Originally Posted by ibuzzard

Not on the coating, which is supposed to be delivered today, but rather on the lock mechanism.

I had found a thread in which a fellow member, after finding a random key that would go into, but not unlock his latch, so simply disassembled and re-arranged the lock tumblers to fit his key. So,I tried the same , but faffed it up - of course .

Next, I tried to simply replace the entire lock assembly with one bought from a local locksmith, as was recommended in another thread. It seemed a simple, cheap solution , at only 12.95 and tax. There were , however, numerous differences between replacement and original lock assemblies, that I wasn’t observant enough to notice. Among these, were length of the lock assembly itself, barely noticeable, but having a negative effect.. Secondly , the different size in the swinging arm that catches the fixed part when the key is turned. Mainly, though is the indented stop that limits the distance the arm can swing. Also, internal size of the arm needed to be enlarged, plus the screw that secured the arm to the lock was a different pitch. Totally unusable solution, back to square one. Seems that though the common file cabinet lock looks similar, the lock for the toolbox is purpose built, so they are not interchangeable.

I took a complete spare lock assembly to the locksmith and had him just make a new replacement key for it. It worked a charm.I wasted time and money by not doing that simple thing first. Now, I have a nice lock/latch assembly, with three spare keys, awaiting blasting and painting. Cost could have been only about fifty bucks, instead I spent the fifty, plus 12.95, plus the time and fuel for two trips, instead of just one. Do it right the first time.