Curtis 2000K pros and cons?

[Peter Martin]

I see a good number of the Curtis 2000K key cutters on Facebook marketplace and eBay.
I went looking through the old posts here to see what people thought of the older Curtis 2000K... and found some interesting comments:

- compact (without the cover)
- cuts any length key
- not double-sided [key] friendly
- parts are still available (Hawley)
- noisy
- prone to breakage (no specifics given)

I did take a closer look at a number of pictures. It does seem to make some funky jaws that seem to be stamped/bend metal. Hawley sells newer versions that look like they are milled.
At prices routinely below $100 it appears they still might be a good value for a beginning locksmith--unless they really spit out double sided keys.

Pete
Sioux Falls, SD

[bitbuster]

My 1st machine besides the Belsaw 200 was the Curtis 2000K. I had zero problems cutting double sided keys. Most problems are human error. Parts are available, Hawley or me. Yes, it's a tad bit noisy. Breakage....once again related to human error. I've probably bought/sold 20 of these machines throughout the years. I found it to be reliable and a workhorse. Others may disagree. I still have one.

[demux]

I still have and use my FB200, and can crank out decent keys from it if I keep it tuned and maintained. On the other hand, even my Framon #2 has its own little foibles but I know them and can work around them.

The point being, key machines in general seem to very much follow the adage of, "It is not the tools we use that make us good, but rather how we employ them." If you take care of your machine and have the requisite skill to understand what it's doing and use it properly, you can probably make keys within spec using even a low-end machine. The real advantage of the multi-thousand dollar high end computerized machines is speed, and if you're running a commercial lock shop it makes sense to invest in that. I'm a hobbyist, and personally it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me if it takes me 10 seconds or 3 minutes to cut a key in my home shop.

[BlueLock]

I still have and use my FB200, and can crank out decent keys from it if I keep it tuned and maintained. On the other hand, even my Framon #2 has its own little foibles but I know them and can work around them.

The point being, key machines in general seem to very much follow the adage of, "It is not the tools we use that make us good, but rather how we employ them." If you take care of your machine and have the requisite skill to understand what it's doing and use it properly, you can probably make keys within spec using even a low-end machine. The real advantage of the multi-thousand dollar high end computerized machines is speed, and if you're running a commercial lock shop it makes sense to invest in that. I'm a hobbyist, and personally it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me if it takes me 10 seconds or 3 minutes to cut a key in my home shop.

My first and only machine is the FB200. I bought it second hand from a guy who took the classes, but figured being a plumber was far more lucrative. I keep it in good shape and I have duplicated tight tolerance keys that worked just fine. I typically do not duplicate keys all that often, so I too do not need a lot of speed. I did have a great gig for a while making ~100 of the same key for a customer every 6 to 8 weeks. The FB200 had no trouble cranking them out one after the other, and it did not take that long to pump out 100 or so. I recently changed it over to duplicate S&G4100 keys. Took only a little bit of adjusting to get the slit cutter dialed in perfectly, but all good after that.