How I impression an American 5200 Lock -Pictures

[jos weyers]

Does anyone make "Impressioning Keys"?
A Key where the blade is narrower, and Lines perpindicular to the biting.

If your key has more room to move, you increase the chance of getting marks even when you reached the correct hight. Not recommended.
I've seen people use perpindicular lines. Could be usefull. I sometimes use a filed down core, so i can check if marks are where they should.

[raimundo]

those locks that only turn in one direction could be affected by several things, perhaps the drillings are just off top dead center so one side is actually lower at the shear,

or more likly this, the cuts or one of them is slanted to one side and with the tolerance in the keyway, the pin is slideing down on that side.

almost certainly the pins have very little chamfer to help them push past this, or a steep chamfer.

if it only turns one way, turn it and then while its turned with the cylinder wall blocking the pins, bump it again and see if any of the positions gets a heavy mark. cut this mark and see if it then turns both ways.

[SALocksmith]

I like to cheat and use a code machine to impression, HPC Codemax or Blitz (CMB 1200). Start out by cutting shallowest depth, the code machine makes a nice flat perfect cut, so it makes the marks extremely easy to see. Honestly though, I find pin tumbler locks difficult enough that I normally just sell the customer a new lock. In a shop enviroment you tend to get people walking in with padlocks and they want a key made for it. Since impressioning a pin tumbler padlock can take me anywhere from 20 to 90! minutes I typically don't do it. There is the odd situation where a customer has 30 keyed alike locks back at the ranch and needs a key made, in that situation I will do it.

Wafer locks are another deal altogether, I often can impression them in 3-5 minutes no problem. Tend to do this for truck tool boxes, sentry fire safes, lockboxes, chest, file cabinets, furniture locks etc. Even there though, I rarely actually have to do it, they typically have a code on the lock that I can just look up and code cut. Even when I have to impression a lock I typically go back and code cut it once i've found the bitting so the customer has a "pretty" key.

If your in a situation to impression with a code machine I suggest giving it a try sometime!

[SALocksmith]

A correction for the above I said a code machine makes the marks extremely easy to see, that is an overstatement, it can still be very difficult, but i've found that if I can't do it with a hand file alone, that I can still sometimes do it with the code machine. Also, a tip, if the lock is lubricated it makes it very hard, especially if someone sprayed WD-40 or any kind of Teflon lubricant in it. I keep some Carburator cleaner on hand to flush the lubricant out, so that you get maximum binding force.

[WeedIsMyCheat]

Awesome graphics, very helpfull!!

[GWiens2001]

Very nice. I do knife the blade a bit, to about half the original width. It helps me to see the pin marks better when starting out. I do not continue to knife the blade as I go. I have also used candling with some success when I have a hard time finding the marks. Use a candle to put a little soot on the top of the blade. The soot will be knocked down, and I can see the brass showing through the black soot. I don't know if this is a recommended practice or not. First learned candling for warded locks.

[jfw]

Great post! I plan on giving this a try when I accumulate more equipment. Thanks.

[YouLuckyFox]

A wonderful guide, I used it around year ago when I started impressioning for the first time (along with Jos Weyers DefCon 19 video, thank you Jos Weyers!) Since then I've noted the following (constructive criticism is welcome):
I have had no luck with knife edging , but plan to try it out again (I have been informed that it is best suited for wafer locks, though this may be inaccurate information) as I have learned more about the process since last attempt that begs for trial. Many books on locksmithing do not leave room for knifing to be an option (as in it is part of their instructions on how to impression: namely, I believe, Bill Phillips.) I have found for myself that I do best with either a mirror finish on the blank when I start (fine sandpaper) or by placing a small strip of HVAC foil tape on the key blade for the first impression. This usually gives me all of the chamber spacing and I get to file them to shallowest depth (followed by peeling the strip of tape off). The tape is too hard to apply once filing has started (for manual-impressioning, that is.) I used to take an extra cylinder that had no pins or spring retainer, put the blank in and use an awl to scratch the key spacing by placing the awl in the individual pin chambers and turning the key from side-to-side (credit to KJS tool .) Now that I use the HVAC tape, this older method is impractical for me. Also, I have noted that a lot of locksmithing books recommend a pippin file, whereas I must agree with this guide and say that I have been able to achieve satisfactory results with a round file.
Hope this is of some use to someone and I hope I don't sound pretentious.

