Medeco Biaxial and M3 Keyway Project

[conspirator]

Admin: feel free to move to high security forum if you feel this information is too volatile for public.

So, I'm working on a little research project on medeco keyways. Medeco has historically been very adamant about keeping this information proprietary and one of my side projects is penetration testing and restricted information collection and dissemination commercially. I've also been a lock picker for some time,. and yes, I have a license with Texas DPS. Medeco is what we use on our facilities at work, in various M3 keyways as well as biaxial on some of the older buildings. This is where I got some of my first exposure to Medeco.

With biaxial, so far I have examples of Gold (G3), Patriot (P), NUK (N3), Liberty, Z, E, and S. The S is interesting in that it is a round-headed key with biaxial logo and is referred to in medeco nomenclature as the "S1" keyway where as most others are referred to as "Z3, G3" etc. I'm guessing this is because the S1 was the biaxial replacement to AIR which was an open keyway, where as the standard "gold" or G3 was a carded program meant to replace Sky? I have cores and keys and some blanks for all of the above keyways.
I have heard of a great deal more, like X, Y, and can imagine there is a wide variety I am missing.
I have air, sky, and some of the restricted original keyways like those used in the sargent /greenleaf and hi-shear locks as well. But biaxial is undoubtedly a better system and where my focus is. (as is M3)

With M3, I have found that the number of broachings are very similar in quantity, But with variety added in sidebar length differs.
I have discovered a total of 6 sidebar differs, and only a few different key broachings. as of right now I have a combination of cores and keys for most of the following:
Sidebar 1: DA, DN, DU
Sidebar 2: DB, DP, DV, FH
Sidebar 3: DC, DQ, DW, FJ
Sidebar 4: DD, DR, DX
Sidebar 5: DE, DS, DY, DL
Sidebar 6: DF, DT, DZ, FM

I have blanks in DA, FH, FJ, FK and DV, and some additional blanks on the way. (looking diligently for a source of DL and FM)

I have found that several of the above keyways are compatible with each other, with the only difference being sidebar differs- I have 5 of the 6 different sidebars (these are available at places like flake and IDN).
For example - In the FK Cylinder, FM, FH and FJ keys work., the sidebars are just a little longer. So when sub assembled, inserting the key just enough for the sidebar to make proper alignment will allow the lock to rotate.


I do not intend to publish the totality of the information collected from this research until the M3 patent has fully expired (Not too much longer from now.)
I also have some ideas for a patent extension if medeco wants to send me a fat check, but that's neither here nor there. (But that's another topic after talking to the patent attorney we use at work.)

I have a theory that with just a select few blanks (3-4) with the full length sidebar, any of the above keys can be made by simply trimming the sidebar to the shorter length for the specific keyway broaching and then cutting the key as normal.
at least, that is if someone does not want to replace the sidebars to function with an existing keyway.



I am definitely interested in any biaxial and M3 keyway information (as well as blanks I do not have, cores I do not have, etc) that are not have listed above.
If someone is interested in selling some (I am fine with removing the coining on the back of the key with a grinder if you don't want blanks out there with your company name on them) PM me.

I am also interested in factory restricted biaxial (Liberty shaped key without the torch) and factory restricted m3 (four diamonds logo on front), as well as any End-user biaxial or M3 keyway information.

[conspirator]

Is anyone out there familiar with M3 keyways FA, FB, FC, FD, FE, FF, ....Or DG, DH, Di, DJ, DK, DM? I theorize FA-Fi are going to be reserved factory restricted broaching with 6 sidebar differs, with DG-DM "end user" broaching with sidebar differs.
any information on FG, FI, or FL would be cool, such as broaching and sidebar length.

[Squelchtone]

do you mean to say slider for M3? side bars do not change in sidebar finger lengths. you have 5 finger sidebars and 6 finger sidebars. Unless you mean how far the M3 pushes the slider in order to allow the sidebar to mate with the slider fingers so that it can fall in and insert the sidebars fingers into the key pin broaching in which case then I guess there are multiple siderbars with varying amounts of brass milled off them to let the slider go in less or more based on how the key is milled. From my memory of reading Open in 30 Seconds by Marc Tobias, I believe the slider always moves a static distance, so a paper clip could be used to set the sidebar slider, which reduced the lock to a Biaxial during a picking attempt.

don't forget to list R1 govt and D4 military biaxial keyways (I see you have some of those in your lock collection)

I realize I may be going off on a tangent from what you were writing about... but this is an interesting topic.
Squelchtone

[conspirator]

do you mean to say slider for M3? side bars do not change in sidebar finger lengths. you have 5 finger sidebars and 6 finger sidebars. Unless you mean how far the M3 pushes the slider in order to allow the sidebar to mate with the slider fingers so that it can fall in and insert the sidebars fingers into the key pin broaching in which case then I guess there are multiple siderbars with varying amounts of brass milled off them to let the slider go in less or more based on how the key is milled. From my memory of reading Open in 30 Seconds by Marc Tobias, I believe the slider always moves a static distance, so a paper clip could be used to set the sidebar slider, which reduced the lock to a Biaxial during a picking attempt.

don't forget to list R1 govt and D4 military biaxial keyways (I see you have some of those in your lock collection)

I realize I may be going off on a tangent from what you were writing about... but this is an interesting topic.
Squelchtone

Nomenclature is off. Replace sidebar with slider, that should create more clarity.