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Cylinder Locks

Our replacement cylinder locks will add extra security to your door. We supply many recognised brands of Euro cylinders including AGB, Cisa, Fullex & Winkhaus. Many of the door cylinders that we supply have security features in place such as anti-snap, anti-pick, anti-bump and anti-drill. With these security features in place, these types of cylinder are able to withstand all of the most common lock attacks. If you want to find out the function of a cylinder lock and how measure a cylinder, we have an explanation at the bottom of the page.

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Euro Cylinder Locks Explained

A door cylinder is a form of pin-tumbler lock, usually fitted to UPVC doors and commercial doors. The cylinder fits into the door and can even be located underneath the door handle. When the key is turned, the pins operate a deadlocking mechanism inside the door.

The main advantage of a cylinder lock is that can be easily replaced without needing to remove any other bolted door hardware. All that is needed to removed a cylinder lock is the fixing screw located at the side of the door — then the lock simply pushes out of the door. The most common type of door cylinder are Euro cylinder locks and Oval cylinder locks.

Cylinder locks have a certain number of security ‘Pins’. You can tell how many pins a cylinder has by looking at the dots along the bottom edge (marked in green on the example photograph below).

How to measure a Euro cylinder lock

It is not difficult to measure a door cylinder. You only need to take 2 measurements when ordering a replacement cylinder. The first measurement is the distance in millimetres from the key side edge to the centre of the screw hole (marked B on the diagram). The second measurement is from the screw hole centre to the internal side edge (marked A on the diagram). You need these 2 figures when ordering from your supplier.

For example, if the distance from the key side (external side) to the centre screw hole is 40 mm, and the screw hole centre to the internal edge is 50 mm. The correct representation for this would be 40/50 or 40-50. Some manufacturers also take into consideration the width of the screw hole (usually 10 mm). Therefore this figure would be represented as 35/10/45 or 35-10-45

The other measurements in our diagram are C which is the total length of the cylinder. D and E represents the total width and height of the cylinder, but this measurement is rarely needed as the standard Euro profile measurement is always 17 x 33 mm.

Door Security

It stands to reason that the higher the quality of the cylinder, the better your door security will be. There has been a lot of discussion and media attention in recent years in regards to the vulnerabilities of low quality cylinders. Thieves have developed many different methods to bypass a cylinder including bumping, picking, snapping. The need for high-quality cylinders is a growing concern among property owners.

Cylinders which are reinforced and are designed to withstand forced entry, will protect your property far more successfully than a standard entry-level cylinder.

The Problem of Door Cylinder Lock Snapping

Lock snapping is a method used by some burglars to gain access to your property very quickly. They have worked out that the weakest point of a door is actually the cylinder itself. The door handle plate can bent upwards to reveal the cylinder. If the cylinder protrudes too far, it can be grasped and snapped using a tool.

The part of the cylinder lock that is vulnerable to attack is the middle of the cylinder itself, where the mechanical part and set screw are both located. The solid body of the cylinder is thinner in the middle, which gives the cylinder a weak point.

Older doors are often fitted with outdated door hardware that can be snapped by twisting the cylinder until it snaps. In some cases the door can even be chiselled away to expose the lock, making it easy to prise out.

What can be done to prevent lock snapping?

A preventative measure is to replace your lock with an anti-snap cylinder that complies with Kite-mark standards. A further way of making your cylinder less vulnerable to attack is to fit an escutcheon plate to the door. This makes it harder to get to the cylinder without having to remove the plate first.

Some cylinders are also duplication protected, meaning that any copies of keys can only be made with the proper authorisation from registered dealers.

The security of your door cylinder can be increased further by fitting a metal cylinder guard to make a forced entry more difficult.

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