Jonty WareingIt's mine, I tell you. My own. My precious.
Do I have the keys? No. Can we pick the lock? Also no.
Going T. MaineI contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.
They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.
Andreas Sikkema@jonty βbut can I visit you and try to find the right key?β
But how did BT solve this problem, their engineers surely didnβt carry all possible keys around?
patter
jamesbridle@jonty I feel like you know many, many lock pickers who will see this as a challenge.
@jamesbridle I am torn between wanting some friends to have fun and wanting a functioning payphone quickly
Evelyn Estelle@jonty @jamesbridle Can't they just have fun, then replace with a lock you have keys for? (Based on the assumption that it is like most locks that allow replacement when open.)
Dr David Mills@jonty got to like a company that provides a reason.
lpbkdotnet@jonty I think those are all for the customer-premises types of payphone (solitaire etc) - they all seem to be tubular locks
I'm not sure about the generation you've got, but earlier payphone keys wereregional, so each telecom region had their own set of bittings.
I expect yours is similar, so if there is any way to narrow down where it was originally installed - and then you try some of the ex-BT staff facebook groups, you might luck out and find someone who didn't return their keys?
@lpbkdotnet Yep, we realised that too!
This phone came from Bath (we've even found the phonebox), but I'm not sure I can be bothered to chase engineers. We know the lock was changed in 2007 as we did some keyhole surgery to extract the logbook.
@jonty Oh it's that one!
I had wondered who won it.
Unfortunately, although I do know a few current and ex engineers from the westcountry, none of them were in Bath as far as I know.
However, I "might" know someone who knows someone... It may come to nothing, but it can't hurt to ask.
I had previously asked someone who I know used to steal cash from payphones in the early 90s how they got in
Unfortunately their methods were horrifically destructive - so not a suitable approach here!
@jonty sadly I drew a blank on the keys
However, they did offer me these locks which look like they "might" be the right fit
They've had the pins removed, so will operate with a screwdriver - but (assuming they fit) will still hold the case shut without looking too "wrong"
Let me know if you want these spares as a backup option in case you end up with no options apart from drilling.
It might be more fun to lend it to the EMF locksport village as a challenge though?
@lpbkdotnet Oh yes please! I kind of wanted it functioning for EMF so we'll see how desperate I get...
Megan@jonty @lpbkdotnet Love the fediverse for conversations like this one!
@jonty I'll see what I can sort out. It may take a week or two for me to be in the same place as the locks - but I'll send them your way when I can.
I don't expect they'll cost enough for me to be worried about passing the costs on - but I'll let you know if they're above that threshold.
Extreme Electronics@jonty Send them the payphone... :)
Emily_S
Nicoπ¦@EH23@jonty aren't these all tubular keys and your phone has a "normal" key?
@nicoduck Correct! They have now concluded that they aren't allowed to sell us a key, but could unlock it for us.
@jonty why aren't they allowed to sell a key? Are they allowed to sell a key to another locksmith? Or if you can get the bitting, I could cut one (I happen to have a locksmith license now and a key cutting machine)
1000millimeter@1000millimeter @jonty In Germany, you can only do locksmiths stuff (for money) if you're reliable (money/tax wise) and don't have a criminal record.
license in that term meas "just" that the administration registers your business and doesn't decline the application.
license in that term meas "just" that the administration registers your business and doesn't decline the application.
@1000millimeter @jonty it escalated a bit and maybe one day I earn the money I just invested in machines and key blanks?
boreq
Barry Rowlingson
netop://γ¦γ£γ@geospacedman @jonty Damn, beat me to it!
Lisa π¦
hmm⦠has anyone tagged in 
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΄ (ππ¦)@mycrowgirl they have now π
@jonty do you happen to be located near Seattle? I'd open it for the fun.
If not, I might be able to walk you through opening it.
@alice @mycrowgirl Unfortunately I am ~4800 miles from Seattle, but thanks!
I have a local lock expertise so I'm sure we'll sort it...
Netraven@jonty I can open it for you without damaging the box too much and then you can replace the lock cheaply.
@jonty oh holy crap I literally didn't even see your phone box til after I wrote my previous response... I can help even more. If you want. I can probably visually identify the manufacturer of the lock and the aftermarket keyblank that would fit it. You could pass that along to the locksmith.
@jonty Tell them it's a small format single milled key, not a tubular key. They will say "OHHHHHHH.... why didn't you say so?!" They're showing you an image of a wall of keys for commercial payphones that were installed by telecom operators. The phone box you posted looks like a model someone would install themselves in a automat or something. OR it was later converted for that use case. Probably.
@Netraven This is the payphone that was installed in public phone boxes across the UK by British Telecom, the nationalised telephone operator.
The wall of keys was for different models than I have here - because I am not supposed to have this phone and they assumed I had made a mistake with the model number...
I've got plenty of locksmith help on the ground, but thanks for the offer!
Dec [{(
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Court Cantrell does not comply
FeloniousPunk
Falling Knife@jonty
All your keys are belong to us
All your keys are belong to us