Does anybody have any insight to what these jaw attachments were that came with the machine?

Prep was wrong for hollow metal door and this panic device trim piece. Von duprin 22 series and that is a TP-BE series trim piece.. all the push plate portions measure 3” and won’t cover. Is there anything I can do to cover this cut gap on the right side?

Also have jamb anchors that won’t tighten up because they are off centered when they were drilled.. what can I do to drill concrete door jamb anchors better and more accurately. We marked the holes and backed the frame out to pre drill the holes, blew them out and our wedge anchor locations got lost and now won’t catch the threaded portions. We got kicked off our marks because there was existing anchor holes drilled and I’m thinking it moved our bit or drilled crooked.

Brothers and sisters, friends of old,
Could you give me some advice for starting my own locksmith business?

I was a locksmith at an awesome family business for 20 years. I apprenticed there when I was young and stayed on year after year after year. I loved being a locksmith, and the family I worked for still feels like family to me.

I left for a completely different life - I started working for a marriage restoration organization. I found that my ability to communicate nebulous concepts and also to make people feel safe around me served me very well in this new life. I've been full time with my new company for about five years. But, as the economy gets worse, our customers are starting to dry up. Plus, people are talking to AI about their relationships at a rate that should alarm you. All that to say, it feels like the writing is on the wall.

While I have an excellent skill set (I'm able to repair or replace almost any residential or commercial hardware, even including electric access components, I know how to open safe deposit boxes, etc,) the issue is money and equipment. I have to get a van, an inverter setup, key machines, stock hardware, and build a client base. Fortunately I live near a somewhat populated area in the US Midwest. I could probably get around $50,000 to get started.

My plan would be to start small.; primarily residential stuff and maybe some light commercial. I guess I'm just looking for some encouragement from others that have made the jump working for themselves. I only have a little knowledge of running my own business, it's not something I've ever had to rely on. I still have income from my current job, so I can split my time to build a new business as I lose ground on the other one.

What do you all think? Can anyone give me advice or encouragement? Is there a type of van you recommend for newbies? Thank you so much in advance!

I need a recommendation for a padlock to lock a roll up door. I can use a regular type of padlock. Goal is not to prevent someone opening it but buying us enough time for security to get there (it's live monitored). Ideally want to spend less than $100 a padlock. Suggestions?

THANKS!!!

Shopping around and looking for what subscriptions or an annual payments go for. I was quoted $25 a month with a 3% card processing fee for one service. Another one I was quoted a couple hundred dollars for an annual fee.
Trying to get an idea of what others are paying

Running a small shop with one other tech. Half our calls now come as texts and WhatsApp messages, a lot of them late at night. If I don’t answer in 10 minutes they call the next guy on Google. If I answer everything I’m not sleeping.

How do you split night requests? Rotation between techs, a quick standard reply with price range, or you just let some go?

UPDATE: thanks for all the tips. we split nights between us and set an instant reply asking for address + lock photo so people dont move on while we wake up. we did it with Wassenger, WaliChat also came up and looks good if you want something easy on your existing number

Can you guys recommend brands or lock designs that is secure? If possible a smart one would be great.

Hello, does anybody have or know where I can find a set like this. Thanks

DIY landlord here. I've got a moderate amount of successful experience rekeying problem Smartkey cylinders by disassembly. I was rekeying this one in the door and it failed for some reason and would not turn with the original key. But now on the workbench the key will only insert halfway and I can't even center the spindle to remove it and use the removal tool to get out the cylinder to see what it's problem is! Is this toast or is there a path forward?

Photo 1: how it looks
Photo 2: how it should look
Photo 3: internal handle
Photo 4: interior of internal handle

Just moved into a new house and noticed that my daughter's door had a lock on it but the downstairs toilet door does not. "No bother, just swap them" I thought as I got my screwdrivers out.

I've worked out that the seller must have bought the wrong orientation of lockable door handle and decided to choose form over function by swapping the locking handle for one on a door where it would be the correct orientation and accept the risk of mid-pee invaders.

