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Door Hardware Triage

March 8, 2016 builders hardware / door hardware / Door Repair / Lock Repair / locksmith
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The Medical Metaphor

medicalAs previously published in Doors and Hardware Magazine, Feb. 2016

As in the medical profession, correct diagnosis of door hardware problems is wholly dependent upon the knowledge, skill and powers of observation of the person whose job it is to correct the problem.  “The devil is in the details,” they say, and it is never truer than when said in reference to doors and hardware.

Another old saying, “ignorance is bliss,” can be liberally applied to who those innocent building occupants and visitors who think that the answer to a lock that is not latching is to slam it until it does – or until the hardware falls off, whichever comes first.  Yet by the same token, door hardware technicians who fail to look at door hardware problems holistically are equally blissful.  If you have ever seen the latch hole in an ANSI strike enlarged to include half the head of the bottom mounting screw in order to remedy what is clearly a hinge problem you will understand what I am talking about.

The above occurs because the technician sent to solve the problem is guilty of treating the symptoms while failing to diagnose the disease.  He or she observes that the latch is making contact with the strike too low to drop into the strike hole as it should, but does not question why this is happening.  This example is a simple one, but the principle applies to more complex problems as well.

Method

A great way to make sure you correctly identify a door hardware problem on the first visit is to have a consistent method of examining the total opening.   An example follows:

  1. If possible, speak with the person who has reported the problem, or better yet, meet with them at the opening so that they can show you what the problem is.
  2. As you approach the door, visually check the gap around the edges of the door on the top and both sides.  (The gap should be one-eighth inch.)  If the gap is greater in one place and less in another, the problem may be a bent hinge or misaligned frame.
    Open the door.  How does it feel?  Does the door itself stick?  If it has a latch, is there resistance when you turn the lever to retract it?  Do the hinges groan or squeak?
  3. Inspect the door for dents and abrasions.  For example, scratches at the top of the lock-side edge may indicate bent or loose hinges.   Dents may indicate attempted forced entry:  check for damage to internal lock parts.  A dent in the gap between the door and frame above the top hinge may mean an object was placed there.  The frame may be damaged and/or the top hinge may be bent.
  4. Inspect the hardware for damage, missing parts and/or wear.   If it is a hollow metal frame, are the silencers installed?  If there are no silencers the door will not align properly and the lock will not latch correctly.  Is the door closer leaking?  Does the door closer arm move smoothly?  Are the hinge screws all present and accounted for, and are they tight?  If there is a latch, there probably is a drag mark on the strike.  Does the drag mark reflect correct alignment?

In other words, look at the door, the frame and the hardware thoroughly and completely, and always do it the same way.  That way you won’t fix one problem just to return the following week to fix another problem that you missed.strike

Tools May Be Required

To identify a door hardware problem you may find it helpful to use instruments or tools.   For example, a carpenter’s level can help you determine whether a door or frame is level or plumb quickly and accurately, and a carpenter’s square can show immediately if the frame is true or sprung.   A tape measure may be helpful to check if hardware is correctly located, whether or not the gap between door and frame is consistently one-eighth inch, and if one leg of the door frame seems to be longer than the other.

One problem most swiftly identified using a carpenter’s level is positive pressure.   If you detach the closer arm and tape back the latch on a door that is level, and it swings open seemingly of its own accord, chances are it’s a positive pressure issue.  Positive pressure occurs when the air pressure inside the HVAC ducts is greater than the pressure outside, causing air to be constantly forced out of the structure.  Positive pressure can be powerful enough to prevent a door closer from closing the door, and sometimes the only cure is when the HVAC technician changes the settings on the air circulation system.

The positive pressure issue is one of those door hardware issues that may require someone besides a door hardware technician to fix.

Waiting For The Electrician

Problems with electro-mechanical and electronic locking systems, like positive pressure issues, may require a low voltage or electronics specialist to solve in addition to a door hardware technician.  For liability reasons it is important to use technicians who are appropriately licensed as required in your locality.

