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Skilled key cutting?


Draco-REX

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Can anyone recommend a place for cutting keys that has someone willing to actually make sure a cut is correct? Probably somewhere with a manual machine and a guy who knows how to use it?

 

I'm trying to cut a key blank for the Lotus, and for some reason no one is cutting the key deep enough. I've taken it to MAG and Rousch Hardware, and both times the cut is *visibly* not deep enough. And sure enough, it doesn't work in the car. I don't know what it is about this blank that's causing issues, but I guess I need someone who will actually CUT this blank instead of just letting a machine do whatever.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

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If they get it close, you can dremel it the rest of the way, or file to fine-tune it.

 

Key cutters aren't what they used to be. I've had many keys done at various stores using manual and automatic key machines do an unsatisfactory job.

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I had an old motorcycle key I couldn't get anyone to duplicate right. I ended up going to an old hole in the wall hardware store where they still cut them by hand. Sure enough, some old dude cut it, tried it, tweaked it with a dremel and charged me $1. I tried leaving him a $5 but he absolutely refused to accept more than a $1.
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Friday's looking good weather wise, so I'll have both the car and key together. I'll give Zipf a try.

 

What kind of key blank is it? We manually cut keys here at work. Not sure we would have the correct template key though.

 

It a normal blank. The only weird thing is that it is just a shank; no handle. But every key machine I've seen doesn't grip the handle because they don't have a uniform shape. I have a key to copy, but they just aren't cutting deep enough.

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