About: I am a doer of all things, but a master of none. I have passion for whatever I do. No matter how bad it looks in the end. I am an a mechanical/software engineer by discipline and have really seen that passion…

Background:

I have lived in my current house for over 14 years with the existing locks never requiring to be changed. As of late they are mechanically failing with increased internal friction making it hard to open them. Ultimately they needed to be replaced. This Instructable will cover the rekeying of 2 series of Schlage residential locks(A dead bolt and a simple keyed lock).

Why am I creating this Instructable:

I chose to create this Instructable as I work full time as an mechanical/software engineer and the 1 trustworthy locksmith in my area is retiring and only works 3 hours per day! Lastly, I didn't want the hassle of scheduling around them or the risk or a shady locksmith PLUS just taking my time off from work and paying someone else to do something that I know I could figure out.

If this thing turns out well because of the type of locks chosen, I will also create 2 additional Instructables showing:

The pairing of this Z wave compatible lock to my Vera3 home automation server.

The installation of the locks

My goals for this Instructable:

I had a need and I have seen so many Instructables out there that "filled in the gaps" for me that I thought I would give back based on my situation at hand. This is also my first Instructable to create so I wanted to "give it a go". As an engineer at heart, I am a doer. I want to learn, do and teach where I can. I like a puzzle and this project is about all of those rolled into one(mechanical, software, systems engineering). I found many piece parts of this series of locks all over the internet so I wanted to give a visual representation of what is required to do this in 1 nice visual setting. It may flop or really come off nice. Either way I hope you enjoy what you read or at least chuckle at my noobish attempt of an Instructable :D

I hope that you the reader find this instructable understandable and though you may not use this series of lock, the principles are all the same across lock families. Perhaps this will give you the idea to do it yourself and not spend the money hiring a professional and paying the $100 per 30 minutes of work!