The mortice lock in the front door has just decided to freeze in the locked
position. The mortice moves with the key about 2mm and then goes solid so I
guess something must be broken in the lock mechanism.

There's just enough gap to get a hacksaw blade in to the mortice but it's
pretty slow going and I think there are steel bars inside the bronze because
I've already hit something the blade doesn't seem to want to go through.
Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the door and frame unless there are
such things as cutting disks no more than a mm or so thick. Mine are at
least 1/8".

Any bright ideas short of ripping half the door frame out?
--
Dave Baker

"Dave Baker" wrote in message
...
The mortice lock in the front door has just decided to freeze in the
locked position. The mortice moves with the key about 2mm and then goes
solid so I guess something must be broken in the lock mechanism.

There's just enough gap to get a hacksaw blade in to the mortice but it's
pretty slow going and I think there are steel bars inside the bronze
because I've already hit something the blade doesn't seem to want to go
through. Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the door and frame
unless there are such things as cutting disks no more than a mm or so
thick. Mine are at least 1/8".

Any bright ideas short of ripping half the door frame out?
--
Dave Baker

Ha! Might just have answered my own question on the Googles.

http://www.rightlines.ltd.uk/Thin-Me...ing-Discs.aspx

1.2mm thick metal cutting discs to fit most angle grinders.
--
Dave Baker

Ha! Might just have answered my own question on the Googles.

http://www.rightlines.ltd.uk/Thin-Me...ing-Discs.aspx



Try

http://nextday.diy.com/app/jsp/produ...ductId= 70545

Dave Baker wrote:
The mortice lock in the front door has just decided to freeze in the
locked position. The mortice moves with the key about 2mm and then
goes solid so I guess something must be broken in the lock mechanism.

There's just enough gap to get a hacksaw blade in to the mortice but
it's pretty slow going and I think there are steel bars inside the
bronze because I've already hit something the blade doesn't seem to
want to go through. Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the door
and frame unless there are such things as cutting disks no more than
a mm or so thick. Mine are at least 1/8".

Any bright ideas short of ripping half the door frame out?

SF do 1mm cutting discs
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/45203/...2mm-Pack-of-10

Can you get to the hinges? Sometimes you can knock/drill/cut out the pin.
Failing that, get a pry bar into the gap & use the AG.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Baker wrote:

The mortice lock in the front door has just decided to freeze in the
locked position. The mortice moves with the key about 2mm and then
goes solid so I guess something must be broken in the lock mechanism.

There's just enough gap to get a hacksaw blade in to the mortice but
it's pretty slow going and I think there are steel bars inside the
bronze because I've already hit something the blade doesn't seem to
want to go through. Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the door
and frame unless there are such things as cutting disks no more than
a mm or so thick. Mine are at least 1/8".

Any bright ideas short of ripping half the door frame out?

What sort of door/lock is it? Is is also a latch, with handles and plates
either side? If so, can you see any of the guts if you remove the handles
and plates?

I recently had exactly these symptoms with a Eurolock-based latch/lock
mechanism in an aluminium door between my house and conservatory. A bit had
broken inside the lock which meant that turning the key no longer lifted the
interlocks out of the way of the bolt, with the result that the bolt
couldn't move more than a mm or so. By removing the handles and plates, I
was able to poke around with a screwdriver and lift the offending interlock
manually - enabling the key to unlock the bolt.

[If it's of any interest, the whole thing is covered in a thread "Any lock
experts out there?" which I started back in April/May this year].
--
Cheers,
Roger
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Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
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PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:01:29 +0100, "Dave Baker" had
this to say:

The mortice lock in the front door has just decided to freeze in the locked
position. The mortice moves with the key about 2mm and then goes solid so I
guess something must be broken in the lock mechanism.

There's just enough gap to get a hacksaw blade in to the mortice but it's
pretty slow going and I think there are steel bars inside the bronze because
I've already hit something the blade doesn't seem to want to go through.
Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the door and frame unless there are
such things as cutting disks no more than a mm or so thick. Mine are at
least 1/8".

If you _could_ get a 1/25" cutting disk for an angle grinder it would
be so fragile that you'd have to use some sort of a jig to guide it
without any twisting.

Any bright ideas short of ripping half the door frame out?

WD-40 would seem to be the answer to all your prayers, if you can
believe a few posters in here....

It's not a Yale lock, is it (lubricated with the above as recommended
by Yale)?

