Flush bolt door drilling machine?

stephen thomas · Sep 13, 2021

Sometime within the past year or so, i saw a machine on an online auction, for gun drilling deep holes from the bottom or top of doors, along the edge, as would be used for some flush bolts Or possibly other hardware.
It was a "new one" to me and i almost bid on it for coring cue-stick blanks. Then i realized i can't walk in the shop as it is, and turn around, because it is crammed with oddball equipment. So i managed to ignore the auction. I don't believe it brought much.

Anyway, does anyone have knowlege of such a machine?
It was not old, and it was not strictly speaking custom. (Not built in house)
That is, it was made by a company that makes other machinery. So it might be special order.

But i can't remember who made it.
Googling various permutations of likely terms has not yielded anything.

smt

EmGo · Sep 14, 2021

stephen thomas said:
Sometime within the past year or so, i saw a machine on an online auction, for gun drilling deep holes from the bottom or top of doors, along the edge, as would be used for some flush bolts Or possibly other hardware.

It was not old, and it was not strictly speaking custom. (Not built in house)
That is, it was made by a company that makes other machinery. So it might be special order.

But i can't remember who made it.

Fletcher Machine in North Carolina makes many different kinds of production woodworking machines. If they didn't make this, they could. They have a couple of machines that are pretty trick.

We did a booth for them at a show in Dalian tho and ... well ... US is totally outclassed in the production woodworking category. Plus they have politics on the brain, with several good potentials they refused to apply themselves to some decent sales because, you know, "communists". Discouraging.

How in the flock can you run a business that way ?

mike44 · Sep 20, 2021

I believe you are referring to a Porter Cable mortising machine. I probably mortised at least 400+ doors for locks and also for door closers that are mortised in the head of doors. The machine has a height bar with a lip that sets the height for the mortise. The mortise is 4"+ deep. I do not recall the exact depth , but the router bit is 5" long if i recall and 1" in diameter. There is a hand crank that raises and lowers the motor.
The machine centers itself with locking knobs and holds it tight to the door.
This machine could be used for flush bolts but a router and a strike plate jig is usually used. Flush bolts are not very deep, unlike mortise locks that are 4-7/16" deep. I am giving you dimensions from memory, they may be wrong but close. I have been retired for 30+ years and my memory has slipped a bit.
I wore a face mask, ear protection and a clear head visor. If I had a lot of doors to mortise I had a helper with a vaccum to gather the chips abd dust.
mike

Spud · Sep 20, 2021

mike44 said:
I believe you are referring to a Porter Cable mortising machine. I probably mortised at least 400+ doors for locks and also for door closers that are mortised in the head of doors. The machine has a height bar with a lip that sets the height for the mortise. The mortise is 4"+ deep. I do not recall the exact depth , but the router bit is 5" long if i recall and 1" in diameter. There is a hand crank that raises and lowers the motor.
The machine centers itself with locking knobs and holds it tight to the door.
This machine could be used for flush bolts but a router and a strike plate jig is usually used. Flush bolts are not very deep, unlike mortise locks that are 4-7/16" deep. I am giving you dimensions from memory, they may be wrong but close. I have been retired for 30+ years and my memory has slipped a bit.
I wore a face mask, ear protection and a clear head visor. If I had a lot of doors to mortise I had a helper with a vaccum to gather the chips abd dust.
mike

He mentioned drilling a deep holes from the top of the door, and presumably the hole goes all the way through to the bottom.

stephen thomas · Sep 21, 2021

I believe you are referring to a Porter Cable mortising machine.

Did i do such a poor job of describing?

... for gun drilling deep holes from the bottom or top of doors, along the edge, as would be used for some flush bolts...

Gun drill.
Up to 40" deep IIRC.

... i almost bid on it for coring cue-stick blanks.

Of course now i am sorry i didn't.

Not chasing one, i have gun drills and can run them on my metal planer for wood. (Possibly even for metal, with some hydraulic complications)

But need to file the door machine for other use including the one for which the factory intended.

If it helps the picture a little - this is a floor standing relatively heavy (but modern made) machine with automatic feed cycle. Not portable.

smt

mike44 · Oct 3, 2021

I misunderstood your post. If you needed to install flush bolts in a door then routing out the edge and then installing a dutchman would be another way to go. I do not know of a machine that will do what you need it for.

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Flush bolt door drilling machine?

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