as the Hinge Jig from Trend have sped the job up, but many people still find the most time consuming part is not the hinges but the latch or lock.
There are, of course, a number of router jigs that can speed up the fitting of a mortise lock, but with tubular latches being the most popular choice for internal doors these are not much help.
Of course the whole point of a tubular latch is that it can fitted with a drill and one chisel, but it still requires a fair amount of measuring and marking, and with modern hardwood doors any mistake you make is likely to be expensive – you aren’t going to cover it with wood filler.
The JigTech from Dale Hardware speeds the job up and, more importantly, makes it idiot-proof, which is fine by me.
I am not a carpenter but, like many jobbing builders, I get involved in all sorts and any help I can get to make the job go smoothly is welcome.
The promise of JigTech is that you can fit the latch, handle and keep in under 5 minutes.
Personally I am not interested in taking on the speed challenge. If I can fit it in ten minutes and it is 100 per cent accurate I am happy.
Daniel Monaghan from Dale Hardware told me he started out trying to solve the problem of fixing handles with wood screws.
As we all know many very solid looking doors turn out to be veneered chipboard, and handles quickly work loose and pull off, especially in the hands of teenagers.
You can buy MDF screws for doors, which requires you to drill very accurately through the door but, perhaps for this reason, very few people seem to bother with them. Daniel’s solution was to make a handle that clamped together through a spacer, so there is no need to drill 4mm holes through the door.
It would seem that everything in the design flowed from there, and the result is a jig and kit that includes all the hole saws and even a depth marked flat bit for drilling the keep.
There is no need to use a chisel, even for the striking plate, because you can cut the tongue out with a Stanley knife.
Not surprisingly Dale has designed the JigTech to work specifically with their door furniture. This isn’t a deviation from the standard because, somewhat surprisingly, there isn’t one.
Happily Dale Hardware has a very nice range of designer and contract door furniture that will complement any high quality door, and from what I have seen it appears to be built to last.
I particularly like the way that each component of this kit is labelled in the box so you can see which bit is missing when you pack it away.
The Jig is adjustable to the width of the door and self-centres.
Drill the face with the hole saw and, just as the pilot comes through, drill from the other side to avoid breakout.
Drill the door edge for the latch. There is an adaptor to allow you to use standard latches.
If you use the Smart fit latch you can use the keep locating pin.
Fit the spacer in the door.
Tap the Smart Fit latch in with the block.
Drill the keep in the door lining. There is a depth mark on the flat bit.
Fit the handle with the bolts provided – one side only.
For more information on Jig Tech click here.
