Saturday, June 11, 2011

Tools and Equipment for Locksmiths

By Fiona Clarkson


Locksmiths need to put several thousands of dollars into their tools and equipment investment. They may start out in the hundreds, however the price will grow as the company grows. If a locksmith is interested in specializing in a number of areas, there are different equipment for each area.

Aside from the regular tools of the trade, such as key blanks and a key making device, a locksmith must break down the kinds of key blanks into different classes and buy other products to go along with these. Key blanks come as at least 6 different types of residential blanks (from $5 to over $50), 10 brands of commercial key blanks, and automotive key blanks for domestic and foreign vehicles.

How is the locksmith to keep up with all the diverse keys? He/she must purchase key tags, drawers, and key towers (tower only with no blanks, $500). These keys require key cutters. You will find at least 6 various kinds of cutters. A manual duplicator costs $400-$600. A semi-automatic duplicator costs $655-$1600. An automatic duplicator expenses $800-$1300. A tubular key duplicator costs $400-$1200. Code cutters cost $1900-$3100. Then you will find your cutter wheels which cost in the range of $33-$340.

A locksmith must purchase pins, pinning kits, picks, pick sets, stress wrenches, and many different locks. You will find hospital locks, government locks, gate locks, digital hardware, furnishings locks, biometric fingerprint locks, and electromagnetic locks ($200-$700).

Each and every locksmith who has educated with a distance school will learn about Kwikset locks and IICO key making machines. They are standard equipment for locksmiths-in-training. There are academies that educate programs on a course-by-course basis to further educate the craftsmen.

There's also transponder keys that require a code machine to code the key for the vehicles to function in the ignition. Newer design vehicles with added security techniques use electromagnetic fields of energy that are sent to a computer in the automobile. (This is an instance of technology and computers sneaking into yet another area of our lives.) Coding keys in this method is a way to improve security for the automobile owner as well as reduce expenses for the insurance businesses.

You will find older autos still in operation that require the easy use of the Slim Jim device, so a locksmith should keep older tools around as well. Besides accommodating people who can't afford the newer, more sophisticated autos, there are collectors of antiques who won't want their vehicles broken. Therefore, the locksmith must know how to open the autos inside a way that causes the least amount of forced entry. Even individuals who do not own costly vehicles are proud of what they own and will not appreciate harm.

As is evident, there's much for a expert locksmith to learn. Much of it could be retained by repetition. There are lots of locks that use the same tools and methods to unlock. But for the loads of info that cannot be retained, the locksmith must rely on paper tools. These exist in the manuals and written info that should be kept for reference purposes.






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