Yale-type TARDIS Door Key

[Volpone]

Huh. I hadn't realized that they went back to a regular key after Tom Baker. Did they ever show Colin Baker's key? If it was a Yale, then that partly explains why McCoy didn't have an ankh/spade key--someone had probably swiped the prop.

[warmcanofcoke]

The Ankh key left with Elisabeth Sladen. She had it for many years and claimed it was a gift from the prop department.
Tom used a Yale Key from the Leela era on. Sylvester McCoy had a new Gallifreyan Key made up for his last season. 

[hb88banzai]

it was just pointed out to me that The Visual Prop of the Key may not necessarily unlock the Tardis prop.

In Black Orchid for example In the Police Yard, Pete sort of moves his hand around in an unconvincing attempt to unlock a door, to let the Police in. ....

Always a possibility, but having had some experience trying to manipulate props while in front of the camera, it's probably never wise to equate the non-use of a practical prop for it being unable to actually do the job. I mean, usually when it comes to things like keys in locks they just leave the thing unlocked and let the actor "act" at inserting and opening. Time is too precious to risk losing a take just because the actor can't stick a key in a hole.

While any old key could be used, seems sensible to use the keys that come with the locks and save a few pennies where you can. Always a good idea to have one hanging about anyway considering how easy it is for a nightlatch to, well, latch, and usually at the most inopportune time.

[galacticprobe]

Chancellor Coke, just curious, do you in fact know.... everything? @_@

No, and it will bother him until he finds out what it is. (A paraphrase from "The Caves of Androzani": Peri - "Do you know everything, Doctor?" The Doctor - "No, and it will bother me until I find out what it is.")

Seriously, warmcanofcoke knows his stuff. In fact, I find it coincidentally strange that he posted that bit from answers.com about the number of duplicate keys in the world. When my son bought his house a year ago, he naturally changed the lock. It was the same make of lock that we bought when we changed our lock when we bought out house in 1989. My son's lock has the same keying as ours! Our key can open his house and his can open ours.

I love this thread, and will definitely be saving some of those photos of the keys so that one day, maybe, I can have one made when I can get a TARDIS built. I especially like the posts on the keyways and key cuts: very interesting and informative!

Dino.

[warmcanofcoke]

Still looking for a good shot of Peter's Key

Time-Flight

Not much in the way of luck....

[warmcanofcoke]

Invasion of Time - Lock and Key

[hb88banzai]

The chipped key props were apparently recently on display at the Art of Doctor Who Exhibit --



They appear to be the same cut pattern as the one used in outdoor scenes in "Father's Day" (when the Doctor finds out the TARDIS has been transformed into an empty Police Box).

[galacticprobe]

For anyone striving for accuracy on replicating these, going by the Color Code bands the tan colored resistor on the key to the right looks like a 10k Ohm, +/- 5% (color bands brown, black, orange, gold), and the blue resistor on the key to the right I'm going to call a 100 Ohm, +/- 5% (it's hard to really see the colors, but the bands look like brown, black, black, black, and gold). Both look like quarter-Watt-sized resistors: eighth-Watt I think would be too small.

I can't see the numbers on that small chip on the right-hand key, and the left-hand key's chip has its numbers worn away, but it's probably a standard 8-pin NE555 Timer Chip: very common and really inexpensive. (Looks like they've either cut the lower half of the pins off of the chip, or bent them under it to make it look like the pins actually go into the key. Of course if you really want, you could always drill really small holes into the key so you wouldn't have to clip any pins off of the chip or the resistor's leads; but on the other hand, the blank key in the middle - if it's supposed to be the "back" side of the same key - doesn't have any holes in it. So I'm guessing they just clipped or folded the pins and then soldered the things in place, with a touch of hot glue as well.)

Oh, and that little red wire you can find just about anywhere.

Dino.

[warmcanofcoke]

so If I remember rightly the new series used ERA locks
can we find some Era key cut Specs?

[mobius]

For anyone striving for accuracy on replicating these,...
I can't see the numbers on that small chip on the right-hand key, and the left-hand key's chip has its numbers worn away, but it's probably a standard 8-pin NE555 Timer Chip: ....
Dino.

I used to be able to read resistors, I'd have to look them up now. (ex TV repairman)
definitely a 555, but with all 8 legs shorted to the key, not sure how useful a circuit that'd be! d:
TV Science!

[galacticprobe]

I used to be able to read resistors, I'd have to look them up now. (ex TV repairman)

Retired US Coast Guard Electronics Technician, "ET" School instructor (twice) here.

