VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Electrolock Getting Stiff

In the last few years, I find that the electrolock is getting stiffer to turn. Is there anyway to prevent it from seizing up?

You can use a light oil or penetration oil in aerosol can. If that does not help then taking the lock cylinder out and sanding off a little metal is your best option. I can do it if you are not comfortable. Make sure that you take care of it before it sets up. It will be toast once it freezes up.

Ok, the light oil in the lock didn't help it. It was still very difficult and a crap shoot if the lock would open at all. So I have taken the lock apart, and when the barrel came out it came out in pieces. So, the problem was that it was freezing up and the barrel was also broken. I know there is a very very slim chance of having a good answer to this question. Is there chance at all to get a replacement barrel for the lock? I know that getting a replacement electrolock is almost impossible.

I have been working on having replacement lock cylinders made for 10+ years. Six months ago sent parts to a person who thought it might be possible to 3D print them. So far have not received a positive response. People are beginning to return to their offices and work places after working at home. Once the situation stabilizes these skunk works projects might have a chance to get done.

I did make a part without the slots for the wafers and springs so any "key" makes it work. Took too many hours with cutting, drilling and sanding. Looks okay and sorta works but takes too much time.

Keep the faith it might happen.

I did repair a broken barrel with JB weld. It works, but I didn't use it. I am keeping it as a spare and hope to never need it.

Thanks for the information. I am in the process of modifying a lock cylinder so that it will work in the electrolock. I will post the results once I have them.

I found a lock cylinder for a sliding door lock that was very close. Never was satisfied with how it worked and looked. Would be interested in how well your fix works and looks. I have way too many frozen electrolocks and would love to get them to work and look correct.

Ok, I have modified the cylinder and everything is going well. The new cylinder is working just like the original one so far. I however ran into a problem trying to get the lock together. I push the unit into the body of the electrolock and it clicks into place. The problem I am having is that I can't push it in far enough for the unit to lock. It needs to go in an additonal 1/8 to 3/16 further according to the wear marks on the barrel. I don't understand it because there is a very thin washer that seats itself on 4 tabs and the spring sit on this washer. There is nothing else in there besides this thin washer, the spring a and the contact blade.

I have tried putting it together without the spring and everything appears to work properly. I can use the key to lock and unlock the unit just like before with the exception of there is no contact blade or spring in the unit. Is the spring supposed to be inserted past the 4 tabs, so that the compressed spring takes up less space? I am confused and perplexed by this situation. Chipper I know you have a lot of experience with the electolock, do you or anyone else have any insight in this situation.

Update on what is happening. I tried putting every thing in except for the contact plate. When I do that the barrel goes into place and everything works as it should. The contact blade as not changed, the rest of the unit has not changed so what can be the problem. The only solution that I can see is too cut the back end of the contact plate 1/8" so that it doesn't bottom out. But I shouldn't have to do that as it worked before and nothing has changed that affects the depth of the barrel.

Great discussion about both the repair of the Electrolok as well as the “back story” about finding a way to fabricate these unique replacement parts.

I agree that 3D printing offers a great advantage that we someone need to leverage. Chipper is trying but is encountering all the obstacles that are part of this new solution.

The real limitation is that the overall process is fairly expensive. The most time consuming and technically challenging portion is creating an accurate digital model. You do not know if you have a good model until you reach the end of the process.

One idea I have considered is contacting one of the local schools (high school or community college) that is teaching this technology. Perhaps one of their student teams would take on the project of creating the part through 3D printing.

I have read your descriptions several times in attempts to correctly understand the situation. So far I don't understand.

What are you calling the contact plate? Is that the part that slides between the contacts connected to the Bakelite halves? There are several types used depending on what company made the electrolock. Each type had a pin or tab that fit into a hole in the sliding (pop out) cylinder assembly. It it kept the parts in alignment. The pin or tab length is in the range of 1/8". But there should be more than that distance that the assembly can be pushed in past the lock position.

