by Evan » 13 May 2011 11:15
@Lord Goral:
It is really cool that you are voluntarily providing locksmithing services for your housing co-op...
When you re-key the door locks I hope you have a pinning kit and have the ability to originate the new change keys with some type of code machine or punch... Using depth keys is not the preferred method of creating new keys used in a keying system...
As far as the wafer locks, locks using the N54G key blank have been made by Dominion Lock, Fort Lock (now a division of CompX) and many various unknown manufacturers (many in China) for use in tool box and furniture locks... If you are lucky the wafer lock is able to be disassembled, meaning the cam is attached to the plug with a screw or nut that can be removed versus being spot welded/peened/one way riveted on...
As far as developing a set of depth keys for the wafer locks used on the mailboxes, that is a fool's errand... Such locks are generally held to the mailbox compartment door with either a spring clip or sometimes a body nut... The amount of wear you would find inside some of these locks makes them not worthy of the time to take them apart to re-key... Especially if the user of the box has been opening it with a worn key/bad duplicate, you will find the wafers have all been bent in some way and aren't worth trying to reuse...
Your best bet is to take an example of the lock (assuming they are all identical boxes) to a locksmith who can tell you exactly what type of lock it is, accurately measure it for cylinder size, cam size/cam type and be able to order them randomly keyed from the manufacturer packaged in poly bags for a few dollars a piece so you can just swap out the former lock and leave a fresh new one for the new occupant...
Good luck...
~~ Evan
