Making a new key

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

A new problem has just arisen!

Senior Management has a piano. The keyboard for the piano has a lid. The lid has a lock. The lock has no key! Grandchildren like to plonk on the piano when allowed but have been know to slam the lid down. So Senior Managementt would like to be able to lock the lid.

How do I making a new key for the lock? I can do the key blank ok, I can obviously cut the little bits out the blank. How do I find out which little bits to cut out and from where? So that is my problem!

Any locksmiths out there?

Chris

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Make a blank that will go in the keyhole, put marker on the edge of the bit inside the lock and try turning. Take out the key and cut a slot where it is marked. Keep repeating this , and on the face until the lock works. This can take some time, but on simple locks it can be quite quick. I am not a locksmith, but this has worked for me, even on house door locks.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Chris,

Good advice from Chris Gordon … but I would just add that you first need to determine the style of key.

It may well be one with a 'pipe' [you will see the pin in the lock], rather than a simple flat.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 04/05/2015 16:51:37

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

A bit of the plasticine on a thick feeler gauge perhaps then as above.

[JohnFParticipant @johnf59703]

Chris H, Good advice from Gordon, I have made many keys this way mainly for gun motor cases but if it is possible to remove the lock and it probably is then I would do so. Next remove the cover plate from the lock to reveal the tumblers, it is then much easier to make the key by removing the tumblers and cutting the key to each one in turn. It is likely that such a lock will have only two tumblers.

Regards John

[Swarf, Mostly!Participant @swarfmostly]

Hi there, all,

This key-cutting problem crops up often with the wooden boxes in which microscopes are stored.

So far, I have always bought my key blanks because I can't think of a method of making them that is sufficiently economical in either labour or material!

I'd very much welcome folks' suggestions for making a key blank (in mild steel) with no welder.

There are blank keys listed on eBay but they're usually brass-plated zinc alloy, ugh, nasty!!!

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

Braze/solder a small pate onto a pipe?

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Thanks for the prompt responses – I will try Jesse and Gordon's suggestions first. I am not adverse to John's suggestion of removing the lock and removing the cover plate but would rather try that as a last resort, as knowing me and my luck I would remove the cover plate and there would be bits everywhere that would never go back again!

Thanks to all, Chris

[speelwerkParticipant @speelwerk]

If  the cover plate is riveted to the lock, try to force it of with something like a screwdriver, if you file or grind of the rivet heads you are almost certainly left with to little material to re-rivet the plate in place. Niko.

Edited By speelwerk on 04/05/2015 21:07:57

[julian atkinsParticipant @julianatkins58923]

hi chris,

i have made many replacement keys including Church keys and Cathedral keys.

if you unscrew the lock and chisel off the rivets then the workings are exposed and key can easily be made to suit.

however piano keys are pretty standard and simple . i must have 200 or so 'old' keys and it is quite easy to find one that will fit.

if you want to unscrew the lock and send it to me im pretty sure i will have a key to fit.

cheers,

julian

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Hi Julian, many thanks for your kind offer. In fact I took the lock out today and had a look at it. Very basic. Got a blank key in town and it was so simple, just cut it down to a wee rectangle on the end of the round shaft and it worked a treat.

Anyway, many thanks again to all who contributed, now have another couple of brownie points from Senior Management to trade for more shed time.

Chris

[Malcolm HarveyParticipant @malcolmharvey97633]

Hello

I am a Piano Tuner and Restorer. The key is just a tag. The design on it does precisely nothing. It will be either a piece of rod with a flat piece of metal fixed to the side. I bit of tube with a flat piece of metal fixed to the side, or it will be a triangular key. Just look through the escutcheon to see which. To find out how wide the tag/piece needs to be just take the lock out of the piano (2 screws) and measure the distance between the two plates of the lock. Alternatively you could ring up your local piano tuner and he may well be able to sell you a new key for a few pence! I only have a triangular one at the moment.

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