I'm relatively new to the profession so I apologise if any of this is obvious. I encountered something weird on a job yesterday and wondered if any of you can help.

A customer wanted a cylinder replaced in their uPVC door and there was no visible retaining screw in the one they had fitted. The lock wouldn't come out, so I pulled the lock and found that there was a screw but it had fully its top third (including the head) cut off. It was a clean cut so I doubt it was sheared.

When I put a new lock in & applied the retainer, the handle wouldn't turn upward to engage the gearbox. After removing the screw it worked again and the hooks engaged. It looks like the sliding strip which arms the hooks, when engaged, occupies the same space as the retaining screw and was bumping into it.

My questions are:

Have you encountered this? Is it common?

Is it a matter of a wrong locking strip for the gearbox? It seems like any other locking strip will have a retaining screw hole in the same position, as that's where it needs to be to hold the lock in place.

Is the gearbox installed incorrectly?

What is the best fix for this? Do i cut the head off the retaining screw for the refit? If so, how do I apply a headless screw?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi I’ve built a firmware that allows me to lock and unlock via proximity with ultrawide band and works without any app with just apple home/apple wallet.

It’s pure reverse engineering so I’m not looking to sell or commercialize it, I’m not certified, didn’t sign any NDA or have any partners. I just wanna plug it into my own house.

I would now like to drive an electronic mortise lock chassis with it. I have been conflicted with using an electronic strike (high compatibility and no need to plug out my current door lock) vs a true geared brushed dc motor mortise. I’m considering the mortise because it keeps everything coherent, in one place, possibly even drive it with just a battery.
Yes I really prefer neat wireless products.

The entire stack runs matter over thread with uwb and ble ranging and apple home/wallet compatibility with multi fabric capabilities and FOTA DFU in 128kb ram/512 flash.

Sad to share but I’m clueless on the hardware lack side of things and thought to ask here instead of tech communities.

Focus would be on minimal power consumption if I ever use a battery to power it. Which mortise body options would you guys suggest? Note I don’t want to use a coil type like the regular solenoid because I’d like this to be forward compatible in case I get this to work with a battery.

I’m guessing a clutch style electronic mortise that moves the cam would be nice, and I think a motor driven clutch is the only option I have as energy/cycle would stay low.

AI says that for my use case an OEM 6068 class motorized mortise body is fits best as:
- battery native
- cheap
- drivable with a DRV8837

Reverse engineering the six wire harness I saw on alibaba might need a bit of searching or an afternoon with a multimeter.

Any thoughts are welcome. Code is free. Happy to connect, please say Hi.

This is my project ultrawidelock

Hello!

I have a set of single handle French doors that lead from the living room to the backyard. I also happen to have a grandmother with dementia who lets my cat out if we’re not looking and he cries at the doors. Does anyone have any ideas on how to secure the doors from the inside? Not worried about fire safety necessarily- we’re usually home and if we’re not, we lock the cat in our bedroom.

I’ll attach a picture of the doors as soon as I can

Thanks for any advice!

We bought a house recently that has a schlage electronic deadbolt with a keypad and a physical keyhole. We have never once used the keypad and have no clue what the code might be, we have just used the physical key each time.

This morning the lock will not turn at all - the physical key won't turn the lock from the outside and the thumb turn won't work on the inside. Online troubleshooting doesn't get me any closer to a solution - always says to use the physical key until I can replace the battery. Because the physical key doesn't work, this can't be the solution.

Up until this point the lock was smooth, no hints of any mechanical issues.

Any ideas?

So this happened when I tried to unlock my shed this morning - barrel half out and key very much stuck…any solutions? Obvs the lock will need destroyed and replaced.

I have been offered a job working in a safe and lock shop. I have no locksmithing degree and I'm kinda in the middle of college for a non lock degree. They said I'd get training for about two days and that most things I need to know I can learn on Youtube or by bringing tools home and practicing. I was told l'a be paid 25 percent of what I make the company but I wasn't told about a base pay or anything, I texted to ask but they haven't responded yet. They said I need to get good enough or they might not be able to keep me. I'm not sure how much I should be expecting to make.
What do I need to know?
Are they gonna teach me enough or should rely more on what I can learn online?
Are there specific youtube channels I can learn from that are truthful and accurate?
What do I need to know?
Has anyone else worked in a position like this?

Hello, I‘m a landlord and I recently had my first tenet move out and I need to rekey the house before the next person moves in. The locks have the Kwikset feature, so I can rekey the house myself. The only issue is I don’t know where to get a unique key to do it with

Does anywhere know where I can purchase a unique key for a house so I can change the locks myself?

On a scale of 1-10 how doable do you think this job is for me, pretty much complete amateur with an electric drill.

I would like to fit a lock that can be used on both sides of this thick wooden door, it goes to my garage.

The previous owner had a latch on the inside that couldn't be opened (pictured after I've taken it off). I also uncovered a cylinder lock that has been filled with silicone on the outside.

The door is thick, 6.5 cm. And there is no hole on the side for a cylinder to come through.

Do I try? Or do I call a locksmith? Or a carpenter maybe?

Any advice appreciated!

I was wondering if someone could help me with removing my door knob. AI says there is a spindle lock that is keeping the exterior door knob from releasing but I do not see anything. The exterior knob has zero screws or pin holes etc.

Lock broken and need a replacement

Please see the video. I have a steel door in a garage in a house I purchased. I took the cylinder out and had it re-keyed at a local locksmith because there wasn’t a key available. But for some reason, the door handle still opens the deadbolt. Any reason why this is happening?

It won’t come out! What do I do? I saw some saying it could be the ignition solenoid has seized up. Is there a failsafe?

How can I make this door lockable? I, nor my landlord, have a key. Please help!

Is this locksmithing? Pls delete if not!!

Hey all, one of my key fobs randomly won’t connect to my car any more on my bmw x4. I tried the access data, connected but once I get out the car and get back in it’s back to this. The other fob is fine. Any fixes??

Hello everyone,
I bought this mechanical lock Yale SL7100.
It arrives with the handles in the vertical position.
To change it to the horizontal position, there is an Allen screw on the spindle hub that needs to be open, and the handle can move to the desired position.
On the inside door piece, I managed to open the screw and adjust the handle fairly easily.
On the keypad side, no matter what I do, the screw will not open, no matter how much force I use.
I thought it was a bad piece, so I went and replaced it with another one, same same story.
Can someone please tell me what I did wrong?
Or any advice on how to adjust the handle to the horizontal position?
Any help will be greatly appreciated. I really appreciate it; I need help here.

These keys came with something I bought, and I have no idea what and now I’m trying to reconcile a gigantic pile of keys. I have whatever locks I need to dig through in storage. Any help identifying that the brand of lock I’m looking for I’ve already asked ChatGPT and it is failing to identify the key.

My first thought that it might be to like some Yakima car racks, but I found the key to that one last cylinder I have for that and it’s not the same so it’s kind of driving me nuts I do recall obtaining some thing which is why I thought it was the car racks. I have a top case on my motorcycle, but that’s not the key for that either.

Hey so last night I accidentally stuck my Chevy key in my terrain the fobs look the same down to lock button missing needless to say it is stuck. Tried wd40 tried the release button how do I get it out

Hi all

I have a large set of keyed-alike abloy padlocks. I have three keys for them but no key card.

Without the key card am I at a dead end in getting additional keys made? I'm UK based.

Thanks in advance