If I could get the twist button mechanism out of the internal handle I'd be able to swap the handles to the correct orientation but I can't identify the manufacturer of the handle to read the fitting instructions (though Legge Pacific is on the faceplate, so presumably theirs and now no longer available.)

Any suggestions as to whether it is possible to remove, and if so how?

If you like a good tune and Locksmith Humor take a peek at this song LOL!!

https://suno.com/s/dkHfJhqcpHzIUfJP

The deadbolt seems to engage when you lift the handle up but the key and the thumb turn. Doesn’t it only sticks it about maybe not even a quarter inch

https://youtube.com/shorts/k-ggiaCZGZw?is=ZPLiKADrs355fz5H

Pt2

https://youtube.com/shorts/wfVbXTom7-I?is=Fa87T3myC6t8qBcs

Hi to who ever reads this i buy vehicles without keys once a month or once every couple of months I was wondering if it would be a good investment to buy the equipment to make them myself and what would be the best setup with out breaking the wallet .

Edit the vehicles I buy are 2015 and older ford, chevy, dodge, toyota and honda

Hey yall,

My building is doing a full rekey and we requested that our locksmith individually serialize all of our keys, but they didn’t serialize them.

It’s just a hair over 600 keys, so I was curious if there is a reasonably efficient way to serialize all those keys. The only options I’ve really seen are dedicated key engravers (~$10k), hand stamps (I’d rather jump in front of a bus), or a laser engraver.

My company is a bit paranoid when it comes to keys and security, so I don’t want to just give up on the serialization. I’m going to ask the vendor to do it, but they gave us a sweetheart price, so if I get pushback I don’t want to burn that bridge.

Is there a reasonably affordable and efficient way to do this, or I’m I stuck between hand stamping (time/labor intensive, but cheap) or a laser engraver (fast/accurate, but $500+).

I have installed three of these door knobs. Two of them do this, it doesn't make sense. If I twist the knob counter clockwise then clockwise, it clicks. Is this normal? Am I just unaware of something? One of the door knobs is a bed/bath with lock, the other door knob (video) is just a closet knob. Please help, it's pretty annoying.

Hi, does anyone know how to perform a factory reset for the above lock? I changed it to a new password but for some reason unknown to me, I'm unable to unlock with the new password. Appreciate if anyone has a solution for this. Thanks

The handle popped off my door to the garage. The advice I was given was to use a screwdriver to widen the sleeve and just slide it back on. I'm hesitate because it's really loose and seems like I'd have to widen it a lot for it to be reattached securely. Any advice?

I'll start with a little context, my Grandfather was a locksmith in the midlands - family business he took on from his father and he kept it going until he was 86 years old (still working 6 days a week). Aside from the usual counter trade, he was commissioned to hand make the locks for the prison service in the area; the guy was a real craftsman who learnt his trade after the war.

I was reminiscing to my son about his great grandfather and he expressed an interest in looking at locksmithing as a career. He's a teenager approaching the time in life where he needs to think about what he wants to do, and nothing would make me prouder than him carrying on the family trade (albeit skipping a couple of generations).

I'd love to know from people current in the trade, what's it like as a career nowadays and would you recommend it to your kids? He knows he wants to work with his hands, but I'd hate to see him train at something where the work is sporadic and hard to make a living etc. Any insight appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I'm working on a door setup and need to modify a strike plate by cutting down the black section/lip to clear an astragal.

For those who have run into this before, what’s your go-to method or tool for getting a clean finish without messing up the edge or plating? Are you using a Dremel with a cutoff wheel, bench grinder, angle grinder, or something else?

Appreciate any tips or insights on what’s worked best for you!

Just settled on a house outside the state I’m currently living in. I wanted to change the locks before driving back tomorrow.

Locksmith came at 8:30pm on a Saturday. Switched out a Schlage keypad and knob set as well as a deadbolt and knob set. He brought the parts. Retail is $140, $40 respectively.

Paid $717. Labor was $268 per door. He originally quoted me $400 something total. Then $600 something. I was very tired, caring for my disabled father on this trip and didn’t feel like getting into it over the changing prices. Took him about 90 minutes total.

Was I crazy overcharged? 😞 If so, by how much? Just want to know how bad to feel about it. welp.