GREAT SOUTHERN LOCKEmergency · Same visit
Broken key extraction in Melbourne — snapped keys removed on site
A key snapped in the door, the ignition or a padlock. We extract the fragment without wrecking the lock where it is at all possible, then cut you a replacement on the spot.
- Open 24 hours
- We come to you
- Public liability insured
- ABN registered
- 24/7Answered every hour
of every day - Fully mobileThe workshop comes
to your door - 29 suburbsMelbourne inner
south-east coverage - Insured & ABNPublic liability cover
ABN registered
Where keys break
The places we get called to
- Front and back door cylinders — the most common by a distance, usually on a lock that had been stiffening for months.
- Car ignitions — tighter tolerances, less forgiving, and the car is undrivable until it is sorted.
- Car door and boot locks — often on an older vehicle where the key is the original.
- Padlocks — gates, sheds, roller doors and storage cages.
- Mortice locks on period doors — where the door is worth far more than the lock.
- Commercial and shopfront hardware — usually at opening time, and usually urgent.
What to do in the next five minutes
Do not use superglue. It is the fastest way to turn a ten-minute extraction into a new lock. Glue bonds the fragment to the pins inside the cylinder and at that point the lock is finished, not just jammed.
- Stop turning things. Every further attempt pushes the fragment deeper and can shear it again.
- Leave the lock in whatever position it is in. If the bolt is thrown, leave it thrown. Forcing it changes the job.
- Keep the piece in your hand. With both halves a replacement key is far easier to cut accurately.
- Tweezers, only if it is protruding. If you can grip the fragment cleanly with fingers or tweezers and draw it straight out, do it. If it does not move easily, stop.
- Don’t flood it with lubricant. Household oils attract grit and can make a mechanical extraction harder rather than easier.
How the extraction actually works
Proper extractor tools are thin hooked or spiral probes designed to catch the cuts on the broken blade and draw it back out along the keyway. Done properly the pins are never disturbed and the cylinder is completely unaffected afterwards. On most domestic locks it is a matter of minutes.
Where it gets harder: a fragment that has broken flush or below the face of the cylinder, a lock that was already worn, a very tight ignition barrel, or a key someone has already had a go at with pliers or glue. In those cases the cylinder sometimes has to come apart or be replaced — and you will be told that, with the cost, before it happens.
The part worth fixing afterwards
A snapped key is a symptom. Something made that key work harder than it should have, and if it is not addressed the replacement key will do the same thing in a year. The usual causes are a door that has dropped on its hinges so the bolt no longer lines up with the strike plate, a cylinder worn past its useful life, or a key that is a copy of a copy and no longer matches the lock properly.
All three are cheap to sort while the locksmith is already standing there. If the cylinder is genuinely finished, replacing or rekeying it is the honest answer and you will get it.
Tell us on the phone
- Door lock, ignition or padlock
- Is the fragment visible?
- Has anything been tried already?
- Do you still have the other half?
Being straight about glue or pliers helps rather than hurts — it changes the tools that come out of the van.
Call 0468 770 558Key snapped off?
Leave it where it is and ring. Most extractions are quick if nobody has had a go at it first.
Read next
Guides on this
Longer answers to the questions that come up before people ring.
Questions
Broken key questions
My key snapped in the lock. Is the lock ruined?
Usually not. In most cases the broken piece is extracted and the lock carries on working normally. What the break is telling you is that something was taking too much force — a worn cylinder, a dropped door, or a key that was a copy of a copy of a copy. That underlying cause is worth fixing at the same time.
Can I get it out myself with pliers or superglue?
Please don’t. Superglue is the single most common way a straightforward extraction turns into a lock replacement — it bonds the broken piece to the pins and the cylinder is then finished. Pliers usually push the fragment deeper or snap it again. Tweezers on a piece already protruding are fine. Anything further in needs proper extractor tools.
My key snapped in the car ignition. Same job?
Related, but harder. Ignition barrels are tighter and less forgiving than a door lock, and the fragment often has to come out without the barrel being turned. It is still an on-site job for most vehicles, and a replacement key can be cut and programmed at the same visit.
Why do keys snap?
Metal fatigue, almost always. A key flexes slightly every time it turns; do that a few thousand times against a stiff cylinder and it eventually gives. Warning signs are a key that needs jiggling, a door you have to lift, or a lock that has started to bind. A key that has visibly bent once is already on borrowed time.
Will you be able to cut me a new key from the broken one?
Usually, yes — if we have both halves, or the lock itself to read. That is one reason to keep the piece that stayed in your hand rather than binning it.
What does it cost?
It depends on how far in the fragment is, what kind of lock it is, and the hour. A protruding fragment in a domestic door lock is at the quick end. A snapped key deep in an ignition barrel at midnight is not. You get a range on the phone and a firm figure before any tool comes out.
Other things we do
Car key replacement
Lost every key to the car? We cut and program a new one at the roadside for most makes and models — no tow, no dealership wait.
Read more24/7 emergency lockout
Locked out of the house, car or shop. Non-destructive entry wherever it’s possible, any hour of the night.
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Lock rekeying & changes
New place, old tenant, or a key that walked off. Rekeying kills the old keys without paying for all-new hardware.
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Commercial locksmith
Shopfronts, offices and rentals. Master key systems, restricted keys and scheduled maintenance for property managers.
Read more
Mul-T-Lock restricted keys
High-security cylinders that can’t be copied at a kiosk. Real control over who holds a key to your building.
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Deadlocks & window locks
Proper deadbolts on every external door, patio bolts on sliders and key locks on the windows that matter. Keyed alike if you want one key.
Read more