I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys from 2 different series in the same locks. The pins are made of a hard, high-nickel brass called "nickel silver" about 1/8" diameter (actually 0.115") and are roughly 0.33875" long, give or take 0.00025". (Okay, I'm kidding. Contrary to myth, nothing in even a high-security lock needs to be accurate to more than 0.003".) They have a short hole in one end and a "finger" sticking out of the side of the other end. There are a pair of cuts 1/16" wide and 1/16" deep on each side leaving a bar that fits into a slot in another piece called a sidebar. You can easily find a picture thanks to someone misspelling the caption on a photo of one. Use Google Images to search for "heres's finger pin" and it will be one of the first images in the results.

Anyway, I need to make a second pair of the same kind of cuts in around 500 of each of 4 shapes of pins and am wondering if there is a better way to do it than what I've been doing.

Currently, I've modified a quick-release vice to hold 1 pin and mounted the vice on a lazy Susan so I can get at both sides of the pin. I put the pin in, and then use a Dremel flex-shaft tool spinning at 35,000 RPM with a 1/6" carbide 2-flute end milling cutter to make the cut on one side, spin the vice and make the cut on the other side. I wear a double magnifier on my head to see what I'm doing, and, well, my hands aren't as steady as they used to be, so the cuts don't always end up as neat and clean as I mean them to be. If the cutter is new, I don't have to deburr, but after it starts to get dull, I need to brush off the burrs on each pin by holding it in a pair of tweezers against the wire wheel that I use for brushing off keys. I take a few more seconds to test each pin before putting it in my pinning kit, since a bad pin in a lock cylinder will waste a lot more time than testing it before the lock is closed up.

I can modify and test 60 finger pins in two or three hours, and then I have to stop and do something else. (I would not make a good assembly line worker!)

Questions:
Is there a machine that could fit on my workbench that is designed to repeatedly make precise cuts on tiny pieces of metal like this?

If not, is there a place to look for designs for jigs or tool holders so I can mount the end of the flex shaft in a way that will limit how far it moves? I'd like to have something where I slip in a pin, swing the tool down and up to quickly make the cut, and then slide out that pin and pop another one in.

Is 35,000 RPM the best speed to use when making 1/16" cuts 1/16" deep in nickel silver? I saw a pneumatic pencil grinder that spins at 100,000 RPM, which might make cleaner cuts faster, but might have some other problem I don't know about. The cuts are so small and take so little time, that heat may not matter, but I have no experience with such a tool.

Is there a formula or something to figure out what is the best working speed for a particular kind of metal and size of cut?

The carbide cutter manufacturer claims it is for cutting "Aluminum, Carbon And Tool Steel, Cast Iron And 300 Or 400 Series Stainless Steel," but no mention of brass alloys. Is there a kind of milling cutter that is better for brass?

Thank you for any help you can provide.
Lee

On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:04:22 -0700 (PDT), LeeAtWork
wrote:

I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys from 2 different series in the same locks. The pins are made of a hard, high-nickel brass called "nickel silver" about 1/8" diameter (actually 0.115") and are roughly 0.33875" long, give or take 0.00025". (Okay, I'm kidding. Contrary to myth, nothing in even a high-security lock needs to be accurate to more than 0.003".) They have a short hole in one end and a "finger" sticking out of the side of the other end. There are a pair of cuts 1/16" wide and 1/16" deep on each side leaving a bar that fits into a slot in another piece called a sidebar. You can easily find a picture thanks to someone misspelling the caption on a photo of one. Use Google Images to search for "heres's finger pin" and it will be one of the first images in the results.

Anyway, I need to make a second pair of the same kind of cuts in around 500 of each of 4 shapes of pins and am wondering if there is a better way to do it than what I've been doing.

Currently, I've modified a quick-release vice to hold 1 pin and mounted the vice on a lazy Susan so I can get at both sides of the pin. I put the pin in, and then use a Dremel flex-shaft tool spinning at 35,000 RPM with a 1/6" carbide 2-flute end milling cutter to make the cut on one side, spin the vice and make the cut on the other side. I wear a double magnifier on my head to see what I'm doing, and, well, my hands aren't as steady as they used to be, so the cuts don't always end up as neat and clean as I mean them to be. If the cutter is new, I don't have to deburr, but after it starts to get dull, I need to brush off the burrs on each pin by holding it in a pair of tweezers against the wire wheel that I use for brushing off keys. I take a few more seconds to test each pin before putting it in my pinning kit, since a bad pin in a lock cylinder will waste a lot more time than testing it before the lock is closed up.

