Multi-piece Cylinder Lock Plug Assembly Casting
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing of cylinder lock plugs is expensive due to the need for exacting tolerances and secondary machining operations, making the process costly and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A cylinder lock assembly is manufactured using a plug body and a plug insert, both cast as metallic components, where the plug insert is designed to be L-shaped and includes tumbler pin chambers that intersect with a keyway, allowing for single-operation casting without secondary machining, thereby reducing manufacturing costs and maintaining precise tolerances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the plug is cast as a cylinder with keyway formed therein and multiple pin chambers are machined into the plug as secondary operations, then the manufacturing process can produce the plug structure, but the manufacturing cost increases due to secondary machine operations
Solution Approach 1:
The plug is divided into two separate components: a plug body and a plug insert. The plug body is cast as a simple cylindrical structure, while the plug insert contains all the complex features including keyway and pin chambers. This segmentation allows the plug body to be manufactured with simple casting, eliminating the need for expensive secondary machining operations while the plug insert can be precisely formed during its own casting process.
Solution Approach 2:
The plug insert acts as an intermediary component that provides the complex features (keyway and pin chambers) without requiring them to be machined into the main plug body. The insert is designed to fit within the plug body, serving as a mediator that separates the simple casting operation from the complex feature formation, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining precision.
2Productivity
If secondary machining operations are performed to create pin chambers in the plug, then the pin chambers can be formed with required tolerances, but the manufacturing time and productivity decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The plug insert is designed with pin chambers and keyway already formed as integral features during the casting process itself, rather than requiring subsequent machining operations. This preliminary formation of complex features during the primary manufacturing process eliminates time-consuming secondary operations while maintaining the required tolerances through proper casting technique and mold design.
Data Source
AI summary
A cylinder lock assembly includes a cylinder body and a plug assembly which is manufactured in a multiple of pieces to facilitate casting of each plug piece in a single operation. The plug assembly includes a plug body with a plug insert opening to receive a plug insert. The plug insert opening is generally L-shaped in cross-section to receive the plug insert which is correspondingly shaped. The plug insert includes a plug outer portion which defines an arcuate outer surface which corresponds with the outer circumference of the plug body when the plug insert is mounted therein. A plug pin chamber portion extends generally transverse to the plug outer portion to define a multiple of tumbler pin chambers which extend through the plug outer portion.