Key mold impressioning question

[Hawk2064]

Hawk2064, I'm curious as towards how you managed to heat up the solder and pour it in.

What did you use and how?


And, have you ever considered zinc?


-Dave.

I didn't really have the access to the materials that were best, so I had to make do with what I did have. To heat up the solder I crimped one end of an elbow of copper pipe, held it with pliers and heated it up with a makeshift blow torch. It wasn't the safest job but I managed to get the solder to boil. I used my modeling clay to mold the key, and I used a vice to hold it as I poured the boiling solder in. By the looks of those picture you can see that a professional kit would be MUCH better that my homemade one, but if this was all I had I could probably use the solder key to impression a real key.

[Yossarian]

To work with lead solder is easy, for years I have worked with it over a stove to fill in the bottom of garden sprinklers etc, to add weight. Just get a really old and small pot or pan, we use a very old metal 1 cup measure, and just put it on the stove, melt the lead, and you can pour it into whatever your need to fill. If you use the right clay for the mold it shouldn't have any problems with the lead, the only hard part would be making sure the opening is wide enough to get the lead in before it solidifies.

[Hawk2064]

Yes, really the hardest part was getting the opening wide enough to pour it in, thats why my finished key molds aren't perfect. The clay wasn't perfectly seal on both sides so it leaked out the edges.

[critter]

If you already have a key, to put in your clay mold or clam, why can't you just have it duplicated??

[Hawk2064]

If you already have a key, to put in your clay mold or clam, why can't you just have it duplicated??

Because that wasn't the key I was planning to impression, it was just a key I had in my room that I used to test my idea.