I can modify and test 60 finger pins in two or three hours, and then I have to stop and do something else. (I would not make a good assembly line worker!)

Questions:
Is there a machine that could fit on my workbench that is designed to repeatedly make precise cuts on tiny pieces of metal like this?

Sure. It's called a 4-axis CNC mini-mill.

You'll get the rest of the info from the real metalmen here.

--
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to
succeed is more important than any one thing.
-- Abraham Lincoln

On 6/22/2012 8:04 PM, LeeAtWork wrote:
I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys from 2 different series in the same locks. The pins are made of a hard, high-nickel brass called "nickel silver" about 1/8" diameter (actually 0.115") and are roughly 0.33875" long, give or take 0.00025". (Okay, I'm kidding. Contrary to myth, nothing in even a high-security lock needs to be accurate to more than 0.003".) They have a short hole in one end and a "finger" sticking out of the side of the other end. There are a pair of cuts 1/16" wide and 1/16" deep on each side leaving a bar that fits into a slot in another piece called a sidebar. You can easily find a picture thanks to someone misspelling the caption on a photo of one. Use Google Images to search for "heres's finger pin" and it will be one of the first images in the results.

Anyway, I need to make a second pair of the same kind of cuts in around 500 of each of 4 shapes of pins and am wondering if there is a better way to do it than what I've been doing.

Currently, I've modified a quick-release vice to hold 1 pin and mounted the vice on a lazy Susan so I can get at both sides of the pin. I put the pin in, and then use a Dremel flex-shaft tool spinning at 35,000 RPM with a 1/6" carbide 2-flute end milling cutter to make the cut on one side, spin the vice and make the cut on the other side. I wear a double magnifier on my head to see what I'm doing, and, well, my hands aren't as steady as they used to be, so the cuts don't always end up as neat and clean as I mean them to be. If the cutter is new, I don't have to deburr, but after it starts to get dull, I need to brush off the burrs on each pin by holding it in a pair of tweezers against the wire wheel that I use for brushing off keys. I take a few more seconds to test each pin before putting it in my pinning kit, since a bad pin in a lock cylinder will waste a lot more time than testing it before the lock is closed up.

I can modify and test 60 finger pins in two or three hours, and then I have to stop and do something else. (I would not make a good assembly line worker!)

Questions:
Is there a machine that could fit on my workbench that is designed to repeatedly make precise cuts on tiny pieces of metal like this?

If not, is there a place to look for designs for jigs or tool holders so I can mount the end of the flex shaft in a way that will limit how far it moves? I'd like to have something where I slip in a pin, swing the tool down and up to quickly make the cut, and then slide out that pin and pop another one in.

Is 35,000 RPM the best speed to use when making 1/16" cuts 1/16" deep in nickel silver? I saw a pneumatic pencil grinder that spins at 100,000 RPM, which might make cleaner cuts faster, but might have some other problem I don't know about. The cuts are so small and take so little time, that heat may not matter, but I have no experience with such a tool.

Is there a formula or something to figure out what is the best working speed for a particular kind of metal and size of cut?

The carbide cutter manufacturer claims it is for cutting "Aluminum, Carbon And Tool Steel, Cast Iron And 300 Or 400 Series Stainless Steel," but no mention of brass alloys. Is there a kind of milling cutter that is better for brass?

Thank you for any help you can provide.
Lee


if you could make an accurate drawing of what you want you could
probably get them made for a surprisingly cheap cost

I am just an amateur machinist, but my thoughts are to either use a dremel
drill press attachment:
http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-220-01-.../dp/B00068P48O
or a small high speed mill like this:
http://www.proxxontools.com/store/pc...1&idproduct=63

Make the fixture in two parts. One part is a strip that holds multiple pins
and has some sort of registering holes or notches corresponding to each pin,
the other part is fixed to the table and has features the first part can
mate with. Insert the strip in the first position, mill, insert in second
position, etc. until whole row is done. Then flip over to do the other side.

Use a carbide cutter. Tumble deburr rather than wire brush each
individually.

On second thought, when you are done with these, don't you end up with a
continuous slot on each side running across the width of the pin? If so,
just use a slitting saw. Line up all the pins in a long fixture, and run
them past the slitting saw.

