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ERJDriver

Well Known Member
Anyone have a solution? Key isn't fully broken but slightly twisted and most places say they won't touch it to cut a new one.

I know ACS has them but they're 10 weeks out
 
ERJDriver said:
Anyone have a solution? Key isn't fully broken but slightly twisted and most places say they won't touch it to cut a new one.

I know ACS has them but they're 10 weeks out
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Goto a local locksmith. We have a lock and safe small business here in Clermont. It is a basic filing cabinet key. Most locksmiths can read the depths and recreate it with minimal work. I would avoid the big box stores and they will just toss it in a machine.
 
Cth6 said:
Goto a local locksmith. We have a lock and safe small business here in Clermont. It is a basic filing cabinet key. Most locksmiths can read the depths and recreate it with minimal work. I would avoid the big box stores and they will just toss it in a machine.
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That's the plan, once I get back in town
 
Maybe you can share the number that is on the key, perhaps someone has the matching number and can lend you a key till your replacement is ready.
I know I have got an spare one.
 
Cth6 said:
Goto a local locksmith. We have a lock and safe small business here in Clermont. It is a basic filing cabinet key. Most locksmiths can read the depths and recreate it with minimal work. I would avoid the big box stores and they will just toss it in a machine.
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What he said. I took a 40 year old ignition key in and the guy made a new key in 5 minutes based on the depths and did not use the original to make a copy.
 
I lost the set of keys for my Andair locking gas caps somewhere in my build shop. When I moved the RV-10 to the airport for final assembly and fuel tank calibration, I called a local locksmith. He came out, picked the lock open, then took it to his shop and made new keys for me. Took a week or so because he had to order the blanks. He was not concerned about it being for an airplane. I did find the original set of keys last year when I sold the house and cleaned out the shop underneath a set of shelving. No locking gas caps on my RV-9A!
 
Cth6 said:
Most locksmiths can read the depths and recreate it with minimal work.
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Agreed. A real locksmith, versus someone in paint department covering in hardware, can measure depths at positions and create one from scratch.

When you get the new one make a few copies. I have the one I use, one in the airframe logbook, one in the engine logbook and one hidden in an inspection cover for a lost key while away from home possibility.

I wonder how many keys would be found at Sun 'n Fun and Oshkosh camping areas with a metal detector.
 
Any locksmith can recreate this key in about 10 minutes. A good hardware store with a manual machine can do it as well. I did it dozens of times in my family's hardware store growing up.

Another pro tip, if you have a worn lock or a worn key, or a key that's been copied a hundred times and new copies no longer work, you can "shim" the key to bring it back by putting a piece of paper under the original (or sometimes the blank) when you clamp it in the machine.
 
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