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What is one of the best ways to see how accurate a key machine is in the real world? You might have guessed it, but one of the best ways is to cut the Best keys. Maybe that's not as funny as I hoped it would be but Best keys have a very tight tolerance. A lot of times, you're going to find that it's either going to work or it's not going to work, and that can be one of the most frustrating keys to cut. I'm outside of using a punch machine so I figured let's have some fun with the Triton. Let's see what it can do with Best keys. Let's talk about the good and the bad. Let's find out and have some fun.
On the main screen, tap ‘Single Standard.’ Look for ‘Best.’
There will be lots of options but in this example it will be A2 7-Cut.
Let's decode an existing key with F keyway.
On the screen, you’ll notice that there is a tip stop. There is no shoulder stop on it. To properly install the existing key to the jaw, you need align the tip stop here. Unless, it’s not going to work.
This is how you'd normally tip stop a key. But in this case, we can't do that.
We have to put the tip stop in like this. By putting it in like that, we're going to bypass the normal stop, and we're going to stop on the shoulder. What's happening is the actual tip is going past the tip stop, and we're stopping on the little shoulder stop. Now that we've got that good, we'll tighten it down. It should be nice and flat, which is very important on these types of keys. By then we can hit ‘Decode.’
One of the best parts about having a machine that can automatically decode and cut the Best keys is that you can spend your time doing other stuff as well. Maybe you're working on some other project or even sipping some coffee.
Once the decoding is done, take a blank key and install it the same way as you installed the existing key a while ago. Since this is a nickel silver key, the speed comes at 15 but you can slow it down to 11 to help it. Everything is in order, cut it.
Once it is cut, buff the key before you test it on a lock.
The good part is that the Triton can cut Best keys and they work. However, the actual tip stop is a little goofy. Because a lot of times, the tip stop is the tip stop but we know with Best keys, it's actually the little bottom shoulder stop that happens to be at the tip of the key. So you're going to be pleasantly disappointed if you just use the tip stop and not the actual stop at the front of the key. So you could do it not that big of a deal but it would be nice if it was a little easier.
The not so good was the menu. You'll see that there are the options for the A2, A3, and A4 system and then a six-pin and a seven-pin. But what you didn't see are any options for the W series of Best keys, the WA, WB, WC. Now, I went ahead and I cut some, and I tried to get it all and try to understand and figure it all out. Look at this, it does not cut the entire key because they're so darn thick and so that's something that needs to change so the whole key can get cut.
And at the same time, there shouldn't be an option for a shoulder stop because there's a shoulder stop and there is a bottom tip stop. And so, due to the configuration of how that he has to get tip stopped into the jaw, it'd be nice just to use that shoulder stop there and get those done. And I think it's a really big opportunity because with the punch machines, nothing really cuts the best W series easily outside of the Framon Key Express. So to have this automated on the Triton machine would be amazing. And I think the best part is that to get the W series keys cut on the Triton, I don't think that much work needs to be done by Triton to make it happen. So hopefully, that will be happening soon. Those updates will come out and when they do, I will do a follow-up and we'll test it out together.
In the end, the Triton cut Best keys. It will cut the standard keys although you got to make sure you put the tip stop properly to get that bottom shoulder to line up or you will be sadly disappointed. Thank you, and we'll see you next time.
