How To Make Cutaway Locks

[criminalhate]

So as I was making my first cutaway lock I decided to take pictures and do a little write up for anyone else who doesn't quite understand what they are doing.


Supplies

A lock cylinder

A needle file set

A Dremel tool with small cut off discs (Not actually needed but cuts your time down)


Step One

Disassemble Your lock cylinder remove all the pins and springs.




I put a piece of tape around the other pins just to save some time on reassembly.

Step Two

Mark out your spot and make the first cut. Make sure you measure correctly and line up your cut properly or you might ruin the lock cylinder. Another thing you should check it the thickness of your cut off disc or your file to the locks pins and springs. If the Springs and pins are smaller then the blade of the file or the cut off discs then stop because they will fall out if you make the cuts.




For the cut I used the needle file shaped like a small v. After I made the cut all the way through I cleaned it up with the flat file.


Step Three

Continue on with all the other pin holes and you should end up with something like this.






Step Four

Reassemble The lock cylinder.






And if all went well you should have a good working cutaway.




Larger pictures can be found at here

[Shfake]

Great post made it look so easy.

[Schuyler]

slightly larger previews would be pretty sweet. Nice, straightforward little guide though.

[samfishers]

ok thats a good tutorials, but how do you measure your grooves?

And can you cut in the cylinder?to see the bottom pins?

[criminalhate]

Schuyler I wasn't sure how large was a loud for the post thats why I kept them small.

samfishers I measured them out on the cylinder where the key is inserted and then marked them on the other part to make the cuts. And to the other question yes you can cut the cylinder to see the other pins I was actually going to do it that way but my hand got tired last night so I just wrote this up instead. I ended up doing the whole thing with needle files because i didn't feel like tearing my garage apart to find my dremel. Once I finish that part I'll throw some more pictures up but basically it's the same process for doing it.

[eSTRICTLYFOREIGN]

This is extremely helpful! Excuse my newful question: Is that a European Lock? (Trying to learn my lock! )

[Archive555]

I tried a while ago on an el-cheapo lock, and all the metal did was bend inward towards the cylinders, creating a fine piece of a paper-weight

[criminalhate]

This is extremely helpful! Excuse my newful question: Is that a European Lock? (Trying to learn my lock! )

Nope just a lock cylinder from a door handle.

[criminalhate]

I tried a while ago on an el-cheapo lock, and all the metal did was bend inward towards the cylinders, creating a fine piece of a paper-weight

File next time and do not apply as much force. I had the same problem on a best I was doing it too. I ended up bending the control sleeve =(

[slozinsky]

Would it be possible to achieve the same sort of cut away by just using a hack saw to cut the grooves instead of a dremmel tool? Once you have the cylinder all measured out and the cuts started by creating small grooves with a file it should be a cake walk i would think. (I suppose it would depend on the thickness of the hacksaw blade but assuming you could find one that would be this enough to ensure the pins would not fall out).

[criminalhate]

I can't see why it wouldn't work if you took your time with it

[metallurgy]

ok thats a good tutorials, but how do you measure your grooves?

When I measured for mine I used a height gauge and scribed a line measuring from the center of the pin holes. Since most people don't have one, you could probably improvise with a marker and some sort of mount.

[Kwick]

sorry i don't want to hack your thread but some of the questions here have an answer into a tutorial i made about creating Practice Cylinder...with a file ^^

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?pcmb9wyz91k

(in French but a lot of pictures)

maybe i'll do a translation in english once if i have power to do it.

[eSTRICTLYFOREIGN]

This is extremely helpful! Excuse my newful question: Is that a European Lock? (Trying to learn my lock! )

Nope just a lock cylinder from a door handle.

Thanks Bud!

[eSTRICTLYFOREIGN]

Hey what did you use to cover up the spring area?