What are Male To Female Handle Connecting Bolts Screw for?

[paulrfrancis]

I've bought 2 new handles for interior doors but there are 2 screws in the kit and i've no idea what that are for. Male To Female Handle Connecting Bolts Screw's?????? what do I do with them, there is no mention in the very basic instructions?

[arco_iris]

On some handle sets, instead of using wood screws through the backplate(s) into each side of the door separately, you drill a hole right through the door - diameter to suit the female side of the connecting screw.

You push the female part through the backplate and into the door - then insert the male half from the other side and screw it into the female part. To tighten it, you have to use two screwdrivers, one each side, and the assembly clamps the two handles together, OK?

Very useful on hardboard faced doors, particularly on ones fitted the wrong way round, where you have no substance into which to put woodscrews; also common on cheaper handle sets with only two holes in each backplate instead of the more usual four.

[ayjay]

You can use them to fix the handles to another through the door, if you want to, they're often not essential and ordinary screws can be used in a more traditional way.

With some latches there's not enough thickosity* of door left to get a good fix with a normal screw.

*Thickosity is in my dictionary, but you won't find it in another one anywhere.

[arco_iris]

As in hardboard doors do not have enough thickosity!

AKA cheap handles for cheap doors?

[Job and Knock]

x2.....

The type I'm currently using require a 3mm ball hex key to tighten them and are a great improvement over the ones which require two screwdrivers. In an ideal world your door should have three drillings - a large centre drilling for the square spindle and two smaller 6mm drillings for the connector bolts. If these re drilling in the correct place they work well and actually hold the "nut" firmly in place whilst the "bolt" is screwed onto it. Sadly they are a nightmare to drill correctly - even the jig-bored pre-hung doors we have on my current project are far from perfect and I have to open out the back hole from 6mm to 8mm on about 80% of the doors. The reason why they are there is for additional security - in theory with those correctly installed it is impossible to get a door escutcheon off from the outside to gain access to the lock body (the "nuts" should always face the outside of the door - and in a Michael Cain voice... "but not a lot of people know that"). A few lock manufacturers insist that they are properly installed otherwise the warranty is void. They are designed to be used with additional short wood screws, and if the drillings aren't absolutely bang on position and tight for fit then a couple of short screws either side (#6 x 5/8in or 3.5 x 16mm) are essential to prevent the escutcheon from turning in my experience. BTW they can be overtightened which will jam the lock/latch mechanism on thinner/softer doors (and is another reason why additional screws are required). They also work only with locks which are drilled for them - and of course not all locks are

[paulrfrancis]

Thanks for the info, the doors are solid types not those hollow ones and there are 3 screws for each side so may get away with just them. The handles aren't cheap tho (my missus picked em so they will never be cheap).

[Gadget]

*Thickosity is in my dictionary, but you won't find it in another one anywhere.

Any chance of a copy of this dictionary of yours?..

[ayjay]

*Thickosity is in my dictionary, but you won't find it in another one anywhere.

Any chance of a copy of this dictionary of yours?..

It's all in my head, along with many other of my own words like pissectomy or jacketation.

[Grendel]

More often than not the main purpose of the female part , being brass , is to be chucked in the scrap bag , as Tesco says "every little helps" .

[Job and Knock]

Pretty much all the ones I've seen are nickel-plated steel (E*S and Arrone especially - both common in volume fits). MUst be cheaper

[Grendel]

Hmm, just fitted a houseful , arc range from Dale hardware and they all came with plated bolts and a brass female connector . I've encountered this combination quite often before but frankly have always wondered why the female part is brass and the screw steel, doesn't seem to be any real logic to it to me