First attempt at a cutaway lock

[wa1ker00]

With a Dremel tool on the way for Christmas (or so I told Santa and I've been good this year), I've been toying around with the Dremel tool here in the shop. It was a mighty slow day and I decided to try my hand at making a cutaway lock. I feel I was moderately successful but looking back I could have done this more efficiently with only 3 cuts and possibly a slightly wider cutting wheel inbetween chambers 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6. Once I got the cuts made and took a few small files to the lock to clean off any burs I reloaded the cylinder and decided to toss in a variety of spool/serrated/security pins. It's a heck of a lot easier to pick when you can see inside the lock.

[averagejoe]

Thats actually quite good for a first attempt, especially considering you used a dremel.

[wa1ker00]

I was actually aiming for cutting right on the chambers but I missed on the first cut. Once I realized I hit the 'in between' spot where you could see both, I tried to replicate that for the remainder of the cylinder but was off by a small margin that left only 1 chamber showing in the remaining cuts. Once I get a bit more comfortable and precise, I want to do a Schlage Primus cutaway with the chambers exposed as well as a cutout on the bottom to show the sidebar pins. I think a single thing cut the length of the cylinder would be enough to show the direction of the pins without disturbing their placement or disrupting rotation of the cylinder.

[nothumbs]

Nice work, and pretty good photography as well.

[wa1ker00]

Surprisingly pleased with camera on my phone. Not Nikon levels of quality but still not painful obvious that it is a cell phone. Any suggestions for more accurately measuring where to make cuts? I tried lining up the plug with the outside of the cylinder but apparently between not accounting for the thickness of the cutting wheel and having it wander a bit, i ended up with not the cuts I originally planned for.

[averagejoe]

Well, if you have the proper tools and the patience you could mark out where to cut. A lot of this also comes down to experience.

A random idea: You could take a small flat piece of metal and cut a groove down it so that you can put one side into a pin chamber and the other side is outside showing you where to cut. Mark on each side of your "gauge" and cut away

[epidemiologist]

Very nice work. How about using the key to align the cuts?