Copying a key looks like the simplest job in this trade, and most of the time it is. But a fair number of the calls I take start with a customer holding a key that was cut somewhere else last week and does not work — it goes in, it wiggles, and it will not turn. Nothing is wrong with their lock.
Key duplication is a mechanical tracing job, and a few things about how it works decide whether you walk away with a key that turns first time or one that lives in a drawer. Here is what actually matters, which keys can be copied where in Colorado Springs, and the cases where copying a key is the wrong answer altogether.
Why a Fresh Copy Sometimes Will Not Turn
A duplicating machine does not know what your key is supposed to look like. It traces the key you hand it with a stylus and grinds a blank to match, which means it copies your key’s wear along with its shape. That single fact explains almost every failed copy I see.
Every key loses a little metal each time it goes into a lock. After a few years the peaks of the cuts are visibly rounded. The key still works because your lock’s pins have worn in alongside it, but the shape is no longer the shape the factory cut. Trace that key and you get a copy of a worn key. Trace that copy later and you get a copy of a copy, drifting a bit further off each generation, until one of them stops lifting the pins to the right height and the whole thing jams.
The single best thing you can do for a key copy costs nothing: hand over the least used key you own, not the one that has been on your keyring for six years.
The other two causes
The first is the blank. Keyways that look identical to the eye are often not interchangeable, and a blank that is close but not correct will enter the lock and bind. The second is calibration — a machine whose cutter and stylus have drifted apart puts every cut slightly off, which a well-worn lock may forgive and a tight new one will not. Neither is something you can spot by looking at the finished key, which is why a shop that tests the copy before you leave is worth more than one that does not.
Where to Get Keys Copied in Colorado Springs
I will be straight about this, because it saves people a call: if you have a plain house or padlock key, you have the original or a barely used spare, and you only need one or two copies, a hardware store or a self-service kiosk will do the job perfectly well. There is no reason to pay a locksmith to trace a standard Kwikset blank.
What those machines cannot do is decide anything. They cut what you feed them, on the blanks in their carousel, with no one checking whether the result is right. So the moment your situation involves a worn original, an unusual keyway, a key that carries a chip, or a question about whether the copy should be made at all, you have left what a kiosk is built for. That is the line, and it is worth knowing which side of it you are on before you drive anywhere.
The Keys a Kiosk Cannot Cut
These come up constantly, and every one of them ends with someone being told no at a counter.
Restricted and patented keyways
High-security systems such as Medeco, Mul-T-Lock and Schlage Primus use blanks that are patented and distributed only to authorised dealers. No hardware store stocks them, and that is the entire point — it is what stops a tenant or a former employee quietly making themselves a copy. Duplicating one requires the authorisation card or signature list that came with the system. If you own a system like this and cannot find that paperwork, bring what you have and we will work out what can be reissued. If you want a system like this, that is what high-security locks are for.
Keys stamped Do Not Duplicate
Worth being honest about: that stamp carries no legal force in the United States. It is a request from whoever ordered the key, and while reputable shops do honour it, plenty of machines will cut one without a second glance. A stamp is a note, not a lock. If a key genuinely must not be copied without permission, it needs a restricted keyway as described above, because that is enforced by the supply of blanks rather than by good manners.
Mailbox keys
This one depends entirely on who owns the box. If you are in a cluster box unit served by the Postal Service, the lock belongs to USPS and replacement keys come from your local post office, not from any locksmith. If the box is owned by your HOA, your landlord or you, it is an ordinary small lock and we can copy the key or change the lock outright. That is covered under mailbox lock replacement.
Desk, cabinet and tubular keys
The little flat keys for office furniture and the round tubular keys on vending machines and some bike locks both need dedicated equipment that a general key kiosk does not have. The good news is that these locks almost always carry a code stamped on the lock face or the original key, and a key can be cut straight from that code without the original existing at all. See file cabinet and desk locks.
Car keys with a chip
Briefly, because it is its own subject: a modern car key can be cut mechanically by anyone, and it will still not start the car. The transponder chip inside has to be programmed to that specific vehicle, which is a separate step with separate equipment. A hardware store copy of a car key will open the door and nothing more. Transponder key programming covers what that involves.
When You Have No Original Left
If every key is gone, there is nothing to trace, and duplication is off the table by definition. The job becomes origination: reading the cuts out of the lock by decoding the cylinder, or looking them up from the code the manufacturer stamped on it, then cutting a key to that specification. It is a longer visit than copying, and it is the reason I keep telling people to make a spare while a good key still exists.
If the reason you have no key is that one snapped off in the cylinder, do not go after it with pliers. Pushing the broken half deeper is how a ten-minute job becomes a lock replacement. Leave it where it is and let broken key extraction deal with it, because the remaining half is also the pattern for your new key as long as it comes out intact.
When Copying Is the Wrong Answer Entirely
Here is the question I ask people who want four copies cut: do you know where every existing key to this door is right now? If you have just moved in, if a tenant has left, if a contractor had a key during a remodel, or if a key went missing and turned up again, then more copies solve nothing. You would be adding keys to a set you cannot account for.
The fix in that case is rekeying — changing the pins inside the cylinder so that every old key stops working and a new one starts, without replacing the hardware. It costs less than new locks and it is usually done in minutes per cylinder. Lock rekey covers the service, and if you are weighing it against fitting new hardware, rekey vs replace locks lays out the comparison. New homeowners specifically should read when to rekey your locks after moving into a new home before ordering any copies at all.
Pro Tip from Locksmith Solutions LLC
Keep one key out of circulation. Label it, put it in a drawer, and never carry it. That untouched key stays the accurate pattern for every future copy, so ten years from now your spares are still being cut from a factory-shaped key instead of from a worn one.
What to Bring When You Need Keys Copied
Four things make the difference between a job done on the spot and a second trip.
- The best key you have, not the most convenient one — the least worn key gives the most accurate copy, and it is worth digging the spare out of the drawer.
- Every key on the ring, if you are not sure which one opens what. Sorting out which lock each key belongs to takes a moment and prevents copying the wrong one.
- Any authorisation card, dealer paperwork or signature list, for a restricted or high-security system.
- Proof that the property is yours to key — a lease, a deed, a utility bill or an ID matching the address. Any locksmith worth using will ask, and one who does not ask is a reason to worry.
Because we work out of the van, key cutting happens at your door across Colorado Springs and El Paso County rather than at a counter you have to drive to. The full service page is here: key duplication.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a locksmith copy a key stamped Do Not Duplicate?
In most cases yes, because the stamp is a request from whoever ordered the key rather than a legal restriction. A reputable locksmith will still ask who you are and whether you are authorised to hold a copy. If you want a key that genuinely cannot be copied on demand, the answer is a restricted keyway, not a stamp.
Why will my new key copy not turn in the lock?
Nearly always because it was cut from a worn key rather than from the original. Duplication traces the key you hand over, so it copies the wear as well as the shape. Each copy made from a copy drifts a little further from the real cut until the pins no longer line up. Bring the least used key you own and the problem usually disappears.
Can I get a house key copied if I have lost every key?
Yes, but it is a different job. With no key to trace, the cuts have to be read out of the lock itself or looked up from the code stamped on the cylinder, and then a key is cut to that specification. That is key origination rather than duplication, and it takes longer than copying an existing key.
Need a locksmith in Colorado Springs?
Call Locksmith Solutions LLC for fast, honest, mobile locksmith service. We are available Monday through Friday, 7:00am to 9:30pm, across Colorado Springs and El Paso County.