Often these problems are due to mechanical as well as – or even instead of – electrical or electronic issues.  Therefore the best situation for electronic or electrical door hardware triage is when the technician called upon to fix a problem is skilled in all three disciplines. Out in the world we are finding locksmiths that have their low voltage electrical technician license and a working knowledge of how to troubleshoot or program an access control system, systems integrators who can disassemble and repair a mortise lock, and even electricians who can adjust a door closer or repair an exit device.

This is a phenomenon driven by a market that desires to have one technician who can do everything, both for convenience and economics.  In any event, a technician equally skilled in these areas solves the problem of cross discipline communication.  If you’ve ever had to explain the difference between fail safe and continuous duty electrified door hardware to someone who just does not get these concepts you will understand what I’m talking about.

For this reason alone it behooves one in the door hardware repair and installation business to learn as much as they can and get all the credentials they need to be able to service all the door hardware out there in today’s electric and electronic world.

Closure

The age of door hardware in which we work today is the age of the renaissance woman or  man, student of many skills.  However, diagnosing the often complex ailments of doors and door hardware takes more than skill and knowledge:  it requires mindfulness, openness, resourcefulness and humility.  It is not only necessary to know what could go wrong (and doubtless will, according to Murphy’s Law); it is necessary to be aware enough to observe all the symptoms, to be open to all possibilities and to be imaginative in creating solutions.  One must also have the humility to realize that it is not possible for anyone to know absolutely everything.  Sometimes the most useful tool at your disposal is your mobile phone.  A call to factory tech support can often save hours of fruitless aggravation.

 




No man is an island – but some men belong on one. 

Field Reversing the Adams Rite 4510 Latch

July 18, 2015 Lock Repair / locksmith
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4510

Adams Rite 4510 Latch

Although Adams Rite tech support might not want to talk about it*, depending on who you talk to there, the 4510 series latch lock, like its predecessor the 4710, is, in fact, field reversible.  Following are the steps to do so.

First, try to choose a clean work surface in an enclosed space, just in case the springs go flying.

1. Remove the retaining plate screws using a #1 Philips screwdriver.  Place the screws on the work surface where you can find them later.

screws

2. Carefully remove the plate from the back of the lock body that holds the bolt, auxiliary dead latch and latch springs in place.   The latch springs exert tension against this plate, so remove it with care.

3.  Using the tip of the screwdriver, move the locking lever pin so it lines up with the slot in the lock body and gently push the front of the bolt with your thumb.  The bolt, auxiliary dead latch and deadlock arm assembly will slide out of the back of the lock body together.

SlideLatchOut4. Remove the pin that attaches the deadlock arm to the bolt assembly.

See the exploded view of the old 4710 latch below for more detail.  The newer 4510 is similar if not identical to the 4710.

Caution:  There is a spring inside the bolt assembly that actuates the deadlock arm.

5. Remove the deadlock arm and spring.

pin1

6. Turn the latch over and install the deadlock arm and spring on the other side.  You will need to hold the deadlock arm and spring in position. When the spring and all are in position, install the pin.

7.  Slide the bolt assembly into the lock body.

pin9. Place the smaller spring into the auxiliary deadlatch and the larger spring in the bolt.

8.  Slide the auxiliary deadlatch into the lock body.

9.  Install the retaining plate and screws.

 

 

 

 

Detail from discontinued Adams Rite 4710 Latch parts breakdown, from Adams Rite parts book

Detail from discontinued Adams Rite 4710 Latch parts breakdown, from Adams Rite parts book

disassemble

* I recently related this procedure to a locksmith who said she had called Adams Rite tech support who told her the unit is not field reversible. This is understandable because the installation instructions do not discuss reversing the handing.

The Obsolete Mortise Lock

January 26, 2015 builders hardware / door hardware / Door Repair / Keys and Keying / Lock Repair / locksmith
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Nothing lasts forever.  Like manufacturers of other mechanical devices, lock companies periodically update their products to be consistent with current technology.  They do this to make better, safer, more reliable products, and also to remain competitive in the market place.

Sometimes these new, updated products are backwards-compatible with older models of the same brand, sometimes not.   In the case of mortise locks I can say with some confidence, mostly not.   One cannot replace a Schlage K series mortise lock body with an L series and expect the trim to work.  The same is true of the newer Sargent 8200 vs. the older 8100 and the Yale 8800 series vs. the previous 8700 series.  As these older locks age and must be replaced these differences can become a problem, since the existing trims and cylinders on site may not be usable with the new lock bodies.  And there are still plenty of these older lock bodies out there.  Case in point, although the Yale 8700 series was discontinued in 2006, one facility I know is filled to the brim with these mortise locks.

