Locksmith needs legal advice.

So what you are really asking is how to explain the faulty workmanship that weakened the security of the cylinders when you testify as an expert witness at this tribunal hearing...

You probably won't find very much on the internet that will be very useful for the purposes you indicated... Billy B Edwards, Jr. CML has a very good explanation of the exact condition you are getting at with your description in his book Master Keying by the Numbers...

Several keys from the same system would be able to operate from the condition existing when using the rounded bottom pins in the top of the chamber as drivers would allow keys off by _as many as_ four increments to operate the cylinder... Multiply that by however many chambers were compromised in that manner and you now have a great number of keys from the same master system that will operate that improperly assembled lock... This problem gets even worse if the creative engineer would pinned up the cylinder chamfered any of the chamber holes or used a file on the plug...

How old was the lock in question ??? Were all of these locks new when the master system was established all those years ago ??? If it was 10 or 15 years since it was last re-keyed (during the mastering) the wear on both the pins and the keys could help aggrivate your particular problem even further.. Who knows the person who did all of the incorrect work on the locks could have repeated bittings on some of the locks (you said that there were 300 or so) and this could have been one of the grand jackpot winners....

So you have a management company who hired (or used internally) a person to deal with the locks who was not qualified enough to ensure the proper operation of the locks entrusted to his/her care... Sounds like some handyman or maintenance man is about to be sued when this tribunal is over...

If you need help with this I would contact Billy Edwards and talk with him about it, also you could ask him to use portions of his book for refernece during your testimony...

Good luck...

Evan the Maintenance Man

DEPENDING on your time allotted...

make a wood lock cylinder with a cut away...

3/4" dowel rod for the pins ( a flat key' for convenience) you can take a Forestner bit and make the chambers, with 'part open' so the pin stack can be seen.

show the workings of a normal 5 pin lock, how it works, etc, then replace the 5 pin stacks with 3, with the ends of the dowels HEAVILY tapered, such as Weiser and KW are.. and show the 'slop in the system' so to speak --Shiva--

probably not big ones tho... this way the court would be happier in that everyone can see at once..

oh, and you need 2-3 different keys made too.. the CORRECT, plus some sloppy ones that also work

--Shiva--

This isn't legal reply, but I have seen similar problems. The one time I fired a locksmith customer, it was cause he was neglecting his tenant's security.

He had a shopping mall which had after market cylinders which Yale keyway. The cylinders had bottom pin holes drilled deep enough to accept at most a #6 bottom pin. The locksmith who set up the system had run the master chart off some kind of computer program. I did get to talk to that locksmith at one point, and he keeps saying "that's how it came off the comptuer".

Knowing that the cylinders were drilled for six pins at most, I found four or five key changes that would work each others doors. I mentioned that to the manager who was over the building. He did go to the building and take the key cabinet copies of the keys and found out that they did work. I asked when he was going to have me rekey those cylinders. He just looked bashful and said he hoped they wouldn't notice.

I think cutaway locks are a good idea. Wish I knew where you could find one. Or two.

Why not invest a couple bucks in a good "Cut-away" lock or make one form a similar lock, then pin it as such and demonstrate. A picture may be worth a

1000 words, but something concrete they can actually see demonstrated must be worth even more :)

I wish I could remember where, but I saw a "GIANT", like a metre long, one of these made of plastic or something, I assume it was used a as a classroom aid or something. Anyone ever see one of these?

CCTV camera and video projector would solve that to some degree. Might be flashier, might be gimmicky; I have no opinion.

I have seen a large plastic one at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Maybe someone there knows about it. Their phone number is 206 443 2001.

Ed

that would work nicely... --Shiva--

Heard about it, was used in a classroom training, the guy was a woodworker AND locksmith, so made his own.. wouldnt be hard to do actually, a sliding dovetail joint, and dowels for the pins.

--Shiva--