"Bill" wrote in message
...
On 6/22/2012 8:04 PM, LeeAtWork wrote:
I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own
solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys from 2
different series in the same locks. The pins are made of a hard,
high-nickel brass called "nickel silver" about 1/8" diameter (actually
0.115") and are roughly 0.33875" long, give or take 0.00025". (Okay, I'm
kidding. Contrary to myth, nothing in even a high-security lock needs to
be accurate to more than 0.003".) They have a short hole in one end and
a "finger" sticking out of the side of the other end. There are a pair
of cuts 1/16" wide and 1/16" deep on each side leaving a bar that fits
into a slot in another piece called a sidebar. You can easily find a
picture thanks to someone misspelling the caption on a photo of one. Use
Google Images to search for "heres's finger pin" and it will be one of
the first images in the results.

Anyway, I need to make a second pair of the same kind of cuts in around
500 of each of 4 shapes of pins and am wondering if there is a better way
to do it than what I've been doing.

Currently, I've modified a quick-release vice to hold 1 pin and mounted
the vice on a lazy Susan so I can get at both sides of the pin. I put
the pin in, and then use a Dremel flex-shaft tool spinning at 35,000 RPM
with a 1/6" carbide 2-flute end milling cutter to make the cut on one
side, spin the vice and make the cut on the other side. I wear a double
magnifier on my head to see what I'm doing, and, well, my hands aren't as
steady as they used to be, so the cuts don't always end up as neat and
clean as I mean them to be. If the cutter is new, I don't have to
deburr, but after it starts to get dull, I need to brush off the burrs on
each pin by holding it in a pair of tweezers against the wire wheel that
I use for brushing off keys. I take a few more seconds to test each pin
before putting it in my pinning kit, since a bad pin in a lock cylinder
will waste a lot more time than testing it before the lock is closed up.

I can modify and test 60 finger pins in two or three hours, and then I
have to stop and do something else. (I would not make a good assembly
line worker!)

Questions:
Is there a machine that could fit on my workbench that is designed to
repeatedly make precise cuts on tiny pieces of metal like this?

If not, is there a place to look for designs for jigs or tool holders so
I can mount the end of the flex shaft in a way that will limit how far it
moves? I'd like to have something where I slip in a pin, swing the tool
down and up to quickly make the cut, and then slide out that pin and pop
another one in.

Is 35,000 RPM the best speed to use when making 1/16" cuts 1/16" deep in
nickel silver? I saw a pneumatic pencil grinder that spins at 100,000
RPM, which might make cleaner cuts faster, but might have some other
problem I don't know about. The cuts are so small and take so little
time, that heat may not matter, but I have no experience with such a
tool.

Is there a formula or something to figure out what is the best working
speed for a particular kind of metal and size of cut?

The carbide cutter manufacturer claims it is for cutting "Aluminum,
Carbon And Tool Steel, Cast Iron And 300 Or 400 Series Stainless Steel,"
but no mention of brass alloys. Is there a kind of milling cutter that
is better for brass?

Thank you for any help you can provide.
Lee


if you could make an accurate drawing of what you want you could probably
get them made for a surprisingly cheap cost


Would probably be a perfect job for someone with a swiss turning center, I
could probably knock them from 12 ft bars of raw bar stock in a minute or
two per part but I've already got more work than I feel like messing with as
it is.

Anyways, pretty sure you're talking about the "notches" in this part:

http://bp3.blogger.com/_Vn-QxkKF9KQ/...0/DSCF5572.JPG

If so, you might want to buy yourself the smallest, cheapest
mini-metal-lathe that you can find and remove the headstock and tailstock
from it altogether, and then mount a pair of dremel-type tools in their
place, on vee blocks, facing towards each other, similar to what is commonly
known as a "duplex milling machine"

Then make a jig to hold your part in the toolpost, moving the part left to
cut one notch then to the right to cut the other...simple carriage stops or
even a pair of c-clamps could be used to control depth of cut....

Or, a similar arrangement could be setup on an say...an old hardinge second
op lathe, in which case you would use a lever type production slide instead.

Good luck have fun glad it's not my problem.

