Which way do I feed the key machine??

[WOT]

I haven't had the machine very long, but intuitively, I stroke left to right like writing.

But my friend who has an HPC cutter swears you should cut right to left, feeding the key into the beveled edge.





If I do it my way, I get a pretty good looking cut, but it sometimes cause the key machine to give off a very nasty bearing squeal like sound. but if I do it his way, I get a cut that looks like this.


This is the original.

[scorpiac]

Ok, first of all I am not a locksmith, that being said I worked in Hotel Maintenance for a major hotel company for 12 years and over that period of time I have cut too many keys to count (literally hundreds at a time ie: 213 rooms and I performed a lock rotation twice a year on all the guest floors as well as regularly keeping the Maintenance shop, Front desk, and bell desk fully stocked with at least 4 keys per room each.) I have always cut from left to right starting at the bow and cutting towards the tip to remove the bulk of the material and then gently back the opposite way to get anything that may have been missed.

Phil.

[scorpiac]

Looking at the cutting wheel on your machine It looks like a one sided wheel like this |/ that is designed to from left to right. If mermory serves (I haven't worked there for over a year now) the machine I was last using had a wheel with a profile more like this \/ . In any event over the 12 years I worked there I used three different manual machines and I much preferred any one of them to the piece of junk Axxess System I sometimes use at my current place of employment.

Phil.

[Bump]

For that profile of wheel definately from the bow to the tip. That would be moving the carriage from right to left.

Has your machine wheel been heavilly used? If so you might be due a new wheel as a dull cutter will cause fragmentation of the blank and give an irregular surface like the one in your photograph.

[jimmysmith]

You have to do it both ways...!!! first start from the bow ...go to the tip then back from the tip to the bow.

[jimmysmith]

I go from the bow to tip....and then back fro tip to bow with my key dub machine.. and our machines look like thay are the same set up....

if i where to cut a cut only one way chances are the key will get stuck in the lock. you have to go both ways with my machine

[Raccoon]

Looking at the cutting wheel on your machine It looks like a one sided wheel like this |/ that is designed to from left to right.

You are almost correct. The cutting blade is indeed shaped |/ where the angular side (the right side) of the wheel is the side which cuts the key blade.

It is the key, not the blade, that moves. So in order for the blade to cut to the right, the key must move to the left. The correct answer is From Right to Left.

Code: Select all

                  |  /
        [key]     |/00000
        [bow]OoOoOo0000000

  <-- slide key to the left <--

The stationary cutting blade is depicted above as the angular lines, and the depiction of the sliding key made of O's.

[scorpiac]

Thanks for that explanation but that is what I actually meant. The wheel is designed to cut from left to right on the key (bow to tip) so yes in effect the key has to be moved from right to left.

Phil.

[xxgonzoxx]

Since the blade is angled to the right, it only cuts from the right...So you should start at the shoulder and trace it to the tip which would be left to right.

The smoothness of the cut is based on a good sharp blade, the RPM's of your machine and the speed at which you make the key. While you can't adjust the RPM's of your machine, if the blade is good, try making the key a bit slower.

[linty]

wow, lot of contradicting answers here.

really though from somebody who cuts keys a zillion times a day, your machine is backwards from the ones i normally use, so you should be cutting from tip to bow, and then once most of the meat has been removed run it back and forth a few times.

[whiteknight38]

To quote the manual on my 9180MC Speedex,

1.18 NOTE: Cutter is designed to cut in one direction only. Moving the carriage left to right (tip to bow) may damage cutter!"

IMPORTANT! Move carriage from right to left, (bow to tip) to duplicate key.

1.19 Perform finishing pass only by moving the carriage right to left.

(Emphasis, and exclamation points, courtesy of the manufacturer.)

The wheel on WOT's Ilco is normally situated for standard cutting. Remember, when you are cutting left to right, or bow to tip, the key is actually being pulled along right to left. In other words, the carriage is moving to the left, (as is the key) and it is the beveled side of the milling wheel that is doing the cutting, and not the flat.

Confused?

Now I would say the manufacturers guidelines should pretty much settle the matter, except that I believe there is a typo in the above directions, as published in the HPC's copywrited instruction manual.
I believe what they were trying to say is "Perform the finishing pass only by moving the carriage LEFT to RIGHT." The finishing pass is pretty much only a polishing pass, and only on the polish, is it safe to go left to right - or tip to bow, and thus doing a very fine milling pass with the flat side of the cutting wheel.

I spoke to a tech at HPC, and she agreed that there is either an error on the page, or paragraph 1.19 is gramatically redundant. She promised to have a definitive answer tomorrow.

But I've cut a few keys in my time, and seen a few being cut, and the answer is that it's the bevel that does the cutting, as the carriage moves right to left, and the key gets milled from bow to tip.

Oh, and one more thing: if your cutter is screeching, then you need a new milling wheel. It will set you back around 70 bucks or so. Maybe less on ebay if you get lucky.

[WOT]

HAHAHAHAHAH so I've been doing it wrong all along and many people are apparently confused too. I cut maybe 20 keys using the flat end.

How do I test if my cutter needs to be sent to Gil Ray?

The unpleasant sound was from when I was cutting it the wrong way. I don't hear it when i cut it the right way.

[Spike666]

to cut a key correctly. start just aft the bow. draw the key slowly to the left. some machines let you go against the grain then re-cut for proper depth and shape. your blade is a mini mite not designed for too uch tension.[b] so cut twice from bow to tip.[/b]if you still get a squeel then your cutting blade needs to be replaced. if your cuts are 10-25 thousandaths off or too shallow you need a new blade.......

[xxgonzoxx]

wow, lot of contradicting answers here.

I don't think it's that bad...the key is cut from left to right, while the it's actually being moved from right to left.

[WOT]

to cut a key correctly. start just aft the bow. draw the key slowly to the left. some machines let you go against the grain then re-cut for proper depth and shape. your blade is a mini mite not designed for too uch tension. so cut twice from bow to tip.if you still get a squeel then your cutting blade needs to be replaced. if your cuts are 10-25 thousandaths off or too shallow you need a new blade.......

New vs Gil Ray resharpening. What ya think?