Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:32 pm
Difficulty making a key for an old Eagle Padlock
Difficulty making a Key for an old Eagle Lever Padlock
A friend asked me to make a key for this Eagle padlock.
Sounds easy enough. Keyway is a little crooked.
Still, should not be too difficult. Or so I thought.
Quickly whipped out some brass of the correct thickness, bent it to shape, got the throat cut. So far so good. Then I started impressioning.
So what is the problem? Strength.
OK, something thinner, but a fair bit stronger.
Let’s give it a try. Cut off a piece, flatten it out, shape it, yadda yadda yadda…
DARN that is getting thin up top!!! Even the stainless steel started to bend a little. Hmmm.
Brass on top, Stainless below.
Ahh- I know where I can get some thicker steel!
Yeah, baby! And where did I find thick steel that nice?
Rough cut the blank.
Measure the thickness of the keyway…
And measure the blank’s thickness…
OK, file to correct thickness. File a lot. Then file some more.
Now check the thickness of the center
That will give us the thickness of the throat cut/key shaft.
And cut it to specs.
Put in the bends:
Oh, yeah! Nice fat blank that ought to be strong enough.
Mark the tip, and check for impression marks for a tip cut
And make your tip cut.
Finally ready to impression.
Screwdriver pointing to impression mark. They are faint, as this is steel, and not a softer metal.
And the cuts are done.
And the only test that counts…
It works! At last!
Only thing left is to polish it up. Will do that tomorrow, but also returning the lock then, so may not have time to take a picture of the polished key.
On a side note… This lock, like the Slaymaker recently done, does not have anything to hold the toe of the shackle in place. The cut in the toe is entirely for show. The lock shackle is retained from underneath the heel of the shackle, below the pivot.
Gordon
A friend asked me to make a key for this Eagle padlock.
Sounds easy enough. Keyway is a little crooked.
Still, should not be too difficult. Or so I thought.
Quickly whipped out some brass of the correct thickness, bent it to shape, got the throat cut. So far so good. Then I started impressioning.
So what is the problem? Strength.
OK, something thinner, but a fair bit stronger.
Let’s give it a try. Cut off a piece, flatten it out, shape it, yadda yadda yadda…
DARN that is getting thin up top!!! Even the stainless steel started to bend a little. Hmmm.
Brass on top, Stainless below.
Ahh- I know where I can get some thicker steel!
Yeah, baby! And where did I find thick steel that nice?
Rough cut the blank.
Measure the thickness of the keyway…
And measure the blank’s thickness…
OK, file to correct thickness. File a lot. Then file some more.Now check the thickness of the center
That will give us the thickness of the throat cut/key shaft.
And cut it to specs.
Put in the bends:
Oh, yeah! Nice fat blank that ought to be strong enough.
Mark the tip, and check for impression marks for a tip cut
And make your tip cut.
Finally ready to impression.
Screwdriver pointing to impression mark. They are faint, as this is steel, and not a softer metal.
And the cuts are done.
And the only test that counts…
It works! At last!
Only thing left is to polish it up. Will do that tomorrow, but also returning the lock then, so may not have time to take a picture of the polished key.
On a side note… This lock, like the Slaymaker recently done, does not have anything to hold the toe of the shackle in place. The cut in the toe is entirely for show. The lock shackle is retained from underneath the heel of the shackle, below the pivot.
Gordon
Just when you think you've learned it all, that is when you find you haven't learned anything yet.
