Chapman Lock

[ghettomaximaz]

I have a chapman lock that is having issues. Basically when i put the key in, it came out all of sudden halfway. Now since it doesnt align properly, i cannot put the key back in. Here is a diagram



Does anyone have any clue about Chapman locks and how to get this out of the position it is in? The inner circle needs to be aligned with anything on the outer side in red. the key has a nub that fits exactly between the inner circle and outer circle and should only come out when it is turned 45 degrees. Except this time it came out in the middle as you can see by the picture. This should not be possible as the nub should be locked into the lock until it makes a complete 45 degree turn to the top.

Any help so greatly appreciated on how to get it back to normal

[ghettomaximaz]

This is an Ademco chapman lock if that helps anyone.

Thanks for any help you can give

[Chrispy]

It's good to see a newbie who actually phrases the question correctly, politely, well read and spelling error free, as well as including pictures/diagrams. You're a breath of fresh air ghettomaximaz.

About the lock, I've never come across one of these locks.... sorry... can't help on this one....

[Grudge]

I am not familiar with the chapman, but normally with tubular keys you can file down the small stem sticking out of the key which prevents it from be inserted half way. I do this with one of my practice tubular lock keys (usually you get two) because it is so easy to get them stuck half-way (at least for me ). Hope that helps!

[zeke79]

As grudge stated you can simply grind or file off the portion of the key that is intended to prevent you from inserting the key at angles other than 0 and 270 degrees. This will alow you to insert the key at the angle needed to pick up the pins at the correct bitting and continue turning the lock in whichever direction you desire.

[SFGOON]

That may not work. If you've turned the key and the drivers have set with new pins, you have effectively changed the combination of the lock and will need to resort to picking, especially if the pins are not of uniform length to prevent "comb" style bypass. Removing the nubbin on the end of the key is a good bet and may well work, but if it doesn't you at least know why.

[n2oah]

If you only have one key, get it copied before you resort to filing. The lock may not have an internal pickup so you'll end up with with a useless key. To be sure that it does have an internal pickup look inside the tube and look if there is a notch or not. Notch=internal pickup, No notch= no internal pickup