18.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Machine Always Needs Adjustment
There are several things that can cause this situation.
1. Cutter wheel may be dull. This can cause the key to try to "float" and not cut deep enough in
the deepest cuts if you don't push hard enough against the carriage. Replace or resharpen the
cutter (see replacing the cutter above).
2.
Pushing harder and harder on the carriage to cut keys also puts more pressure on the stylus as
it passes across the key being duplicated. This heavy "scraping" action will remove more and
more material off the original key being duplicated. Heavy cutting pressure also will wear out
the stylus faster.
3. Stylus may be worn. Check it carefully, if there is a groove worn in the stylus you may get
deep and shallow cuts on different brands of keys. For example when cutting Ford double
sided keys the ignition key will be cut high on the stylus and the door key will be cut low on
the stylus—Schlage C keys are cut more in the middle of the stylus. This may seem like an
extreme case—but it happens every day. Replace the stylus.
4.
Carriage shaft and bearings are worn. Check for excess "wobble". Replace the carriage shaft
and bronze oilite bearings.
5. Cutter shaft bearings are worn. Check for any "wobble" or in-out play. Replace the cutter
shaft assembly.
6. One key cuts fine and the next doesn't. You adjust and readjust all the time. The problem is
the carriage depth overtravel is set to high. This results in the machine's inability to cut the
deepest cuts on a key. This symptom is more common than you think. Fix the problem by
readjusting the Carriage Overtravel Depth Adjustment (see carriage overtravel adjustment
above).
7. Again.
One key cuts fine and the next doesn't. This time it may be the key gauges.
Sometimes key machine operators don't flip back the full-function key gauges all the way
and the left-hand key gauge CRASHES into the stylus holder and knocks the key gauges out
of position. The key they're cutting is O.K. but the next key they duplicate won't work in the
lock. If you ever CRASH the left-hand key gauge into the stylus holder—fix the key gauges
right away. See Key Gauge Adjustment above.
8. Keys don't always work in the lock when gauged off of the bottom shoulder stop. This is a
common problem caused by the key blank manufacturers. In recent years many of the key
blank manufacturers have stopped paying attention to the bottom shoulder stop on most keys
since they are seldom used for anything anymore. We've seen Schlage C key blanks with
variations of up to 15 thousandths of an inch (.015") between top and bottom shoulder
positions—between keys taken from the same box. It happens more often than you think.
The solution?
DON'T bottom shoulder gauge your keys anymore.
Cutter Stalls Out
There are six possible causes for this problem.
1. You are cutting keys from Tip-to-Bow. This one can fool you if you're not careful. Cutting
keys from tip to bow will work when you cut only shallow keys—sometimes a shop can cut
keys all day long and never hit upon a key with a deep cut. You think everything is O.K.
when all of a sudden your cutter stops dead halfway along the key. The problem? The deep
cut put the cutter into the key past the cutter tooth area on the left side of the cutter—you just
reinvented the disk brake!
SOLUTION—ALWAYS CUT FROM BOW-TO-TIP.
2. Oil on the belt and pulleys. Clean the pulleys with safety solvent and install a new drive belt.
3. Left-hand nut securing the cutter wheel isn't tight.
4. Belt tension needs to be increase and/or replaced the drive belt.
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