How to Install a Lock on a Drawer?

If you have something valuable, where will you keep it – Just lying around or somewhere safe and secure?

A drawer can be a perfect place to keep your valuables safe and sound. However, if it does not have a lock on it, your precious can be safe from dust and dirt, but protection is the last thing you can expect.

Therefore, the first thing you can do is to install a lock on a drawer to ensure the security of your precious.

How to Install a Lock on a Drawer?

Installing a lock on a drawer is not rocket science. You can do it easily without shedding any blood, sweat, and tears.

Follow some steps, and you can easily install a lock on your desk drawer or, if required, at any secret drawer.

Step 1: Empty Your Drawer

Before installing a desk drawer lock, empty out your drawer to keep your contents undamaged. It will also help to avoid hindrance in work.

Remove the drawer from the cabinet to work smoothly and skillfully. As you cannot remove the drawer of your car gloves compartment, make sure to check no wires are found before drilling a hole.

Step 2: Finding Center Point

The Center of the drawer face is the perfect place to install a lock. You can quickly determine the point by using a ruler or a measuring tape.

Mark the point with a piece of tape or a marker. Do not forget to place your chosen lock on the marked spot to confirm that the lock bolt extends far enough to catch the edge of the drawer so that the drawer can be unlocked smoothly.

Step 3: Drilling a Hole

An expanding drill bit or a keyhole saw is what you need now.

However, before drilling the hole, do not forget to measure the circumference of the shaft of the lock. Once the hole had been drilled, sand the interior edge of the hole with sandpapers.

Step: 4 Tales of Bolt

Remove the O-ring from the shaft. Later, insert the lock into the hole from the front. Make sure to put the key slot in a vertical position.

Once you place the key slot in the proper position, put the O-ring back into its place. Now, hold the front of the lock and press the O-ring against the backside of the drawer.

Later, screw in the setscrews carefully through the holes in the O-ring to secure your lock on the drawer. Finally, replace the lock bolt.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed a lock on a drawer.

Which Drawer Lock is best for me?

When your primary goal is security, locking the drawer with the perfect lock is one major issue to ponder.

There are hundreds of drawer locks that range from a few to hundreds of dollars. However, how to determine which one is good for you?

Well, let see some of the most common drawer locks that can match your suit.

Cam Lock

This is the most common and affordable one. It is placed in the center top of a drawer. A metal catch is installed under the desk that turns with a key.

Currently, several manufacturers are making keyless, combination cam locks in both mechanical and electronic versions, which are easy to use.

Deadbolt Lock

The hard one to break, it has a latch ejects from the lock into an installed strike and has more substantial backing.

Plunger Lock

Most comfortable to install and best for the side drawers, where you push a pin into a hole while locking. It is also used as a cabinet lock.

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Let’s Lock-up

A drawer without a lock is like skating on thin ice. Therefore, install a lock on a drawer to protect your precious possessions.