I have a key broken off in a standard yale cylinder lock. It still works with the half key. Any bright ideas for removing the other half? I would quite like to "save" the lock because several family members have keys.
I broke the key in a yale lock years ago when I came home pissed as a rat. I think I just took the barrel off and poked the bit of key out with a thin screwdriver.
I assume by standard you mean the rim latch type with a single cylinder tha t has a rectangular bar attached to the back of the cylinder to operate the latch. If it is, can you take the cylinder out of the door and get to the rear of the key slot and push it out? You might need to remove the bar from the cylinder to do this. Another possibility - if you have a spare key it should be possible to get a locksmith to modify a similar cylinder to fit.
My own feeling is that locks should be looked at by experts. So, remove the cylinder fom the door and take it to a locksmith,
In article , newshound writes
As the door is open, dead easy:
Unscrew and remove the rim latch part of the lock.
This will leave the cylinder retention plate with the tailpiece (horizontal unlocking bar) poking through it.
Easiest next step is to remove cylinder by removing the 2 screws that go through the plate into the cylinder.
You will see that the back of the cylinder keyway is open and you will be able to poke the key out with a bit of stiff wire.
Re-assembly is the reverse of removal, don't over tighten the cylinder screws as you'll probably distort the crappy mounting ring that yales use on the front.
If you were practiced you could leave the cylinder in the door and poke through the larger hole in the retention plate.
If you were locked out then you can pull out a broken key using a scrolling jigsaw blade held in a pair of pliers, the barbs catch on the serrations on the top of the key. There are specialist broken key removal tools but they look pretty much like a scrolling blade.
Newshound,
If you have a metal-jawed vice (or even a couple of thick pieces of flat metal), take the barrel off and try tapping the front of the barrel on the slightly open jaws (or onto the separated pieces of metal on the bench) [1] to 'vibrate' the broken bit of the key out of the slot slightly and then grip the exposed end of the key with a long-nosed pliers and extract it.
That's worked for me in the past.
[1] Opened just wide enough to allow the key to pass through them but not the front of the barrel.Cash
Brilliant! I had forgotten that the key slot goes all the way through, the trickiest bit was prying out the "circlip" to release the bar, I was surprised to find that this was bendy rather than springy. I tried at first to push the bit out forwards, but this didn't work. However, pushing it "through" worked a treat.
I had to "do" the circlip twice because first time I put it back on without including the bar. However, refitting it is yet another fine example of the indispensibility of the mole wrench, it must be challenging the angle grinder for first place.
I should have mentioned that if the key has not broken off flush ie the break is further in, a pin may have dropped to its lowest position in front of the stub, blocking the extraction. In this case you will need to lift the pin with the scrolling blade as you feel forward.
It looks like this had happened in the o/p's case as he points out that the key would not push out towards the front but could be pushed through to the back.
Locks are just chock full of pingfuckits.
That's why you should let someone else have a go.
Yes, that makes perfect sense. I did try poking around with some lock picks without getting anywhere. It was only the tip which broke off, probably the first two pins. Not my key, the SO's. I pointed out a few months ago that it had a "kink" and that she should get a new one next time she was passing the key shop. Should have done it myself.
Remember the immortal words - assembly is the reverse of disassembly
These look cheap enough to be worth having "just in case".
Tim
Thought this was DIY NG, have a go that is how you learn ,I work on the principal that if someone else can do it I can.
Is that "OT" then? Oh and your earlier 'contribution' of take it to someone else ...
Jim K
Is that "OT" then? Oh and your earlier 'contribution' of take it to someone else ...
Jim K
Other links from that page are a bit scary though, like this one (sorry about the wrap)
FB Keys are now readily available and have lost a lot of their usefulness. At one time nearly all council owned flats had them for access to the building and roof etc. Unfortunately the pirate radio guys got wind of this, tall tower blocks make for good aerial sites. A lot of councils are now going over to Gerda locks
which makes life difficult for those with a legitimate need of access, the keys are a darn sight more expensive! Plus Trumpton need to carry yet more keys.
I was waiting for a key holder to get me onto a roof at a block of flats in London a couple of months ago when a couple of policemen turned up outside, they tried the front door which was locked and looked confused as to how to get in. I stood by my car drinking coffee and holding a drop key prominently in one hand. After a couple of minutes of confusion one of them spotted the key and called to his mate, "he's got a drop key!" They then wandered over and asked if I would be kind enough to let them in. Good job they weren't in a hurry!
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