Chipper you are correct in describing the electrolock that I have. There is a small pin on the contact plate (part that slides) and I have made sure that it has fitted into the small hole on the sliding (pop out). The pin is about 1/16" and as you push the sliding (pop out) you can see if it has gone into the hole. It doesn't make any sense at all to me that the parts don't fit. I have been very careful to make sure the thin washer is in the proper position using a light. Then I add the spring and again make sure that everything is still properly aligned. Then I add the contact plate (part that slides) and I push it in all the way with my finger to make sure it is not catching on anything. Finally the sliding cylinder is put in and that is when the problem occurs it will not go in far enough to snap into position. There are no other parts to deal with. Without the contact plate (part that slides) everything works as it should. Now I just tried to put in the contact plate without spring and it will not seat itself all the way in. So there is something preventing the contact plate from going all the way in. What can that be?

I have had the internal contacts bend so they don't allow the "contact plate" to fit between them. That is my best guess.

Ok, I hear you. I was hoping not to have to take the electrolock completely apart but it appears I don't have a choice. So, I will start the process of carefully dismantling the lock. I will get back to you once I have taken everything apart and solved the puzzle.

Ok, problem is solved. It was the back internal contact that was bent. So I was able to straighten it and reassemble the unit and everything is working as it should. The key is functional and works just like the original one did. The actual work on the cylinder took only about 1 hour worth of work to modify it so that it would function properly. It took me quite a bit longer pondering how I would modify the cylinder. Looking at the new cylinder in the lock with the exception of it being shiny, you wouldn't know that it has been replaced. A little aging on the new surface and it would look natural. I have include a few pictures of the final product. I can give more detail how I modified the cylinder.

Now on another note. I found in my store of parts another electrolock which I did not know I had. I got a lot of parts all at once from a close friend who had to give up the hobby and he has since past away. Of course there is no key for the electrolock, so I am having one made. The problem with this one is that many parts are missing on the end. Most can be replaced quite easily (various washers etc.), but the cap on the end cannot. Does anyone know where I can get the end cap. This way I would have a complete spare electrolock.

Glad you found the problem and fixed it.

Did you take any photos of the internal part you made. I would be interested in how you did it. I do have spare parts so maybe we can talk. Will send you a PM.

Paul, That is great news, where did you get the lock cylinder to modify?

Thanks

Dave

Cylinder #E 2005 made by or available from Prime-Line. This cylinder is available at HomeDepot.

Paul, I ordered one of the e-2005 lock cylinders. Can you give us more detail on how you modified it to work?

Thanks

Dave

Hi, I am attaching a copy of the steps I went through to modify lock cylinder.

Paul,

That is excellent, thanks for passing it on.

I may go through a few lock but will get it down.

Dave

I am dealing with 2 frozen electrolocks at the moment, and am very glad to have found this thread. I would like to offer to do the digital modeling/ 3d prototyping in this situation if someone has parts they can supply me with along with an idea of what they want to achieve.This place is a great resource to me and I love solving these issues, and while I do not have a forge yet, I hope to be able to cast some much needed parts in brass/ bronze with a lost-PLA casting method. Currently I have successfully made some new change gears for my lathe and am working on a speedo drive gear for a '28 4 speed transmission. Seems promising.

PM me if anyone is interested.

Connor

Connor,
Your offer is welcomed and appreciated. I currently am working with someone in Michigan that has approval from his 3D printing company to work on the process to duplicate the very intricate and critical center lock cylinder. It is the one that contains the wafers and springs. If that does not produce a usable part then I will contact you.

Conner,
If you are working on a '33/'34 electro lock or a 1935 and later electro lock, you have a much different setup than the ones which are the subject of this thread. I might be able to help you if you are working on a switch for your '37.

Mike

being in the design field for the last 20+ years, designing for casting and fabrication i am interested in learning about your lost PLA process. we have done lost wax for the last 20+ years, and in the last 10 years ventured into lost foam. 80% of what we generally do is still green sand, simple and efficient. the lost foam & wax are used for intricate parts as well as parts that are cast near net and require very little post processing/machining !! i 3d print molds for rubber components as well as other things. visited and toured one of our foundry years ago and got to see all the processes in action. not sure i could work in the wax room, i would freeze to death !! then in the furnace area... wooo