[jos weyers]

thank you Jos Weyers!

You're welcome, glad you thought it was helpful.

Many books on locksmithing do not leave room for knifing to be an option

I noticed that also (and I don't agree with them)

placing a small strip of HVAC foil tape on the key blade for the first impression

I try to refrain from putting anything but a key-blank inside a lock (as something else is not allowed during competition). But if you don't plan to compete -> try whatever you like : open = open

take an extra cylinder that had no pins or spring retainer, put the blank in and use an awl to scratch the key spacing

If you just use a core (not the whole cylinder) you can use the awl to make scratches as well. Especially if you take some material off the core.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvanzuijlekom/6856801366

What sometimes tends to work is putting the blank in (either pre-filed to 1-depth, or not) and jiggle it for a short while. No force, no pressure, just induce some wear, with some luck you can read the spacing quite easily.

pippin/round file

This is, to my opinion, purely up to personal preference. I can see that a professional locksmith wants to bring ONE file to the job, but during a comp I don't want to waste time aligning tools to suit my needs. Whatever works for you, works

[ARF-GEF]

I sometimes use a filed down core

What is a "I sometimes use a filed down core"?

[YouLuckyFox]

What is a "filed down core"?

Hey, AG!
I think he is referring to this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvanzuijlekom/6856801366
Great idea, Jos Weyers! Thanks for including a picture, as I was unsure of what you meant, this is a very good idea!

What sometimes tends to work is putting the blank in (either pre-filed to 1-depth, or not) and jiggle it for a short while. No force, no pressure, just induce some wear, with some luck you can read the spacing quite easily.

Glad you mentioned this, I will have to try it to see if I can omit my HVAC tape step

[ARF-GEF]

Thanks for the help YLF

Ok this might be a dumb question:

Is the filed down core just to check and mark the position of holes on a blank?
Is it effective to destroy a core just to get a guide for that 1 kind of lock? There are loads of locks you can't do that for every one of them. (?)
I mean it probably is at that level where you are Jos Weyers, but is it sensible for the "general public"?

[GWiens2001]

It is not a dumb question, ARF-GEF.

Have not used the method myself, but it is used to check if the mark you are looking at is correctly positioned to actually be a pin impression mark. I think it might be helpful to see if those are impression marks or drag marks at the last bitting (closest to the tip of the key).

By the way, as an update to my post above, I do not knife the edge of the blanks much anymore unless the marks are very faint at first and I can't be sure of the pin positions. Also, I more often use a Sharpie (marker) rather than candle soot now.

Gordon

[YouLuckyFox]

Have not used the method myself, but it is used to check if the mark you are looking at is correctly positioned to actually be a pin impression mark. I think it might be helpful to see if those are impression marks or drag marks at the last bitting (closest to the tip of the key).

Very true, the method (filed down core, KJS tool, my awl technique) is also used to get the bitting on the blank to the first depth. This is useful in that very few locks (from my meager understanding) use zero bitting. This method was invented with the competition in mind (http://blackbag.nl/?p=1419) but (@ ARF-GEF) I have found it to be useful to a non-competitive impressioner like myself (namely at the tip of the key, to confirm Gordon's perception; another instance is when using a nickel-plated brass blank). The filed core seems to be an even faster method than using the KJS tool or my HVAC tape technique in that it is smaller and faster, and allows filing to first bitting to happen before the blank even enters a keyway! I understand your question was for Jos, AG, but thought I ought to chime in anyway. Sorry to impose ! Looking forward to reply from Jos, bytheway.

[ARF-GEF]

HAha no YLF, I am happy to hear the solutipn to my question from anyone
Thank you for both you and Gordon