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I would personally prefer to alter the chocolate bar rather than the machine.

Or I could just make a new bolt on part that works 100%. The machine itself isn't modified. The old one was unscrewed and the new one gets bolted on in its place. The same linkage is leveraged. The only thing that's left to do is make it foolproof. Kit-Kats have flappy wrappers that pose some clogging and catching issues.

Or you could add one of these to your collection You know one is never enough.

What are the odds that the bar is the same size? That being said, I should go buy a few decades of Kit-Kats, so it works in 25 years for my future grand kids.

No need... just teach the grand-kids your skills and they can make a new feeder when the time comes.

Good call. Problem solved.

Although the key I made worked, I didn't like the look of it, so I did what anyone else would do. Look for blanks on ebay. I found several Yale blanks that looked like they should work, but I wanted to make sure I didn't get a key that was too small. Of course vendors on ebay never post proper measurements and usually they have no idea what callipers are or even own them. So getting dimensions on something like a key where a millimetre will make a difference if the key works or not can be problematic. So here's what I do/did. Fortunately, the seller posted a picture with a tape measure in it. So I can go off of that.


I take a screen shot of that and drop the image in autocad. Once in there I have a relative scale of what an inch is in the picture. I draw a line on the tape, which should be exactly an inch. Then I draw a line on the thing I want a true measurement of, the key dimension in this case.


If I know that an inch is .279" on the drawing, I can scale that to 1/.279, which would be a factor of 3.58422939. When I do that, this is what I get:


The inch is now an inch long and the dimension on the key is .305". I need .275", so this will work wonderfully. I ordered the keys and they arrived today. The dimension that I estimated to be .305" turned out to be .300". A little bit of time with a file and this will be sized perfectly.

I apologize if I did too much of a brain dump there.

I have hundreds of these keys, which was why I asked if you had the code.

No codes at all on the locks. The only identifiable mark is Yale.

treefrog wrote:I have hundreds of these keys, which was why I asked if you had the code

Don't suppose you have any spare NCR keys tf ?

arrgee wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:42 pm Don't suppose you have any spare NCR keys tf ?

I have an old NCR and needed keys, bought a complete set for all doors ages ago. I think I had one or two spare keys, but can’t remember which ones and would need to check. I think all the keys are the same across the models, but not an expert of course.

treefrog wrote:I think all the keys are the same across the models

Yes, I believe they are, the one I am missing is number 406

Will have look when I get to the machine as all keys in cash draw.

Mechanically done. Just needs the glass when it's ready and a layer of finish on the wood once it warms up. It deals out the Kit-Kats perfectly now after a little extra grinding in the corners on the slide.

arrgee wrote: ↑Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:51 am

treefrog wrote:I think all the keys are the same across the models

Yes, I believe they are, the one I am missing is number 406

I had a look for National keys and the only duplicates I have are number 1 and 2......I believe if the key you are after was like the picture you shared, it would be a number 5 not 406. The 406 maybe associated with the model of machine.

At the moment none on U.K. eBay, but loads in US.....there a sets for around $25 plus shipping....

Very helpful tf. Just looked at an old parts sheet and you are correct it is a number 5. The 406 was a parts 'catalogue' number.
Many thanks.

I had no clue this thread went on for that long. It's awesome. Now I need your help and you have been on the subject. I can't find the right key to fit my lock... I was wondering if anyone had a solution for me. Should I try to go find the National number 5 key? Or just try to find a whole new lock? I know I opened and closed this so many times, I just can't get any of the keys I have to fit this!

Oh, ok, thanks!