billdeserthills wrote:The keyway king sounds nice, I have always wished for one but unfortunately whenever I see one for sale
the price is just more than I can justify. Currently when I want to make a key I don't have (usually medeco)
I find a blank that is fairly close & then mill whatever additional grooving is needed on my milling machine--
doesn't take long to add a couple of grooves to a handful of blanks and it sure looks nicer than the old dremel
tool adapted keys of yesteryear
The Keyway King machines always reminded me of a horizontal milling machines. And one of the old bench-top horizontal milling machines would be a perfect substitute for a Keyway King, if an arbor was made to hold the Keyway King cutters. MBA sells the Keyway King cutters.
Horizontal mills of any size are hard to find these days, but used to be common. One of their features was an arbor on which one could gang up various cutters and machine complex shapes all at once. Atlas made hobby-size machines that fit on a bench top. They probably don't go for any less than a used Keyway King unless one pops up on the local Craigslist.
Might be away to do horizontal milling on without a horizontal mill. Machine an arbor so all the cutters needed could be ganged up on it, then put that on a vertical mill and clamp a key face towards you, blade horizontal, then mill all the cuts at once. The blade of a key is so narrow the arbor should only need to be supported on one end. Could do it on a lathe too, if one had a milling vise attachment for it. Could even support the other end of the arbor with the tail stock. Might save time if several keys need to be made.
