Dissatisified customers?

[weerwolf]

I always give my customers a reciept for a vehicle key. If the car is parked outside the shop , I will ask them to try it , before accepting any cash. Especially if it's from a broken or bent key , or a duplicate. Anything I'm not a 100% sure off , I'll let them test first.
If the car isn't parked outside , I do ask them to try the key as soon as possible. And if there is any problem , they should come back as soon as possible.

For transponder keys , I usually cut a blank without transponder first. And let them try it out.

[WOT]

Every time I cut a key, I tell the customer to try it out. And if theres any problems, please come back. If two or three keys cut with same machine comes back in few days, I calibrate the machine.

Why not make cuts deeper than existing cuts on your miscut blanks to calibrate code machines regularly BEFORE complaints come in? If you've got a miscut key that's cut 6,4,3,3,2,5, make a 7,7,7,7,7 key. If key micrometer readings don't agree with specs, adjust.

[Wizer]

This year I´ve had to calibrate two of seven machines that I mostly use use.
Why go through the trouble of calibrating each machine when no keys come back?
- I know, I´m just lazy.

[jabraham]

I check depth on each key--I guess that is what is meant by "calibrating". I find you cannot depend on so called "calibration" since it can change from key to key. Keys vary in width which changes the depth setting. Wrong depth is the main reason for come-backs--followed by bad tip or shoulder setups.

[Wizer]

How does the width change the depth??
If the machine cuts to say 2mm, why wouldn´t it do the same on different blank?
Copying machines cut to same depth as original key as long as its set right(calibrated).

[Tyler J. Thomas]

An ACE instructor at an ALOA class I was at a few years ago told us that every morning he would cut a key on his main duplicating machine and test it in a cylinder he kept right next to the machine to test it's calibration.

I try to follow the same strategy on the machine I have in my truck every Monday morning to ensure it's accurate for the rest of the week.

[jabraham]

Wizer in Finland,
When you put the pattern key in its vise, you may have a "calibration" issue--because often the pattern key is some thousands different in width from the blank. The tracer rests on the pattern key. If you don't change the depth, you will cut too deep or too shallow in the blank.
You change the depth by moving the tracer in or out until the cutter just grazes the blank--then you are "calibrated".
Ed Brooks

[jabraham]

To Confederate,
You calibrate so you'll be good for the week. But calibrating is when you use two identical blanks in both vises and set the tracer and cutter so they are on the same plane. What do you do when you put a pattern key in one vise and a blank in the other, and find that the cutter does not graze the blank? If you rely on your "calibration" and leave the tracer and the cutter alone, you are going to cut too shallow or too deep in your blank, correct?

[jabraham]

Since I bought a Bravo III key quality issues have pretty much disappeard. But there are still a few come-backs.
Sometimes the customer's key is messed up. Watch out for the customer who comes in to make a duplicate because his existing key doesn't work! Or especially in a car works only half the time (one way). Some just don't understand that a copy can't be any better than the original. In fact a copy can be worse--because the lock has worn out along with the key and they marginally work with each other but a nicely cut duplicate is too thick and to sharp to work at all.
When a key is worn down to a nub I refuse to guarantee the copy. Same thing with damaged keys. About a third of my customers won't accept that. I think they go around from shop to shop, returning over and over, hoping to find a shop that will make a copy that works.
I put my phone number on the receipt.
Lowe's etc are now all using Axxess machines. If you look up the manufacturer on the net you see that they ADMIT to a 4 % return rate.
In my pre locksmith life I never saw a hardware store clerk check the depth on his Ilco 044 before grinding out my key.
Once in a while the original is a little shorter than the blank (usually Chinese keys). This leaves a small tang on the end of the new key. I put the key in a vise and use a file, or use a grinder to remove it, no charge. Sometimes I remark to the customer "See if Lowes will do that for you."