From Drawing to Part: The Five Steps of a Custom Door Hardware Order

Updated 2026-11-05 · RAYEN 雷茵

How does a custom hardware order run?

Every order we make to drawing, to sample or under your brand follows the same five steps. Lead time and tooling are quoted part by part, because no two parts need the same work. What stays the same is the order of the decisions. Here is what happens at each step, and what you should do there.

Step 1: Send a drawing or a sample

A drawing is ideal: DWG, PDF or a photograph. Without one, a sample does the job just as well, and our guide to copying a sample covers that route.

Three things matter most at this step: the mounting face, the hole positions and the spindle size. If those are clear, the rest can be settled. If they are not, nothing downstream can make up for it. A drawing that shows the look of a lever but not its fixing is a sketch, and it will come back with questions.

Add what the part must fit. Name the door, the lock case and any part it has to work with.

Step 2: We confirm the structure and dimensions

You get back a checklist: material, backset, door thickness range, plate size and finish. Read it line by line. This is the cheapest place in the whole process to find a mistake. Anything unclear gets settled here, before the tool is cut.

A worked example. A buyer likes the lever on 5039-340, a zinc alloy lever on a 230 × 50mm plate with a 50mm centre distance, a 38-50mm door thickness range and a 5045 lock case. They want it with a different plate for their market. The checklist states the plate size, the centre distance, the lock case and the door range they want. It also says which of those change and which stay. If the buyer's lock case has a different centre distance, this is where that comes out, on paper.

Step 3: New tooling, or a change to existing tooling

If the part is close to a tool we already have, a modification does it. If the structure is different, it needs a new tool. Cost and lead time are quoted per part.

Ask which of the two you are paying for, and why. A small change in a plate outline can be a modification. A move in a mounting hole may reach further into the tool than it looks on paper. Hole positions are fixed the moment the tool is cut, which is why step 2 comes first.

Our tool room is on the same site as pressing and assembly, in Xiaolan. A question about a tool goes across the yard, not to another company.

Step 4: Sample approval

The sample goes to you and onto a real door before anything is decided. Do not judge it on a desk. Fit it. Turn the lever, close the door, check the screws reach and the plate sits flat, and see the finish in the light of the room it is for.

Changing it at this stage is far cheaper than changing it after production. So be hard on it here. When it is right, sign it off and keep it. That sample is now the reference: when your name is on the box, every dimension inside follows the sample you signed off.

Step 5: Production and packing

We pack to your requirement, including your brand, colour box, instructions and barcode. You get carton data before production starts, so you can plan the container and the warehouse labels.

Send your artwork early. Packing often has its own lead time, and a box that arrives late holds up finished goods.

What usually goes wrong?

• The drawing shows the look but not the fixing. Fix it at step 1.
• Nobody states the finish until the sample arrives. State it at step 2.
• The door is a different thickness from the one in the drawing. Give the real range.
• The sample is approved on a bench and fails on the door. Fit it at step 4.
• A change comes in after the tool is cut. Plan for a new quote and a new sample.

What to write on the order

Refer to the drawing number or revision and to the signed sample, not just the part name. State the material, finish, door thickness range, packing and quantity. Lead time and cost are quoted per part and confirmed on the order. Send us your drawing to start at step 1, or read how we work.