Ilco 008B

[jimu57]

I bought a Ilco 008B duplicator a while back. This is the old style that doesnt have a deburring brush on the right end of the shaft. Its just compact and does a nice job. I actually bought it for $50.

I sent the cutter from it and another that I had to GilRay for sharpening. The cutter is a 23RF which I am sure everyone is familliar with. New, it has a radius on the cutter edge of .031". When I go the cutters back, the radius was gone and had a flat of about the same .031" I installed the cutter, adjusted everything. The cutter with the flat used with the regular stylus that has a radius worked better that the new radiused cutter. Had cleaner cuts and had sharp corners in the root of cuts in keys.

I made a few from using depth and space keys. I did have to do some trials in adjusting the machine and used digital calipers in checking depth of cuts in the blanks. I was able to make keys that cuts were within .002" of spec. I was very pleased.

This is just some info I wanted to share. Now for the question.

Has anyone here ever updated an Ilco 008B or similar machine without a deburring brush by changing the cutter shaft? The cutter shaft for the newer type of 008B is longer so a deburring brush will mount on the end. I have an extra machine, a Micrometric. I even listed it for sale on here, but I thnk i will keep it and change the cutter shaft in it as well and have 2 small duplicators that cut well and have and deburring brushes.

Curious as to if anyone has updated the non deburring machines by changing the shaft and if it worked ok. Below is a pic of my micrometric which is almost the same as the Ilco. You can see that the shaft of the right end is short. Possibly this was to make this machine super compact originally. What I want to do is use the longer shaft that will come out further to attach the deburring brush

thanks
jim

[cledry]

I think it is better to by a small bench grinder, fit one end with a wire wheel (doesn't need to be a nylon brush). Put a grinding wheel on the other end. Then when you need to shorten a blank after cutting you can use the grinder, and deburr on the wire wheel. All the shops I have worked in have this sort of setup. 5" one from Harbor Freight will last you probably 30 years. I have never worn one out and we cut hundreds of keys each day.

[RedE]

I think it is better to by a small bench grinder, fit one end with a wire wheel (doesn't need to be a nylon brush). Put a grinding wheel on the other end. Then when you need to shorten a blank after cutting you can use the grinder, and deburr on the wire wheel. All the shops I have worked in have this sort of setup. 5" one from Harbor Freight will last you probably 30 years. I have never worn one out and we cut hundreds of keys each day.

HF bench grinder is the way to go for sure. It's so much more versatile than a wire wheel on a key machine. And you really can't go wrong for ~$40 either. I just bought my second grinder from them last December; they both run as good as the old Deltas I've used in the past. If you're thinking about buying one, go to the HF website and print off the 20% coupon before heading in to the store.

[Robotnik]

I'm always extremely careful about which tools I buy from HF (narrowly escaped serious injury from one ill-advised purchase), but even I will recommend the HF bench grinder. Just don't use the cutting wheels it's supplied with

[Mudman]

HF is definitely hit or miss, but the ones that work good are equivalent to other store bought ones. When it comes to their cutoff disks though, I'd recommend against it unless you use a shield of some sort.

[billdeserthills]

HF is definitely hit or miss, but the ones that work good are equivalent to other store bought ones. When it comes to their cutoff disks though, I'd recommend against it unless you use a shield of some sort.

Nothing like a fragmenting disc to convince me to spend extra $$ on new discs