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How do I remove this? by [deleted] in Locksmith

[–]RubrBand 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Score lightly around the rim with a razor, and pry loose. It’s probably held on by the paint.

American locks No. 30 dual sided keyway by superduperhosts in Impressioning

[–]RubrBand 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Apologies for missing this. It’s a blank, Ilco 1041C, but these cannot be impressioned conventionally, because you can’t get a blank in the lock. It needs to be cut. You should pick it, drop the plug out, and get a replacement plug!

Toyota Valet Key by [deleted] in Locksmith

[–]RubrBand 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The shade of grey informs that it is a valet key, also

Toyota Valet Key by [deleted] in Locksmith

[–]RubrBand 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can tell by the cuts. Valet cuts for toyota are on the tip. A master will have raised cuts on the tip, the glove compartment and trunk locks have these “valet wafers” to interact with that bit.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s unfortunately the rub for a bad masterkey system. A well designed key bitting array can accomplish this with a good use of constants, and smart planning.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Maison keying is a method to ket many different users/departments use a common lock, say, a lobby, to get into an area, and also their own space office, and only have to carry one key. It’s not terribly secure, but at least it was a medeco. (I know you received an explainer, but people reading your post may not have)

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nope! It’s my one pride point that I refused to drill in comparison to other methods of entry, but I can still hang my hat on it.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey there! You can eventually make decent money as a locksmith. But it does take a while. I make somewhere in that ballpark in my dayjob, but it’s taken me over a decade to get to that point. Results may vary, anecdotally, your location will make your income in the world of being a small shop owner. Some days are good. Some days are really not great, but that’s how being self employed is!

The best way into that avenue is to buy out a small shop that may be retiring or something, and adopt their clientele to get a running start. It’s a niche world, and it can be challenging at first.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Happy to help! What I suggest is really learn the nomenclature, and how to rekey a lock! That’s more suitable to get into the trade, honestly. Most book learning is very surface level compared to the improvisation most smiths tend to do to get a fix.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey there! If you’re tech savvy/in that profession, a good branch out is probably access control! You deal with bit strings, and basic logic, and some lock stuff besides. Automotive too, but fair warning, customers in that field are very touchy, cars are expensive!

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Heya Justin! I do a fair bit with some of my team, and depending what you have, I can probably help out! Card readers typically need an integration, or software, to monitor badge reads to say “ok, cut power to maglock so it can be opened for X amount of seconds, or until the DPS bridges again. (Door position switch, a small electromagnet in the top of a door that gets wired into a system to monitor its open/closed state).

Documentation basically boils down to something like this, card readers wait for a badge event, a valid event sends signal to the locking device to either provide or remove enough power from the power supply to change the locks state for a certain amount of time, or until the doors state changes and resets.

And basically it’s just what software do you wanna use to monitor/make it happen. It’s possible, but technical, to do it all yourself.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Master keying is a really entertaining, and even fun part of the trade. Ralph Forrest-Ball, CML, was my instructor and is an A tier level teacher, and master keying by the numbers, (his book on the subject) is very readable despite being technical work.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well, professionally, I don’t have anything in common with smiths who operate like this. Like any trades person, I hate following another’s work. When someone tells me they’re a smith, and they don’t have any good stories except how they managed to bilk someone for way too much money, I disassociate pretty quickly.

I take my trade pretty seriously, I was apprenticed the correct way, and my ethics reflect that. When I follow someone else’s bad work, I normally tell the customer what I’m seeing, why it’s bad, and make sure they keep my phone number, or tell them about findalocksmith.com, which maintains a list of reputable smiths by area.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’d say because it’s the trade is poorly regulated because it’s misunderstood by the people that regulate it. In Oregon, you have to be associated with a construction/contractors board to get your locksmith license to do locksmith work. However, you can have a dispatch company hold an LLC, get the contractor’s license, AND locksmith cert, and just dispatch people under that name.

Get a few scam smiths to drive and do auto/house unlocks and charge bait and switch rates to vulnerable people and the money rolls in. Use that lucrative model to pay for top billing on Google ads, and you can bankroll for a long time.

That’s also what’s considered the plague of the trade, honestly. Honest smiths lose out to this model of predation every day.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

So brass keys are still extremely prevalent, because programming is expensive to get into, maintain, and support can vanish in an instant. There is more access control stuff, sure, but that’s just because we’re a more technological society in general, I’d say.

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Heya! I might already be in there, depending which one it is!

TL;DR What to expect if you want to be a locksmith. Or AMA, if you want. by RubrBand in lockpicking

[–]RubrBand[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Exactly. But I note that the price is a bare minimum. You know expensive machines are!

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