Perhaps a dumb question?

[scorpiac]

Probably a dumb question but... I was wondering if anyone has ever tried using an old key cutting machine for duplicating lock pics, I realize it would probably be hard on the cutting wheel but was just wondering if anyone has ever tried it?

[What]

from what i have gathered a few of the lockies on here do that.

[Shrub]

I few have tried it,

The problem is that the cutters get destroyed quickly if they even cut it,

The material is so thin it doesnt cut but rather bends it,

The material is too thin to be gripped properly,

Theres so many reasons why not to do theres next to no reasons why to do it,

A bench grinder in skilled hands can produce a nice pick in around 5-10 mins, a further 5-10 mins sanding it and general finishing and youve spent very little time at all,

Good idea but dont try it its not practical,

[Bud Wiser]

And it would be cheating too!

[UWSDWF]

what if some one fitted a the duplicator arms (corretect term.?) on to a bench grinder?

[scorpiac]

what if some one fitted a the duplicator arms (corretect term.?) on to a bench grinder?

I was thinking the same thing but you would need a stone with the exact same profile as the tracer tip in order to have it work accurately and would probably requier constant adjusting as the stone wears down and the profile changes...

[Shrub]

It can and is done with other items in the world so i dont see why it cant be done in this case,

As said the wheel diameter or rather its changeing of it would need to be addressed,

Other things are that you would need a special wheel called a releived wheel which allows grinding on the side of the wheel which is basically what you would be doing,

You would also need a narrow wheel to get as much detail as possable on,

Having done all that i would say that you still would not be able to copy a pick as they use far sharper angles, if you consider how much you have to move the material around to grind a pick and then think that a copier would only move in 2 directions then it becomes even more complex,

Radius would be dificult as you would be attempting to take off more material than the wheel can cut freely thus bogging it down so you would need some form of putting a cut on rather like a surface grinder does,

The other but big reason is that a copy system on anything requires great strength and theres an added reason on a grinding set up in that the wheel could drag in a lot of apparatus there is somthign goes wrong and thus increase the event of a shattering wheel which could infact remove your head if hit in the right/wrong place,

The much better idea is to buy an old plotter from a jumble sale, here you have a 2d table that moves with printer commands and has a big enough area to cut a varity of things,

On that you can mount any number of things like a motor with a cutter on it, a laser, a scriber etc etc, things aret easy and not as easy as i make out here but anything is possable,

[SFGOON]

That is a dumb question/idea. And by dumb I mean brilliant. You've have to do it twice, once for each side, but it would work pretty nice I think.