On Jun 22, 11:04*pm, LeeAtWork wrote:
I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys from 2 different series in the same locks. *The pins are made of a hard, high-nickel brass called "nickel silver" about 1/8" diameter (actually 0.115") and are roughly 0.33875" long, give or take 0.00025". *(Okay, I'm kidding. Contrary to myth, nothing in even a high-security lock needs to be accurate to more than 0.003".) *They have a short hole in one end and a "finger" sticking out of the side of the other end. *There are a pair of cuts 1/16" wide and 1/16" deep on each side leaving a bar that fits into a slot in another piece called a sidebar. *You can easily find a picture thanks to someone misspelling the caption on a photo of one. *Use Google Images to search for "heres's finger pin" and it will be one of the first images in the results.

Anyway, I need to make a second pair of the same kind of cuts in around 500 of each of 4 shapes of pins and am wondering if there is a better way to do it than what I've been doing.

Currently, I've modified a quick-release vice to hold 1 pin and mounted the vice on a lazy Susan so I can get at both sides of the pin. *I put the pin in, and then use a Dremel flex-shaft tool spinning at 35,000 RPM with a 1/6" carbide 2-flute end milling cutter to make the cut on one side, spin the vice and make the cut on the other side. *I wear a double magnifier on my head to see what I'm doing, and, well, my hands aren't as steady as they used to be, so the cuts don't always end up as neat and clean as I mean them to be. *If the cutter is new, I don't have to deburr, but after it starts to get dull, I need to brush off the burrs on each pin by holding it in a pair of tweezers against the wire wheel that I use for brushing off keys. *I take a few more seconds to test each pin before putting it in my pinning kit, since a bad pin in a lock cylinder will waste a lot more time than testing it before the lock is closed up.

I can modify and test 60 finger pins in two or three hours, and then I have to stop and do something else. *(I would not make a good assembly line worker!)

Questions:
Is there a machine that could fit on my workbench that is designed to repeatedly make precise cuts on tiny pieces of metal like this?

If not, is there a place to look for designs for jigs or tool holders so I can mount the end of the flex shaft in a way that will limit how far it moves? *I'd like to have something where I slip in a pin, swing the tool down and up to quickly make the cut, and then slide out that pin and pop another one in.

Is 35,000 RPM the best speed to use when making 1/16" cuts 1/16" deep in nickel silver? *I saw a pneumatic pencil grinder that spins at 100,000 RPM, which might make cleaner cuts faster, but might have some other problem I don't know about. *The cuts are so small and take so little time, that heat may not matter, but I have no experience with such a tool.

Is there a formula or something to figure out what is the best working speed for a particular kind of metal and size of cut?

The carbide cutter manufacturer claims it is for cutting "Aluminum, Carbon And Tool Steel, Cast Iron And 300 Or 400 Series Stainless Steel," but no mention of brass alloys. *Is there a kind of milling cutter that is better for brass?

Thank you for any help you can provide.
Lee



OK, I'll take a whack at this: How about you hold the pin in a collet
in a collet block such as this:
http://compare.ebay.com/like/3505536...pes&va r=sbar
? you could put a depth stop in the collet to hit that axis correctly.
Then make a plate with either some stops fastened to it or a pocket
milled into it to allow the collet block to move the 1/16" depth of
your cut (that takes care of another axis). Now cook up a fixture to
hold the dremel (seriously, dremel? you want to look at http://www.ramprodinc.com
for some seriously good and not seriously expensive alternatives)
Anyway, you want to come up with a fixture to hold the rotating mill
in the right place. It really wouldn't be too big a deal to make it
adjustable in three axes, if you wanted to - f'rinstance, you could
mount the dremel-holder to the plate with a couple of bolts going
through the holder into threaded holes in the plate. make the through-
holes a little oversized. Loosen them just a smidge, and tap the block
into position with a tiny hammer. For the third axis, you could just
use shims.

So, you clamp the pin into the collet, fire up the dremel, slide the
collet block to one end and you've made one cut. Flip the collet block
over, and you've made the other cut. And, as was said by someone else,
tumble deburr the whole mess at once rather than wire-brushing each
piece.

That's my $.02 worth, hope it helps.

"LeeAtWork" wrote in message
...
-I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own
solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better
one.
-I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys
from 2 different series in the same locks. ...

Here is some discussion and comparisons of hobby-sized machine tools.
Non-intuitively the larger ones may be more precise than the smaller
(cheaper) ones.
http://littlemachineshop.com/

jsw

"rangerssuck" wrote
-OK, I'll take a whack at this: How about you hold the pin in a collet
-in a collet block such as this:
http://compare.ebay.com/like/3505536...pes&va r=sbar

Accurate but slow.

