Got a question about key machines? not sure what to buy? need a user manual? have some tips for keeping one running well or need help cutting or programming keys? Post here!
by WOT » 16 Jan 2007 16:09
Trash? Recycling? Make 999 keys and find alternative market?
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WOT
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by VashTSPD » 16 Jan 2007 16:58
I attempt a bumpkey, or (assuming I filed one of the spaces too low) if I don't already have a working key for the lock, I'll pick and repin the lock with a deeper pin in the pinstack spot I muffed up.
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by parapilot » 16 Jan 2007 18:43
Keep everything in a box. It could come in handy at some stage. Don't chuck anything out. Top tip of Shrub thats already come in handy.
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by Shrub » 16 Jan 2007 21:41
Exactally, if you have few blanks or are hobby picking then keep them as you may thank yourself lucky when you can get a key with a low cut from it, recycle everythjing, if you dont use the key as a key you can experiment making new wrenches that fit the keyway etc,
Loads to do if you have the thought process to do it, myself? i chuck them as ive anonther load still on the hook but if its a box of keys ive not needed before and i mess one up ill throw it back in the box as you never know then it simply gets thrown away with the box when empty,
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by Raccoon » 17 Jan 2007 0:23
The most common reason for a trashed key is a miscut, ie, you cut one too low for the customer. So save that key for the next customer or repinning job, cutting it a notch lower until you have a functioning key.
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by 2octops » 17 Jan 2007 12:07
Recycle.
It's faster & easier for me to just code cut a fresh key when repinning instead of trying to decode an old miscut.
Each December we have a major cleaning party in the shop. We separate all of the old brass from everything else and take everything to the recyclers.
This year we had 226 pounds of brass (mostly blanks) that were gathered since last year. We also had just over 400 pounds of aluminum.
I use that money to throw a Christmas/New Years party for the shop.
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by Isakill » 17 Jan 2007 16:30
I give mine to my wife, she's so creative she makes stuff out of em. Plus she likes that I give her stuff to do like that.
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by grit1 » 17 Jan 2007 16:54
I keep them in a box and use them to test files/milling bits for machine marks, use them for bump keys, or if a key happens by that is lower than the misscut.
Got shear line?
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by unbreakable » 17 Jan 2007 17:09
I make bottle openers with mine 
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by HeadHunterCEO » 17 Jan 2007 17:16
into the brass bin. when the bin is full it gets recycled into a pizza party at the shop. except us road guys always get screwed out of it
Doorologist
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by WOT » 17 Jan 2007 19:55
2octops wrote:Recycle.
It's faster & easier for me to just code cut a fresh key when repinning instead of trying to decode an old miscut.
Each December we have a major cleaning party in the shop. We separate all of the old brass from everything else and take everything to the recyclers.
This year we had 226 pounds of brass (mostly blanks) that were gathered since last year. We also had just over 400 pounds of aluminum.
I use that money to throw a Christmas/New Years party for the shop.
How do you generate 100+ lbs of miscuts a year??!?
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WOT
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by 2octops » 17 Jan 2007 21:40
It's not just miscuts.
Many are mechanical keys that we cut when fitting a key to a transponder equipped vehicle (cut mechanical key to fit, then duplicate to transponder blank). Also when impressioning or progressioning a key, you normally waste a blank or two. We do well over 100 cars a week, so we generate a lot of junk keys.
We also rekey almost every lock we install, so the keys that came with the lock are useless to us. Most of our commercial customers are on master key systems and if it's residential, then the customer usually wants the new lock rekeyed to match their existing keys.
Then you have all of the keys that you collect from customers when you do a rekey. Usually I just ask if they want me to get rid of all of the old keys to the building. Customers normally like to actually collect all of the old keys to make sure that the employees have them or try to use them. I tell them that I am going to recycle them and most folks like the idea that they are not just going to be tossed into the trash.
Other brass that we collect are cylinders and plugs from locks that we replace and even some of the knobs and levers are solid brass.
It only takes a few minutes to go ahead and separate everything when cleaning the vans out each week. It's well worth the effort.
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by raimundo » 18 Jan 2007 14:13
I once worked in a shop that had 3 55 gal barrels in the back room that were full of brass, keys, keymachine sweepings, cylinders and anything brass, they were impossible to move while full, and there was some worry about the floor joists,
where did twooctops get 400 lbs of aluminum? does he drink that much in canned bev? or cut cole national blanks?
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by fsdhy » 21 Jan 2007 22:23
Anyone who knows the price of brass, lately, should already know the answer to this question... We cleaned out the shop a few weeks ago, first time in about 40 years its been cleaned (hahaha). We made about 600$ in brass. Shavings from the cutters, whole cylinders/plugs, old safe parts, timelock parts, some hardware, keys, boxes of old blanks from the 1960s (we found a couple of boxes of Studebaker blanks that had been customized by the previous owner with our shops logo)... All went into the brass buckets.
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by 2octops » 23 Jan 2007 3:20
raimundo wrote:I once worked in a shop that had 3 55 gal barrels in the back room that were full of brass, keys, keymachine sweepings, cylinders and anything brass, they were impossible to move while full, and there was some worry about the floor joists, where did twooctops get 400 lbs of aluminum? does he drink that much in canned bev? or cut cole national blanks?
The aluminum this year came from some Gary safe deposit boxes that we had removed from a bank when we installed new Diebolds. They had cast aluminum doors on them.
Yeah, there were some old Coles in there also along with a few Natural Light and Miller Light cans  There might have been a Sprite can mixed in, but we try to keep stuff like that out of the shop.
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