I discovered this forum all too late. Forgive me if I belabor the obvious, but I've spent days on this problem and many of the professional locksmiths I contacted haven't a
clue about the issues involved. So I'm posting all the details about what I've investigated to save people the trouble of suggesting things which won't work. And I had no idea that the seller was considered to be disreputable until I found this forum a few days ago.
I am an artist and I live in a, shall we say, somewhat rough building. (Rent is affordable as my TARP bailout check was misplaced in the mail.) My door is steel and the walls cinderblock, and the current locks are a brass Segal flush-mount deadbolt and a flush-mount mortise lock (something like a standard 5-pin) that's as old as I am and for which I do not have the key.
My plan--and von Moltke was absolutely correct when he observed that no plans survive contact with the enemy--was to replace the current Segal deadbolt's cylinder and add another flush-mount Segal jimmy-proof deadbolt, both with cylinders that were non-bumpable and relatively unpickable, aside from three-letter agencies. (Casual criminals are my main worry, not the dedicated criminal with the battering ram, chop saw, or thermal lance.)
My search for cylinders turned up the
Evva 3KS, and I found the seller who has been the subject of this discussion. After receiving assurances that these were standard rim cylinders and would fit ordinary deadbolts, I purchased two cylinders from him for $40, which seemed like a great price, especially given what high-security cylinders normally cost.
And the misery began.
These cylinders are indeed rim, but they have a 5/32" post tail piece instead of the traditional flat tail. They will
NOT, as most of you know, fit a standard lock. The seller told me he's sold lots of these cylinders and pretended to be shocked,
shocked!, saying that nobody else has a problem. After much research--the tail piece is
not listed in the Evva catalog!--I figured out what it is.
This style of cylinder is often called a "police lock" or a "fox police lock" or a "fox lock". (If you don't remember the Fox Police lock, these are the double armed locks one sees in every movie set in NYC in the 60s or 70s. Here's an example of the lock
in the center of the door, but the cylinder is not shown.
[edit] Finally, here is an article about the Fox Police Lock
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/nyregion/thecity/27lock.html for historical value; it has no particular bearing on my question.)
Medeco makes a similar tailpiece numbered "CT-Y04" and the type is listed as "police lock". I also found the
[edit] , and it specifically describes the 5/32" post as a police lock.
[edit] So I'm certain this is what I have.
Thinking that my existing locks (the one on the door and the one in the box) were not particularly robust, I set about trying to locate a new deadbolt that would accept these cylinders. Oh, that is most definitely
not an easy task.
EVERY deadbolt I can find takes the flat tail,
except for Kwikset (takes a "D" shaped post) and Weiser (square post). Both (along with Baldwin) are divisions of Black & Decker.
The Kwikset locks appear, at least to my untrained eye, to be constructed from heavy-duty broiling foil and paperclips. I do not believe that filing the round part of the D to be flat would yield decent results or a robust and secure lock.
I couldn't find the dimensions for the Weiser lock post (all I've seen is a drawing on eBay), so I call B&D. That conversation was not what you'd call enlightening. B&D told me that Weiser locks do take a square post, but the size wasn't known, and, besides, Weiser never made a deadbolt with the 5/32" post, so it wouldn't be an option for me, anyway.
In this thread, jpb06080 noted that an Arrow lock (now a division of the Medeco conglomerate) accepted this cylinder and he has an Evva lock on his door. (I thought about pm'ing him, but thought it would be better to post.)
I contacted Arrow/Medeco and was told that (a) no literature or technical data prior to two or three years ago exists anymore, (b) the company has
no idea what locks would accept the 5/32" post, and (c) even though Medeco
makes the CT-Y04 post it has no idea what locks it will fit and said that it was up to the customer. My extensive searches (using Google and eBay) have not turned up a single deadbolt which would accepts a square police-lock cylinder post.
The Evva lock security card is labeled as having been manufactured in 1996, which suggests that it was designed to fit some lock common about fifteen years ago. Given that Fox Police Locks were mostly gone even in those days, I'm puzzled why any company would be making cylinders for them in 1996. So, it must be the case that jpb06080 found a common lock for circa 1996 that was of a family accepting these cylinders.
My email to Evva has, as expected, gone unanswered. (It has a few general-purpose email address lists on its Website, and my suspicion is they are so filled with spam as to be unusable and thus discarded unread.) I'm going to write the the British and Australian distributors--there are no US or Canadian distributors--and see if I can purchase new tails. If Medeco sells new tails for $2 apiece, I can't see Evva selling tails for much more. It appears to be held in place with either a snap ring or two tension pins.
Before I go the route of replacing tails, assuming I could even find new ones, can anyone suggest a make and model number for a flush-mount deadbolt that accepts a cylinder like this? I'm reluctant to cut down the shaft and weld on a flat tail because I don't know what the positions should be or what the tolerances are. (I also don't know what the heat of spotwelding will do to the lock's innards.) I'm not sure if I can reshape a standard flat-tail shroud to accept the square post, nor if such surgery will weaken the lock and leave me stranded late one night when it breaks. I might be able to find a NOS or salvaged lock, but I can't do that without a specific catalog number.
Buying a high-security cylinder is an option, but I really don't want to spend a few hundred bucks to replace what I have if I can spend fifty bucks on two deadbolts. I think before I did that I'd buy a used Fox Police Lock and install that. Certainly should be robust.
Thank you for any suggestions you might have.
[edit- sorry- information/links for destructive entry are not permitted on the open forums-unlisted] 
I think that expecting him to drop down to 10$ on a 55$ lock (retail) is a little unreasonable. The man still needs to make money, even if he is a total weasel. He might have realized he was going to be giving away his crap after he said "yes" and reniged on the deal, which is total BS, But I can't fault him for wanting to make a dollar or two. Is he even part of the locksport community or is he just a (poor/bad) buisnessman who is just trying to make some money?
but I'm sure he will still have some for sale in a month or so..... I hope.
