Small padlock full#

Your machine time will increase and you'll need an experienced lathe operator for this. While it is possible to make the blank on a lathe, it is much more difficult as it is made for turning rather than milling. Set aside US$300 to US$500 for up to two hours of production time and tool stock. Tool and die shops work by quotes so you will have to visit them and have the estimator give you an estimate and to schedule your job. They can and will make an exact copy on their milling machine. To make a key blank to fit the lock you own: ( This does not need a lifehack)Ĭontact a tool and die machine shop by telephone directory listings for your city. ( This does not need a lifehack.) You can make one if you refuse to purchase anything. Without that blank, your efforts are futile. To make another duplicate key, you will need a key blank to fit the profile of the lock you own. High-Tek, High-cost, difficult to manufacture lock hack. (So when you need a key duplicate in Nepal, the trick is to bring the whole padlock in this case!) So when duplicating from what is already a copy of an original key, it may not work well at first and may need some adjustments by trying it on the lock. The duplicate worked! The only caveat is that this technique is a bit less exact than with a duplicator machine. He charged me just 70 Rupees for the service (about 0.70 USD at the time). He used several small files and the blade of a metal saw to cut down the blank to the shape of the original, without ever touching the original. He carefully clamped the original and the blank key in parallel into a vice clamp so that they were perfectly aligned. If there is material missing in the other parts, it will not hinder the function of the key. In your case it will be enough to find an old key that has enough material in the tip section only, as your padlock is just a warded lock as Zeiss Ikon remarked. Which means, it had to have more material in all places than mine, allowing to cut mine out of it. He looked through a box of all kinds of old and unused keys until he found one suitable to serve as a blank for mine. I gave him the original key, and then within 5 minutes, to my astonishment he did this: So I found this tiny workshop specialized on duplicating keys, just maybe 1.2×3 m in size and located right here. And the way it was done there will certainly count as a lifehack here :) When I lived in Kathmandu, Nepal, for some months, I also had to get a key for a padlock duplicated. Your time and money would be better spent obtaining a quality padlock for which key blanks are available (and which will come with two keys, sometimes more), and duplicating one of those keys as many times as needed, then putting the lock on a metal box instead of a plastic one that anyone with a screwdriver can break into, lock or no lock. You can't even pick this lock with the methods commonly used on tumbler type locks (rake and torque bar), because the torque must be applied at the tip of the key.

An aluminum, steel, or brass/bronze key blank would do the job, but very cheap locks aren't generally supported by key duplication services or locksmiths, because it's cheaper to replace the lock than to duplicate a key, and there's not enough demand for duplicates to make it cost-effective to stock blanks (never mind that a common key duplicator can't cut the straight-sided bitting on your existing key).īottom line, if you can't buy key blanks or duplicate keys from the lock manufacturer, you can't make extra keys that will work in this kind of lock, even by 'unofficial locksmith' methods.

Small padlock full#

To duplicate this key, then, you need a full length blank that's strong and stiff enough to turn the lock mechanism. Your lock is a warded lock, and depends on the very tip of the key applying the torque inside the lock, while the bitted portion simply has to be cut away to pass the 'wards' inside the lock that prevent wrong keys from turning (this works like the old skeleton key locks that were common on houses before 1900, and on interior doors into the mid-20th century). This won't work with the lock you have, because it's not a tumbler type lock. To use it, I'd slip it into the lock, where it would push the tumblers to their cut points, then I'd twist the cylinder with a screwdriver, knife point, or other similar tool (what locksmiths call a 'torque bar'). I just traced the key, cut the portion that was above the first ridge in the keyway (so the flat section would work), and cut it very carefully to shape with scissors.

Many years ago (1970s) I made a duplicate key from the plastic of a three-ring binder cover.