Whether you need a replacement key or you need to change your locks, be sure to visit A1 Lock and Safe to see how we can help you protect your home. Notably, we sell safes where you can store firearms and your most prized possessions in the event that you are robbed. Thankfully, A1 Lock and Safe specializes in changing locks, making duplicate keys, and more for your safety. If you so much as suspect that someone could break into your home or office because your locks are faulty, let our Durham locksmiths know and we will replace your keys and locks for an affordable price. Contact us today to get started!
Keys are cut with a machine called a key duplicator. Your original key is placed in a vice on one side of the key duplicator, lined up with the cutting tool (or blade), and a blank key is placed in a vice on the side of the machine that contains the alignment tool. The alignment tool is a piece of metal that is even with the blade. The key guide, or alignment bar, on your key duplicator, ensures the keys are even with one another.
The key duplicator is then turned on, and as the original and blank keys move horizontally across the machine, the blade cuts into the blank key, using the original as a sort of template. Afterward, the lock tech will sand the duplicate key for a smooth finish. The final product is a duplicate key that matches the original.
Key duplication refers to the process of creating a key (lock) based on an existing key. Key cutting (after cutting, the metalworking term for “shaping by removing material”) is the primary method of key duplication: a flat key is fitted into a vise in a machine, with a blank attached to a parallel vise, and the original key is moved along a guide, while the blank is moved against a blade, which cuts it. After cutting, the new key is deburred: scrubbed with a wire brush, either built into the machine, or in a bench grinder, to remove burrs which, were they not removed, would be dangerously sharp and, further, foul locks.
Different key cutting machines are more or less automated, using different milling or grinding equipment, and follow the design of early 20th century key duplicators.
Key duplication is available in many retail hardware stores and as a service of the specialized locksmith, though the correct key blank may not be available. More recently, online services for duplicating keys have become available.