A locksmthing question

Reply to
kfvorwerk
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Put a spare door key in your wallet and hide the ignition key somewhere inside the car/truck. I don't think you need the chip for opening the door (shrug, could be wrong).

I just used a thin piece of leather cut to the size of a credit card. Make a couple small slits across it about 1/2 inch long to loop over the key. Some crappy ASCII art:

+=======+ | xx xx | | xx xx | | __ __ | | __ __ | | x x | | x x | +=======+

The "x's" are the key and the underlines are the slits. Works good for two keys.

Reply to
Leon Fisk

you can go to places that will cut your door key out of a credit card blank to keep in your wallet. it's good for a few times use. i get mine at AAA.

regards, charlie

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Reply to
charlie

You can bet your yuppie car has higher HBN numbers than the key so the key wears and not the lock.

Mart> not all keys are brass - many german cars use keys that a magnet stick to >

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Snip

The main reason for brass keys is ease of cutting the blanks on a key machine or punch. Stainless would be a real bear to cut. Also if you look at a machine cut key you will find that the edge of the cut is rough. That is due to the cutting machines burr cutter. With the soft brass that edge isn't a big deal since it will wear on the pins in the lock and not just chew them down. As long as the cuts you made are nice and smooth your key is likely going to do less damage than the normal brass blank.

The chip in most of the keys is an RF chip just like the ones used in stores inventory control systems. They tell the computer that you have the proper key (most of them only need to be held near the column for the transponder to read the chip) The ones that have a built in resistor for contacts in the switch (GM and some Fords) do the same thing mechanically.

Reply to
Steve W.

Both good points, and I think the solution is to remove the chip from the key if I hide it- that way, it can't start the car (I think- I haven't tried it) but it'll open the door. And, it becomes short enough to fit in a key holder. Handy if I warm up the car and absentmindedly hit the lock when getting out, which is the most likely senario.

Reply to
Prometheus

You can have a none chip key copy of your chipped key, and it will open the door. Hide a chipped spare somewhere in the vehicle, and then even if you lose the outside spare, you are only out a couple bucks, rather than the full price of the chipped key.

Which is what I have done.

Gunner

"[L]iberals are afraid to state what they truly believe in, for to do so would result in even less votes than they currently receive. Their methodology is to lie about their real agenda in the hopes of regaining power, at which point they will do whatever they damn well please. The problem is they have concealed and obfuscated for so long that, as a group, they themselves are no longer sure of their goals. They are a collection of wild-eyed splinter groups, all holding a grab-bag of dreams and wishes. Some want a Socialist, secular-humanist state, others the repeal of the Second Amendment. Some want same sex/different species marriage, others want voting rights for trees, fish, coal and bugs. Some want cradle to grave care and complete subservience to the government nanny state, others want a culture that walks in lockstep and speaks only with intonations of political correctness. I view the American liberals in much the same way I view the competing factions of Islamic fundamentalists. The latter hate each other to the core, and only join forces to attack the US or Israel. The former hate themselves to the core, and only join forces to attack George Bush and conservatives." --Ron Marr

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Locksmith with 21 years experience, let me answer this for you.

With metals of different hardness, one of the two will wear. In the case of your steel key, the lock will wear faster than the key. The tumblers in most locks are brass. When a brass key wears out, I cut another one.

You can prolong the life of your lock with a sander on the key, smooth out any sharp edges. So that the stainless doesn't wear the brass as much.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Correction. When I studied VATS in the eighties, 15 values of resistor.

The dummy resistor works fine, also.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

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