I've clamped a row of small pins upright in the milling vise with a
block of wood or hardboard on the moveable jaw side that compresses to
grab -all- the pins. They can be pre-aligned against the inside corner
of a square and held in place with tape.

If their lengths vary and you want the tops to line up, clamp them in
a small insert vise upside-down, with thin parallels under the vise so
the pins extend beyond the jaws. The pins can be stuck upright onto
double-sided tape to make handling them easier.

jsw

On Jun 22, 10:04*pm, LeeAtWork wrote:
I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys from 2 different series in the same locks. *The pins are made of a hard, high-nickel brass called "nickel silver" about 1/8" diameter (actually 0.115") and are roughly 0.33875" long, give or take 0.00025". *(Okay, I'm kidding. Contrary to myth, nothing in even a high-security lock needs to be accurate to more than 0.003".) *They have a short hole in one end and a "finger" sticking out of the side of the other end. *There are a pair of cuts 1/16" wide and 1/16" deep on each side leaving a bar that fits into a slot in another piece called a sidebar. *You can easily find a picture thanks to someone misspelling the caption on a photo of one. *Use Google Images to search for "heres's finger pin" and it will be one of the first images in the results.

Anyway, I need to make a second pair of the same kind of cuts in around 500 of each of 4 shapes of pins and am wondering if there is a better way to do it than what I've been doing.

Currently, I've modified a quick-release vice to hold 1 pin and mounted the vice on a lazy Susan so I can get at both sides of the pin. *I put the pin in, and then use a Dremel flex-shaft tool spinning at 35,000 RPM with a 1/6" carbide 2-flute end milling cutter to make the cut on one side, spin the vice and make the cut on the other side. *I wear a double magnifier on my head to see what I'm doing, and, well, my hands aren't as steady as they used to be, so the cuts don't always end up as neat and clean as I mean them to be. *If the cutter is new, I don't have to deburr, but after it starts to get dull, I need to brush off the burrs on each pin by holding it in a pair of tweezers against the wire wheel that I use for brushing off keys. *I take a few more seconds to test each pin before putting it in my pinning kit, since a bad pin in a lock cylinder will waste a lot more time than testing it before the lock is closed up.

I can modify and test 60 finger pins in two or three hours, and then I have to stop and do something else. *(I would not make a good assembly line worker!)

Questions:
Is there a machine that could fit on my workbench that is designed to repeatedly make precise cuts on tiny pieces of metal like this?

If not, is there a place to look for designs for jigs or tool holders so I can mount the end of the flex shaft in a way that will limit how far it moves? *I'd like to have something where I slip in a pin, swing the tool down and up to quickly make the cut, and then slide out that pin and pop another one in.

Is 35,000 RPM the best speed to use when making 1/16" cuts 1/16" deep in nickel silver? *I saw a pneumatic pencil grinder that spins at 100,000 RPM, which might make cleaner cuts faster, but might have some other problem I don't know about. *The cuts are so small and take so little time, that heat may not matter, but I have no experience with such a tool.

Is there a formula or something to figure out what is the best working speed for a particular kind of metal and size of cut?

The carbide cutter manufacturer claims it is for cutting "Aluminum, Carbon And Tool Steel, Cast Iron And 300 Or 400 Series Stainless Steel," but no mention of brass alloys. *Is there a kind of milling cutter that is better for brass?

Thank you for any help you can provide.
Lee

Maybe you can use a lockset that the part fits into and modify it as a
jig. The finger pin could be indexed (or held in place) and you could
drill guide hole in the places to make your mod. You could press fit
hardened steel guides to keep the holes accurate and set stops for the
bit depth.

Sounds like it will take a lot of patience to do the job manually.
There are CNC machines to machine dental crowns and other small parts,
or maybe even EDM as a possibility, but it's probably beyond your
budget.

On Friday, June 22, 2012 8:04:22 PM UTC-7, LeeAtWork wrote:
I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys from 2 different series in the same locks. The pins are made of a hard, high-nickel brass called "nickel silver"...
Anyway, I need to make a second pair of the same kind of cuts in around 500 of each of 4 shapes of pins

Two ideas: get a jeweler's lathe (Taig is a common brand); they're tabletop size. Either hold
the pins in a collet (using a collet and a stop is VERY much easier than a vise), with the
cutter-on-a-Dremel mounted to the tool carriage, or put the cutter
in the lathe spindle and move the pin past it with your vise fixed to the tool carriage.
If you hold the pin in the lathe spindle collet, you can position for the second notch using
the lathe spindle indexing feature (common only on jeweler's lathes).

