whats wrong with my bump keys!?

[jackchaos]

tried to make some bump keys cause i was bored and they dont seem to work =(
hmm what did i do wrong?
sorry about picture quality

[unlisted]

what you did wrong was take a bad photo. we cannot diagnose the issue with that type of photo.

Try taking the picture on something that will not "flashback" example, a piece of cloth/fabric, etc.

[jackchaos]

my bad, fixed

[freakparade3]

hmm what did i do wrong?

They are not cut right. Making keys is a precise thing. You must be exact, close is not good enough.

[jackchaos]

thought so was using a crappy file and was my first go thanks for the helps

[unlisted]

hmm what did i do wrong?

They are not cut right. Making keys is a precise thing. You must be exact, close is not good enough.

+1

[freakparade3]

For a 1st attempt they are not to bad. Do you have a caliper to measure the cuts?

[jackchaos]

actually yea just found one while looking for a better file didnt find a better file thouhg =/

[sparkster]

I've seen worse made keys than those, and they worked, its gonna be down to technique, you need to practice a little with the keys, not everyone can bump a lock in 5 minutes, once you figure out the technique then there will be no stopping you, the file to use should be a square one, a lot of people use triangular types, although the keys still function afterwards, freakparade suggests a vernier/caliper to measure the cuts, not everyone has a caliper so this can be an hinderance, but a caliper is not really needed to knock a key up from an old one, find an old key, the spacings should then be there, its then a simple task of filing the cuts, just keep the file level when your cutting.

[datagram]

Looks like you took off quite a bit from the tip of the key...these should only have 0.5-1 mm of material removed. The cuts don't look *too* bad, but when inserted that the key will offset the cut spacing enough that you might be blocking the shear line.

-dg

[straightpick]

The Schlage key look to be the best of the lot except for the fifth cut (from the shoulder), looks a wee bit too deep. Insert the key into the lock like you would if you were going to open it. Now check to see if the shoulder of the key touches the face of the plug. If it is touching it, remove the key and take about 1/32" off the shoulder, the part that was touching the plug, making sure it is square to the plug. Put the key in again, there should be a SLIGHT space between the plug face and the shoulder of the key. Now try it!

[jackchaos]

thank you all for the help! i will go back and fix my keys and see how it goes from there!

[maxxed]

The Schlage key look to be the best of the lot except for the fifth cut (from the shoulder), looks a wee bit too deep.

The schlage key looks ok to me , I usually cut bumpkeys to what would be a full depth deeper so that the 9 length pins don't get pushed above the shear line