MacGyver101 wrote:Some of our practicing locksmiths can likely answer this better than I can, but the primary purpose of depth and space keys is to assist you in cutting keys "by code" on a manual key machine.
For example, if you were trying to make a key with cuts 54263, you could use the "5" depth key -- which is cut to a depth of "5" in every position (i.e., 55555) -- as the "original" when making the first cut, and then switch it to the "4" depth key for the cut for the second pin position, the "2" depth key for the third cut, and so on.
I'd hazard a guess that the folks who do it a lot would, in practice, actually start with the shallowest cut first (the "2") and cut the whole blank to 22222 first: you'd then have an easier time of double-checking that the remaining cuts were aligned properly.
Hope that helps!
+1
Great explanation MacGyver101...
It is the poor man's method of cutting a key "by code" using a tracer key duplication machine rather than a code cutting/origination machine...
What you end up with is actually a 1st generation duplicate of a code key...
~~ Evan
