24 hour Locksmith Alexandria 0404 759 759
Commercial • Residential • Automotive
- Industrial grade locks – ADI, ORB a well as other leading brands in stock
- Emergency lockout 24-hour mobile locksmith Alexandria – quick professional gain entry
- Restricted master key systems designed and fitted
- Full range of locks including deadlocks, mortice (aluminium door locks) and more
- Locks rekeyed on site – filing cabinets – deadlocks – sliding door locks etc
- Key alike – one key for all doors and windows
- Council approved fire door locks
- Safe locks – combo changes, key and dial locks supplied and fitted
- Door closers serviced / adjusted / replaced
- Lost your keys? We can make a new set
- Complete Alexandria locksmith service
Link Locksmiths Alexandria – Rosebery
Top pins that are classed as security pins include mushroom pins, serrated pins and pins without a chamfer. Mushroom pins make picking more difficult by binding prematurely, before the top pin has cleared the shearline, due to their shape. Serrated pins operate on the same principal – tricking the person picking the lock into thinking they have located the shear line – by binding prematurely in the thread. Our Alexandria locksmiths can upgrade your standard locks by insalling security pins – call us now for more information.
It is however possible to negate the effects of security pins by using different techniques.
Another way is by putting in a restricted key system that uses a different keyway that is harder to insert a pick into.
When it comes to gaining access, a useful tool that all locksmiths rely on is the pick gun. Pick guns are an effective way to open a pin tumbler if handpicking fails to deliver results.
Pick guns work by bouncing the bottom pins up out of the keyway and into the chambers in the cylinder housing. Used in conjunction with a hand pick it makes for an effective method. Good locksmith’s should are able to pick 90% of inline pin tumblers with this combination of tools. However alot of locks in Alexandria are restricted, so if picking is unsuccessful our locksmith’s can resort to alternative methods to get you in.
The axial pin tumbler has a circular arrangement of pins that renders pick guns and traditional hand picks totally ineffective. A special set of picks is needed to manipulate tubular locks. Tubular locks are very common on vending machines because of the relatively high level of security the offer for a small cylinder.
The hardest form of pin tumbler locks to manipulate, are the ones where the pins are scattered throughout the cylinder in several rows. These pin tumblers are a lot harder to pick with traditional locksmithing tools and are recommended for high security applications. The cost of having these cylinders comes at a comparative premium to in line pin tumblers.
The theory behind how a pin tumbler operates is as follows:
When the key is fully inserted into a lock the bottom pins sit in their respective cuts and are pushed upwards by the cuts on the key. If some cuts are too low or too high, either a bottom pin or a top pin will be blocking the shearline and the lock wont open. If all the pins have been lifted to their correct height a split in between the bottom and top pins will form in between the cylinder housing and the plug, allowing the barrel to rotate. Once the barrel rotates it operates the lock via a cam. Having poblems with your locks? Call our locksmith hotline – we will come out and solve the problem, Alexandria and surrounding suburbs.
Different locks function in different ways but the theory behind operating them is universal; a shearline needs to be formed before the lock will operate.
Wafer tumblers
There are several different types of wafer tumbler designs, ranging from single sided, to opposing disc, to track wafers and more. The single sided configuration can be found in most basic cam locks such as letterboxes, hand towel dispensers and so on. Their use is limited because they offer moderate security and aren’t intended for medium to high security applications such as filing cabinets or cars. Higher security letterboxes are available; if you are concerned, please give us a call and we can recommend alternatives. Lost keys to your filing cainet, home or office? Call us, our locksmith’s will come to you in Alexandria to make new keys.
Filing cabinets and cars need a higher level of security and to achieve this the opposing tumbler design is used. This makes the lock harder to pick. The double-sided wafer configuration has been developed even further to track wafers that add a further degree of difficulty in picking these locks. Holden, BMW, AUDI and Mercedes are a few of the car manufacturers that use this design, and more and more are adopting it.
Double-sided wafer tumbler track locks require a special set of picks to manipulate them.
Mortice locks
Mortice locks are an extremely versatile lock offering more functions than any other type of lock on the market today. The most popular one in Australia is the Lockwood 3572 mortice lock. Other manufacturers also offer a product that can perform the same functions. We can supply alternative brands that are a little more economical, or if you think the mortice lock protecting your premises in Alexandria might be in need of repair, call our locksmith hotline – we will come out and fix or replace it.
The advantage of the mortice lock is in the variety of different functions it provides.
In higher security situations, like the front door to an office, it’s possible to set the lock so that the exterior handle is permanently rigid and the only means of access is with a key that retracts the latch. With this configuration employees wont need to be responsible for remembering to lock the door after they leave as it is automatically locks when it latches.
