Door Locks (Part 1)

My door lock saga starts with Aircraft Spruce and the initial ordering of my locks. When I was finishing up my doors I ended up ordering both a combo ignition switch with two door locks as well as two additional locks. The theory was that I would key both of the doors with the same key and both the baggage door and ignition switch with another key. Not that these keys stop anything but it is always nice to be able to have the option of giving someone a key that will let them into the plane but not start it.


Roll forward a year, and the plane is for the most part together. Post installation I never really used the locks as the plane is just sitting in the hangar. At this point though I had installed the Aerosport Products Baggage Door. One of the things that is partly nice, and partly really annoying about actually using the door strut is that you have to use the door lock to keep the door shut... (The default resting position of the door with the strut attached is wide open.) After looking around in one of the thousand places I would put the keys, I finally found them. When I went to try them though, they did not turn in the baggage door lock. One of my keys works perfectly fine the the ignition, one works perfectly fine in the doors, but the baggage door just does not turn. It feels like it wants to, but it just doesn't.



Long story short. I call Aircraft Spruce thinking I will order a new key. I thought about that though for a bit, and that may or may not solve the problem. Instead, I ask to PURCHASE a new lock to match my key that I know works in the ignition. That way I am assured that I have a good cylinder and even a spare. Not a big deal. These things are 50 dollars, so it is a little annoying because we are talking about probably a 7 dollar cam lock, but whatever. Now mind you, there are absolutely no markings on these locks. Nothing on the key under the boot, nothing on the lock. These have 0 identification markings.

The issue is that a week later I get a call from Aircraft Spruce that is a drop ship item from the vendor (which I had already discussed with them). Not that big of a deal because it was just a 15 dollar charge on top of the 49 dollar locks. Again, annoying, but in the grand scheme of things not horrible. Until a week later ACS called me again and said that the vendor had to special make this and it was not going to be $150 dollars just for the shipping.  Now we are to the point where I am annoyed. We are talking about a basic cam lock. Not even a good one. This is more a less a lock you would use to lock a cabinet door. In fact it is probably exactly that from one of those vendors, just without markings.

 

If you read the details about the locks themselves, these are "Made in America." That is great, I love stuff made in America. Actually I go out of my way to purchase things made in a America. I am not sure what part of America though it costs $150 to ship 2 door locks to Virginia, but I am assuming they hired an olympic swimmer in Hawaii to cross the ocean with my locks in tow. 

So begins my series on what is inside an ACS lock, what other types of cam locks are out there and suitable, and how to re-wafer these locks by yourself so we as a community do not continue this behavior.