Bicentric Kwikset SmartKey - Partial Teardown

[MBI]

I was just wondering what would happen if the master key ever got lost. Assuming all master cylinders are gonna get "re keyed", it sure would be nice to have a working key. At the risk of asking a dumb question, can a Smartkey cylinder be decoded ?

Yes, FarmerFreak invented a decoder for them that works well. Well enough that it's been copied commercially. I believe it's in the advanced forum if I remember right. If not, then he posted it on another forum. There are also other ways to get past these cylinders.

[Pintickler]

Good to know, thanks MBI. I just want to make sure I understand. Let's say I have a Smartkey cylinder in hand, meaning I'm not locked out, but my customer needs me to make the current working key. i can't do that with just a blank key, right ? I would need some device like the one farmerfreak invented, right ?

[1mrchristopher]

If you quite literally have the cylinder in hand, you can insert a blank key, and read the wafer positions to determine what cuts to make. It may take you a few tries, but you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

[Shifty1]

Excellent point Pintickler. The warding on a Smartkey Bicentric Master Cylinder Key is slightly different. The milled out otoscopic mirrored key-probe on the commercial decoder would not fit this keyway. However, it appears to me that the warding of a standard kw1 could be lightly milled to fit. But in the end you would have to hand craft another key-probe entirely to do this. Alas, there is more the one way to skin a cat! Thanks for the heads up.