Or, go to a machinist with a real shop, and see if he can use nickel silver (cupronickel) welding rod
for stock and churn out a few hundred automagically. Or, even ask the lock manufacturer to
make a run of custom parts; you KNOW they have a screw machine setup for doing this.

Remanufacture with all the handling of small parts is ... always going to be inefficient.

"whit3rd" wrote in message
...
On Friday, June 22, 2012 8:04:22 PM UTC-7, LeeAtWork wrote:
...
Or, go to a machinist with a real shop, and see if he can use nickel
silver (cupronickel) welding rod
for stock and churn out a few hundred automagically....

It's also known as Monel.

Welding rod is hard drawn, locally available and great for turning
small parts on a collet lathe, but it's made in only a few fractional
sizes.

jsw

On 2012-06-24, whit3rd wrote:
On Friday, June 22, 2012 8:04:22 PM UTC-7, LeeAtWork wrote:

I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own
solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better
one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys
from 2 different series in the same locks. The pins are made of a hard,
high-nickel brass called "nickel silver"... Anyway, I need to make a
second pair of the same kind of cuts in around 500 of each of 4 shapes
of pins


Two ideas: get a jeweler's lathe (Taig is a common brand); they're
tabletop size. Either hold the pins in a collet (using a collet and a
stop is VERY much easier than a vise),

Be sure to get the alternate spindle for the Taig which accepts
WW series (jeweler's lathe) collets, which are much better for this sort
of thing than the collets which come with the Taig's standard spindle.

with the
cutter-on-a-Dremel mounted to the tool carriage, or put the cutter in
the lathe spindle and move the pin past it with your vise fixed to the
tool carriage.

Put the collet in an indexing head on the carriage -- and put
stops to allow offsetting to one side for one cut, and to the other side
for the second cut.

If you hold the pin in the lathe spindle collet, you can position for
the second notch using the lathe spindle indexing feature (common only
on jeweler's lathes).

I know it to be on the true jeweler's lathes, but I don't have
such a feature on my Taig -- rather an old one as they go. However, it
should not be that hard to add.

Or, go to a machinist with a real shop, and see if he can use nickel
silver (cupronickel) welding rod for stock and churn out a few hundred
automagically.

I get the impression that there is an elbow in the part which
would make it more difficult to make from plain rod stock -- unless you
used silver solder to join two pieces.

Or, even ask the lock manufacturer to make a run of
custom parts; you KNOW they have a screw machine setup for doing this.

:-)

Remanufacture with all the handling of small parts is ... always going
to be inefficient.

Of course -- but it may still be the best approach, depending on
how happy the manufacturer is to deal with individuals -- locksmiths or
no. And it sounds like he wants to add an extra feature not present on
the standard parts.

It is a fascinating lock which I have not seen before. Where
are these used? Looks like it would be immune to a picking gun. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:04:22 -0700 (PDT), LeeAtWork
wrote:

I've been a locksmith for 40 years now, and I usually work out my own solutions, but this time I could use some help figuring out a better one.

I need to modify several thousand "finger pins" so I can use keys from 2 different series in the same locks.

First, you need to turn the Line Length on in your Usenet software so
it wraps at around 72 characters...

Second, if you're using these in bulk, they Have To Be commercially
available for a dime each. You just haven't looked hard enough, or in
the right places. ;-P

Put on your Deerstalker hat and fill your Meerschaum, and get to
looking, Sherlock. One of the OEM lock makers has them hidden in the
Spare Parts and Errata section at the back of the catalog - then they
wonder why they don't sell.

Then you open the package, drop them in, and they work.

I'm an Electrician - If I need the special ceramic wirenuts or the
special ceramic DIN terminal strip block for the wiring inside an
oven, I go buy them. Not worth my time taking up ceramics and buying
a kiln and all the specialized gear you'd need to make them, when
they're available cheap and as many as I could possibly want right
there on the shelf.

Some days it just isn't worth the effort to chew through the restraint
cuffs...

-- Bruce --