Although I foresaw that they would not be able to use the existing trims with their new locks I failed to anticipate that the existing cylinders would also be incompatible.  But they were and here is why.  On the left the cam that works with the Yale 8700 is in the process of being removed from a Medeco small format interchangeable core (SFIC) housing.  In the first picture below, the correct cam has been installed.

DSCN4430DSCN4432

 

 

 

 

 

In the second picture you can see that the new cam is not only thinner than the old cam, it’s also slightly longer.  There is no way that old cam is going to work.  Luckily, on a Medeco SFIC housing the cams are interchangeable, unlike most others on which the cams are permanently attached.

Please visit my friends’ site:

http://www.americanlocksets.com/mortise-locks-c-38_159.html

Now I’m waiting to hear about the other SFIC housings on the job that have their cams staked on. But one cluster at time, eh?

Locks and Keys Grow Old Together

July 8, 2014 Keys and Keying / locksmith
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oldkeynewkyI never cease to be amazed when someone tells me their car won’t start and then they say,

“Well, it started yesterday.”

What sense does that make? I ask you.  Is today yesterday?  I think not.

Yes, indeed, time wears out almost everything:  clothes, human bodies, tree limbs, stones, car batteries … and locks and keys as well.

Keys and locks are for the most part both made out of brass.  Most pin tumblers are brass and most keys are either made of brass or ‘nickel silver,’ whatever that is.  Brass is a self-lubricating metal, producing verdigris as it oxidizes.  Nevertheless, as brass slides across brass again and again, particle by particle the substance of key, pin tumbler and lock cylinder are gradually worn away.

This manifests in several ways.  I’ve made a list of the most easily observable below:

  • The keyway gets larger, and the fit that was once pleasingly tight is now loose and sloppy
  • The key gets smaller, aggravating the sloppiness
  • The peaks are worn off the blade of the key, but his only affects the appearance of the key.  It is the valleys that are important.
  • The blade loses height because the bottom of the blade is worn
  • The plug gets smaller, allowing the upper and lower pin chambers to be at unintended angles
  • The bottoms of the pin tumblers, once rather pointed, become rounded, thereby shortening the overall length of the pin
  • Grooves are worn into the plug by the top pins

Eventually the old key that works relatively well in the old lock sits at an odd slant, its tip raised and its bow drooping because of the sloppy keyway and worn bottom of the key blade.  When one turns the key it twists in the keyway because the key is thinner than it once was, allowing all the pins to drop a little in their chambers.  But since the key and lock have been used together for so long, this one key may continue to operate the lock for a long time.

However, if one cuts a new key using the old as a template, the new key will likely not work well because it will not sit or twist the same way in the keyway.  If one attempts to decode the old key, one usually finds it to be a difficult task because keys tend to wear unevenly.  But even if a key cut true to the original manufacturer’s specifications is produced it will quite likely not work well in the worn lock, because it will not put the pins in the positions the metal of the lock has become accustomed to.

This tends to confound the user because the differences between the old key and the new are measured in thousandths of an inch and are not easily discernible to the untrained eye.   Locksmiths are then asked the question,

“Why doesn’t the key you cut for me work?  The original does.”

And when the locksmith suggests it might be time to buy a new lock, s/he may hear,

“But this lock has worked fine for thirty years!  And my key works great!”

Next, of course, they are likely to call you a bad locksmith, but there is no help for it if they won’t listen to the truth that their beloved lock, their venerable old daily friend, has outlived its ability to do its job, sad, but true.

The locksmith may enjoy some (albeit perverse) solace in the fact that eventually the key will stop working in the lock altogether, or will become so thin and frail that it breaks off in the lock, and at that point the user will realize that something has indeed gone amiss.  If it happens in the middle of the night, and the locksmith is on call, s/he may get substantially more than vindication out of the deal.

Hint: Vindication is not all it’s cracked up to be.

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