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Solid jig and overall good installation kit. Then remove the guide bit from the mandrel. The instructions are lacking. To remove the mandrel from the large hole saw you need to locate and remove the headless machine screw. After this you can slide a thin screwdriver completely through the diameter of the slotted hole saw, grip the mandrel with channel locks and separate the two pieces. It is confusing as there is no explanation but I have repeatedly read others labeling this junk and not knowing how to separate the mandrel from the 2-1/8" hole saw.Other than this burden, it is an excellent jig and the hole saws both cut very well.
Guess what. I'm a homeowner who has installed a LOT of door locks. It didn't. That's fine if your locks call for a 1" hole, but mine were all very popular Schlages that called for a 7/8" hole.The edge guide assumes your doors are either 2 3/4" or 1 3/8", as almost every door ever built is. Now, if I hadn't been using this gizmo I would have found the center of the door edge, marked and drilled it, and had it properly centered.If you have a lot of door locks to install, consider buying router templates for routing recesses for the strike plates. In retrospect, all it did was make the easiest part of door lock installation no easier than it already was.
So of course the edge bored hole isn't in the middle of the door. When faced with a project to install 7, I thought this tool would at least take away a little of the pain. One of the doors I used this on is a gorgeous custom made panel door that turns out to be a scant 1 1/4". I used it for the first 2 locks, then put it in the yard sale box.The fit of the hole saws is sloppy, and the tool hides the hole saw so you can't see where you are or where you're headed. It's just as easy and even more accurate to mark the two drilling points and drill the holes without any "guide" to hold your drill straight for you.The hole saw provided for edge boring is 1". Who would've thought.
Also, buy your locks first to see what diameter hole saws you'll need.
The larger hole was perfectly aligned. When I removed the old lock from the solid wood door, it was smaller in diameter than the standard locks of today. I recently purchased a 1930's home, and the first thing we wanted to do was change the locks. All I had to do was drill.All the parts are solid and well made, and the bit cut through the door like butter. But since the hole was already existing, it would have been hard if not impossible to center the bit perfectly to enlarge the existing bore.By using this jig, I was able to line it up perfectly. First, I aligned the small hole on the side of the door (which was the right size) and put the smaller bit in there to align it, clamped it down, and boom. Clearly this tool has limited use - it only does one thing. But the one thing it does, it does very, very well.
It was also difficult to separate the mandrel from the bimetal hold saw. To fit the small bitmetal hole saw, you need the mandrel without the adapter.
I can't separate the adapter from the mandrel and can't use it on the smaller bi-metal hole saw. I agree with mandrel limitation.
To fit the large bimetal hole saw you need the mandrel plus adapter. There is only one mandrel plus adapter.
Once I used the adapter plus mandrel on the large bimetal hole saw, I couldn't separate the adapter to fit the mandrel to the smaller bimetal hole saw. There is no hex around the adapter to make it easy to separate.
You will have to buy a second mandrel to use this product without agravation.
I own another unit that was more costly than this door installation kit; however, it is designed for wooden doors and not bi-metal.I own plenty of DeWalt tools that I am very happy with, and it was a natural for this selection.This less-expensive tool allows me to use either unit as required.
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