Ross-Dean Locksmiths

30th September 20172nd February 2025

Heel – toe adjusting a badly fitting UPVC door.

Here is an old, badly fitting UPVC door. It was sagging badly on its hinges and hitting the frame so it wouldn’t close. The hinges were non adjustable, so the the only option was to remove the glass and repack the door panels. By packing the panels on the diagonal (heel – toeing) it shifts the door back into square with the frame.

Composite and aluminium doors tend not to sag. If these doors are hitting the frame it’s normally because the hinges have dropped, they weren’t fitted correctly to begin with, or the house itself has settled.

If a UPVC door is not adjusted it frequently leads to the multipoint mechanism breaking. That can leave the door jammed shut or you can’t lock it. That can be much more expensive than getting the door correctly aligned.

19th September 201715th March 2024

Eugh. A badly drilled door.

I was asked to do a lock change on a commercial premises. It was obvious that a lock had been drilled at some point in the past. Underneath the escutcheon the door was a right mess.

There is sometimes a need to drill a lock if it is broken and there’s no other way to open it, but it shouldn’t look like this mess.

A drilled lock should be replaced with a new lock (otherwise the hole in the hardplate will be a weakness in security). The hole in the door should then be neatly filled and covered. In a later post I’ll show you another lock that’s been drilled (not by me) and badly repaired.

17th September 20171st November 2017

Making a church key

Church rim lock — Boxed centre warded rimlock

This 19th century lock is off a Forest of Dean historic church. It was made by John Moreton & Son, dating from the late 1800s. It had its only key stolen and a replacement was needed. A cast iron blank was initially shaped on a grinder. It was then hand filed to pass the centre warding.

Double glazing repair — About to start filing key to fit warding. Normal chubb key shown below for scale.

13th September 20172nd February 2025

Car key cutting

Here is a photo of cutting a ‘laser’ type car key that has the bitting on the flat face. (It’s actually got nothing to do with lasers). This one is for VW T5 Transporter key. If you’ve lost your key, there clearly isn’t a key to copy. If you don’t have the keycard, we can use special tools to decode the lock. We then send these settings to a computerised CNC cutting machine to cut the key.

The type of key cutting machine we use cuts a new key to code i.e. to the exact depths and measurements that it came new. A typical high street shop key machine is a trace cutter, that effectively just gives you another worn key that looks shiny. It will work just as badly as the original worn key.

Using a CNC machine means an auto locksmith can cut you a key even you don’t have a key to copy. There are several methods they can use to figure out how the missing key should be cut.

13th September 20172nd February 2025

Car key programming – transponders

See that chip on the end of the key? That’s the transponder that the immobiliser needs to recognise before it will allow the car to start. If it isn’t the right chip already programmed into the car, then it won’t start. This particular chip is a VW ID48, sat on a HU66 key. It’s just been programmed into to a VW Transporter T5.

VW Transponder. ID48 T6 — VW ID48 T6 transponder on end of HU66 key

Modern vehicles (since about 2000) are fitted with immobilisers to prevent theft. The immobiliser checks for the correct, matched chip before it will allow the car to start. Some vehicles will just not turn over if the chip isn’t recognised. On other vehicles the engine will turn over but will not start due to the fuel pump being disabled.

Some recent cars will start without putting the key in the ignition. The range of these can be many metres. This is the reason you shouldn’t keep these keys in the house near the car. Even if the signal doesn’t reach the car, it can often be copied and relayed. You can buy special pouches to protect this type of key. Or at least put them in a metal box of some form at night at the other end of the house.