Key blank ambiguity

[seddona]

Hi,

As I understand it a given key blank will fit into many different type of locks. Is it possible to say for a given key blank what the bite spacing and depth would be? I.e is there a standard for all locks compatible with a given blank.

Any help appreciated, I'm just getting into this

Andrew

[raimundo]

probably not, there are a lot of lock companies and they are not coordinating their production though they will use common keyways that are out of patent protection.

yale has long used the 999 key blank, also known as Y1 there are a lot of very close varients of this, the keyway appears to be a y1 but the width of the blank can be thinner.

look at, lets see, an abus keyway for padlocks that is near the yale y6 or 612, you can get blanks that go into the keyway but still do not actually fit it, its always best to have the abus original when impressioning. These blanks are plated with some nickel or chrome, but they are brass blanks inside. A lot of newbies don't realize this and think that the blanks are not suitable for impressioning.

another case like this is the military use of the laminated masterlock with balldogs. it appears to be a master blank 27 or 29 or somesuch, but its actually thinner than that blank and has to be shaved with a file to fit in the keyway.

[seddona]

thanks Raimundo.

Really I was wondering if there was any sort of common standard that had emerged. For example here in the UK I've looked at a couple of U5-D blanks for different locks (universal 5 pin) and the bite spacing looks about the same.