Residential & Commercial Security - Locks, Keys & Dead Bolts - broken key-operated deadbolt/rack bolt w/star key
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lishalinski
05-09-09, 04:25 PM
Hi I was on this forum trying to get help for this but then I got some help from a lock manufacturing company (Era-good helpdesk!) and fixed it myself - so this is how I did it. I had a star key operated security rack bolt which locked my back door into the door frame, and it stopped working! So I was locked in! Nightmare. The key went into the hole but just turned and turned with no resistance at all.
The way it works is that the key operates a "sawtooth" kind of long metal thing on one side of the bolt, which is what engages with the star key and pulls the bolt up and down. In my case this seems to have fallen down inside the bolt, so it was no longer on the side of the hole but UNDER the hole, flat side up. (My bolt was facing down). Imagine it is a person standing with his back to the side of the bolt, and then fell face down on the floor (face side would be the teeth side).
First, I removed the metal hole surround screwed onto the door. This will give you more leverage and space to manoeuvre as the hole is bigger without it.
Using some unbent and then re-bent curtain hooks (good because they are strong and pointed); the best shape I found to use was flat with just the last 3mm of the sharp tip bent to 90 degrees. I was able to prise this metal sawtooth bit up until the teeth came into view, then I used a small flat screwdriver against the teeth to continue to manipulate it back into position. In my case this was on the left but yours may be on the right; you will need to see which side you can lever up. You will need a good torch for this to see what you are doing. Once it was nearly into position, I stuck the star key in and got it engaged with the teeth. I then turned it carefully IN THE CORRECT DIRECTION to lift the bolt (turn it in the wrong direction and you'll lose it again so work it out before you turn it!). Raise the bolt, take off the door and replace the broken lock!!
Good luck. I'm told any locksmith can do this too if you fail yourself, you don't need to break the door!
The way it works is that the key operates a "sawtooth" kind of long metal thing on one side of the bolt, which is what engages with the star key and pulls the bolt up and down. In my case this seems to have fallen down inside the bolt, so it was no longer on the side of the hole but UNDER the hole, flat side up. (My bolt was facing down). Imagine it is a person standing with his back to the side of the bolt, and then fell face down on the floor (face side would be the teeth side).
First, I removed the metal hole surround screwed onto the door. This will give you more leverage and space to manoeuvre as the hole is bigger without it.
Using some unbent and then re-bent curtain hooks (good because they are strong and pointed); the best shape I found to use was flat with just the last 3mm of the sharp tip bent to 90 degrees. I was able to prise this metal sawtooth bit up until the teeth came into view, then I used a small flat screwdriver against the teeth to continue to manipulate it back into position. In my case this was on the left but yours may be on the right; you will need to see which side you can lever up. You will need a good torch for this to see what you are doing. Once it was nearly into position, I stuck the star key in and got it engaged with the teeth. I then turned it carefully IN THE CORRECT DIRECTION to lift the bolt (turn it in the wrong direction and you'll lose it again so work it out before you turn it!). Raise the bolt, take off the door and replace the broken lock!!
Good luck. I'm told any locksmith can do this too if you fail yourself, you don't need to break the door!