Drilling through high gloss doors

throm

Hoping someone might know the answer to this question. Our house has an old ikea high gloss white kitchen - presumably laminate. Unfortunately not allowed post photos yet! The current handles are finger pull and secured by screws which extend about halfway through the door. They handles are driving us mad cause you rip/catch clothes walking past them and kids are always clattering off them. Was thinking of trying to extending the drill holes full thickness (i.e through to gloss front facing side) and swopping out for less annoying handles. Anyone any experience of doing something similar and if any fancy drill bits required to avoid wrecking the surface? Thanks a mil!

colm_mcm

Just put some masking tape on so the bit doesn’t slip. Drill a very small hole first and then drill the bigger hole from both the inside and outside of the door so the laminate doesn’t chip.

When you say finger pull you mean something like this?



Maybe just swap them for ones with rounded edges?

Also. If going for regular handles you’d probably want to reposition them on the doors.

cheif kaiser

I would suggest choosing your new handles first and then drilling fresh holes from the outside in.

ted1

don't drill, use a sharp screw, the doors are pretty easy to screw into.

throm

colm_mcm wrote: »

When you say finger pull you mean something like this?



Maybe just swap them for ones with rounded edges?

Also. If going for regular handles you’d probably want to reposition them on the doors.

Thank you, great advice! Yes, that's exactly what they're like and very fair point about the need to reposition. Clearly hadn't thought that through properly.

throm

cheif kaiser wrote: »

I would suggest choosing your new handles first and then drilling fresh holes from the outside in.

Yes, on further reflection that definitely makes more sense! I thought it might be an easier job using the existing holes but it doesn't really work if we change the function of them. Thanks a mil!

throm

ted1 wrote: »

don't drill, use a sharp screw, the doors are pretty easy to screw into.

Thanks, think i'll get one new handle and trial it somewhere inconspicuous - we've a load of cabinets so don't want to commit without a clearer idea of if it'll work.

awec

You could try masking tape, a centre punch (to create an initial indentation to start your screwing) and then just screw.

The boards are probably just chipboard, once you get through the melamine it'll screw easily.

colm_mcm

ted1 wrote: »

don't drill, use a sharp screw, the doors are pretty easy to screw into.

awec wrote: »

You could try masking tape, a centre punch (to create an initial indentation to start your screwing) and then just screw.

The boards are probably just chipboard, once you get through the melamine it'll screw easily.

The OP is talking about using regular handles though where they’d have to drill right through.

Calahonda52

the other way to reduce breakout is clamping a piece of wood on the gloss side before you drill.

jack of all

Calahonda52 wrote: »

the other way to reduce breakout is clamping a piece of wood on the gloss side before you drill.

If you've a lot of handles to fit it's well worth making a simple template (try this out first on some scrap material) and using in conjunction with the above tip.