The down side is that visitors who don’t have keys will have to knock or buzz. A solution could be replacing the standard fixed strike with an electric strike. An electric strike is a strike on which the function can be changed from locked to open with the flick of a switch. Electric strikes are very common throughout Alexandria as the industrial / commercial nature of the Suburb means people are constantly going in and out of buildings and this demands the flexibility that an electric strike can offer.
Electric strikes can be configured to lock with power or without. The two different modes on an electric strike are called fail-safe and fail-secure. The fail-safe setting means that in the event of a power outage the strike will lock, so to keep it in passage mode an electrical current needs to run through the strike. Fail secure is the opposite, requiring an electrical current to lock. The most common setting in commercial applications is fail-safe in case of a power outage doors remain locked. Staff on the inside can still get out if the internal handle is set to passage. A locksmith can change the functions on a mortice lock to suit.
Unlike a fixed strike electric strikes are intelligent and can be programmed for data logging, relaying information back to the control panel including the frequency, time and who opened the door – quite useful in security sensitive areas, expecially commercial and industrial premises in Alexandria.
In order for the electric strike to relay back information on the activity at a certain door, an access control systems need to be intertwined into the installation. Access control restricts entry to certain parts of a building with the use of an electronic fob or swipe card. Essentially it’s an electronic key system with a platform that offers extensive customization options in comparison to a mechanical key system.
The “brains” of an access control system is called the control panel. The control panel is the point at which customization of the system occurs.
In an access control system a door will only open if the control panel receives the correct data. If it does receive the correct data the door will unlock the door and a transaction will be logged for retrieval including details such as who entered a specific room and at what time.
The control panel also has security features built in to it, for example if a door is forced an alarm will sound.
Other benefits of an access control system include being able to delete lost or stolen cards. This is an instantaneous function that can be performed only by authorized users whose access is controlled by a password. Need a locksmith to service or replace a damaged lock? Call us, we service Alexandria.
Pin tumbler and other various locking designs explained courtesy of Link Locksmiths
The Egyptians invented a very basic version of the pin tumbler some four thousand years ago and today the basic principal of the pin tumbler lock has carried through to modern designs.
Pin tumblers have come a long way and engineers and inventors have modified and adapted the original design. A few of the different configurations that have come about over time are in line, tubular, and cruciform amongst others. The different configurations offer varying levels of security even though they operate in the same fashion. An inline configuration is somewhat susceptible to picking, an axial configuration, where the pins are arranged in a circle, is more resistant, and cruciform pin tumblers are even more so yet again. Kaba design a high security cylinder where the pins are scattered throughout the cylinder, many more pins are used making it a highly resistant to manipulation. These locks are quite common in Alexandria because industrial premises protect valuables – thus the importance of having a high security cylinder. Locksmith controlled Kaba systems are also available.
The standard in line 6 pin is arguably the easiest design to manipulate by picking or impressioning. Picking involves manipulating the tumblers in the lock till a shear line is reached, impressioning involves cutting a key without dismantling the lock by reading the marks on the key after the blank has been inserted into the cylinder.
Although the standard configuration is susceptible to picking and bumping, there are counter measures available that add to the difficulty in manipulating an inline pin tumbler.
The first measure in increasing the pick resistance of pin tumblers is by having a locksmith rekey the lock, adding in security top pins in place of the standard ones.
Testimonial – “Hi there Nat, your 24 hr locksmiths Alexandria service is fab, thought I would email you this testimonial to say thanks for your help.Great job you did at my mum’s home unit in, the dead latch is good as new now and the key stopped clicking each time we turn it. I have referred your details to my boss at the real estate agency because we are currently looking for a new supplier to handle all of our lock and door work. I heard you also do 24 hour lockouts, good to know as I have locked myself out twice in the past and will save your number for future just in case” – cheers Kim, Mcevoy Road Alexandria.
7/4/2012 Locksmith Alexandria will be regularly updating this page to provide practical tips that you can utilise in making your home more secure. All external doors (doors that enable access to the inside of your premises from outside, including patio doors that are on the second floor or higher) should ideally have three fastening or locking points. The strike, or catch, of the lock you want to install, and the construction of the door frame, are the two most important factors that will determine the level of security you can achieve. External doors should always be fitted with deadlocks that are highly resistant to picking and brute force attack. A good example of one such lock and door combination would be a steel grill fitted with a CHUBB 3G114 five lever mortice lock. The steel grill and frame will offer the excellent resistance to brute force attack whilst the five lever locking mechanism will make the lock extremely difficult to manipulate. For the do it yourself handyman who wants to install the lock, in case there are more than one you might need to get them rekeyed so the owner can benefit from one key convenience (keyed alike). If you require keying alike we can offer you this service and even come to the site where you will be installing them to make it easier for you. Please give us a call to arrange us to meet you where it’s convenient for you. Regards your friendly Alexandria Locksmiths.