Resistor Color Code (for those interested):
1st, 2nd, and 3rd bands = numeric value
4th band = number of zeros that come after the numeric value
Tolerance band = how far off (percentage) from the color-coded value the resister is allowed to be

Colors:
Black = 0
Brown = 1
Red = 2
Orange = 3
Yellow = 4
Green = 5
Blue = 6
Violet = 7
Grey = 8
White = 9
Gold = 5%
Silver = 10%
(no Tolerance color) = 20%

So a resistor with a color banding of I I I I I (last color being Gold) would read as 256 with 3 zeros, or a 256,000 Ohms (or 256 kilo Ohms - 256k Ohms), with a +/- 5%, meaning the resistor value could range from 268,800 Ohms to 243,200 Ohms (12,800 being 5% of 256,000) and still be good.

Enough of Electronics 101 for today!

Dino.

[hb88banzai]

so If I remember rightly the new series used ERA locks
can we find some Era key cut Specs?

I noticed before that this particular drawing is NOT to scale, so superimposing it onto a key isn't going to give you accurate results (also, in this imposition the drawing wasn't enlarged enough as well). The distance from the shoulder to the first cut is spec'ed as .200" and from the first to the second as .165", yet the drawing has the former visually smaller than the latter. Looks to be the same problem for the cut depths - they should all be the same distance between adjacent numbers, but the drawing shows them as different. We will need to make our own dimensionally accurate drawing for this purpose. Probably best to verify the key specs using a caliper at the same time off an original factory cut key or three.

As to ERA locks and keys; in this regard they would be the same specs as Yale keys as they use the same keyway and pin parameters for the Y1, 5-pin type rim locks - that's the point as these "traditional style" rim locks are all generics for the Yale originals, with interchangeable keys and blanks (cylinders, and usually plugs and pins as well).

The show's prop makers apparently started using Silica brand key blanks after the first series or two (first series just using the ERA keys that came with the locks), though they usually ground the logos off (the flash of the Silica logo in Blink being a big "oops") and then plated them to restore the finish. The locks appear to have been changed back to Yale brand for the inside around the time Matt Smith took over, but with the "Yale" ground off the inner knob. The grind job on the outside cylinders are now too good to tell if they were also changed from the original ERA ones (early series shots sometimes showing the ERA logo as with the inner lock). All this now appears to have been changed again as of the 2012 Xmas Special.

[warmcanofcoke]

I guess I will have to leave this matter to better equipped individuals than myself to fathom. I have no such detailed equipment at my disposal. It is still a very informative discussion. I will still try to provide any images I come across of Tardis Keys.

[hb88banzai]

No problem - you've been doing great!

I will check some of my collection of factory cut keys (Yale, ETAS and ERA) against Yale's published specs and see what I can do towards working up accurate line drawings for both 5 and 6-pin keys as a photo comparison tool.

[hb88banzai]

First results of putting a caliper to a few keys - the posted Yale specs compared to relatively recent (c.2000) Yale keys are spot on. A "5" on a cut-labeled key comes to exactly .225" and the uncut width to just a tiny bit over .320", well within the indicated + or - .002" tolerance, with the cut spacing as per the published specs as well.

However, for a new factory cut ERA key that came with a replacement cylinder, though the cuts appear to be to the same spec (what is undoubtedly a "4" came in at just under .244"), the uncut portion of the key (on the shaft close to the shoulder) is nearly a full step wider than spec at .338". This will make a significant difference when trying to match any drawing to a photo of a key for cut identification purposes, so will have to be taken into consideration. For use in a lock there is wide latitude in this width measurement as long as the keyway cross-section and cut depth are otherwise the same, but this ERA key is still a little too tight to fit all the way in to a "new" 1960's vintage Yale cylinder (it hangs at the "first" cut's edge just in front of the shoulder so won't quite seat all the way).

The maximum width on the key to that 1960's Yale cylinder is wider than on the newer Yales; about half way between the current published Yale spec and the ERA key. Another big difference is that the factory cuts on the 1960's vintage key are not flat bottomed like all the newer keys (both ERA and Yale), but instead each is a perfect V with a sharp bottom. Nice to see the "MADE IN ENGLAND" at the top as well à la Pertwee's key  

Unfortunately, I don't have a Silicon brand key to measure for comparison to see what its maximum shaft width is, whether closer to the Yale or the ERA. I'll also have to try the ERA key in newer Yale branded cylinders (c.1980s and c.2005) to see if it will seat all the way in one of those.