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