--
Frank Erskine

Frank Erskine wrote:
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:01:29 +0100, "Dave Baker" had
this to say:

The mortice lock in the front door has just decided to freeze in the
locked position. The mortice moves with the key about 2mm and then
goes solid so I guess something must be broken in the lock mechanism.

There's just enough gap to get a hacksaw blade in to the mortice but
it's pretty slow going and I think there are steel bars inside the
bronze because I've already hit something the blade doesn't seem to
want to go through. Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the
door and frame unless there are such things as cutting disks no more
than a mm or so thick. Mine are at least 1/8".

If you _could_ get a 1/25" cutting disk for an angle grinder it would
be so fragile that you'd have to use some sort of a jig to guide it
without any twisting.

Any bright ideas short of ripping half the door frame out?

WD-40 would seem to be the answer to all your prayers, if you can
believe a few posters in here....

It's not a Yale lock, is it (lubricated with the above as recommended
by Yale)?

It wouldn't have jammed had it been lubricated according to the
manufacturers instructions e.g. with WD40.


--
Dave - WD40 Liberation Front.

On 14 Oct, 22:01, "Dave Baker" wrote:
Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the door and frame unless there are
such things as cutting disks no more than a mm or so thick.

"Stainless steel cutting disks" (Screwfix, and Aldi, et al)

Extra thin, bit brittle and the wear rate is high, but they're great
for mortice bolts.

"Roger Mills" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Baker wrote:

The mortice lock in the front door has just decided to freeze in the
locked position. The mortice moves with the key about 2mm and then
goes solid so I guess something must be broken in the lock mechanism.

There's just enough gap to get a hacksaw blade in to the mortice but
it's pretty slow going and I think there are steel bars inside the
bronze because I've already hit something the blade doesn't seem to
want to go through. Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the door
and frame unless there are such things as cutting disks no more than
a mm or so thick. Mine are at least 1/8".

Any bright ideas short of ripping half the door frame out?

What sort of door/lock is it? Is is also a latch, with handles and plates
either side? If so, can you see any of the guts if you remove the handles
and plates?

First thing I tried but all that's behind the plates is a little hole in the
wood for the key to go through and then the keyhole in the lock itself.
Nothing further to dismantle unfortunately. A thin grinding disk seems to be
the way to go now I know they exist. Should be a piece of cake once I get
some to fit my grinder.
--
Dave Baker

"Dave Baker" wrote in message
...

"Dave Baker" wrote in message
...
The mortice lock in the front door has just decided to freeze in the
locked position. The mortice moves with the key about 2mm and then goes
solid so I guess something must be broken in the lock mechanism.

There's just enough gap to get a hacksaw blade in to the mortice but it's
pretty slow going and I think there are steel bars inside the bronze
because I've already hit something the blade doesn't seem to want to go
through. Getting an angle grinder in would bugger the door and frame
unless there are such things as cutting disks no more than a mm or so
thick. Mine are at least 1/8".

Any bright ideas short of ripping half the door frame out?
--
Dave Baker

Ha! Might just have answered my own question on the Googles.

http://www.rightlines.ltd.uk/Thin-Me...ing-Discs.aspx

1.2mm thick metal cutting discs to fit most angle grinders.

Got around 50 in the back of my van for a 5" AG.
Cut like lasers they do

The locksmith's method I've seen is to drill through the door, into
the lock body, at the right point (say a 6mm hole) to lift the
tumblers with a wire or thin screwdriver, and then to use a timber
plug or dowel to patch the hole.

You would need to dismantle an identical lock to figure out where to
drill.

On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:08:39 +0100, "Dave Baker" wrote:

1.2mm thick metal cutting discs to fit most angle grinders.

.... and the thinnest are 0.8 mm.

You may want to scrounge around for a very worn disc as a shim and support --
the thin discs come with a bit cardboard, but an old disc is better.


Thomas Prufer

wrote in message
...
The locksmith's method I've seen is to drill through the door, into
the lock body, at the right point (say a 6mm hole) to lift the
tumblers with a wire or thin screwdriver, and then to use a timber
plug or dowel to patch the hole.

You would need to dismantle an identical lock to figure out where to
drill.

The handle plates are pretty big, 2" wide or so and I'm now thinking I could
chisel out the wood under one side to about 1" wide behind where the mortice
goes, get in there with my cylinder head porting gear and carbide burrs and
rip the lock open and just destroy everything behind the mortice until the
lock's an empty shell. Once the plate's back on it'll all be hidden. Might
take a while but given I have this gear and not the cutting discs it sounds
like a plan.
--
Dave Baker