Are you wondering "How to choose the right cylinder" for your lock? On ManoMano, easily find the cylinder you need. Whether for your front door, garage door, interior door, or else, magnetic cylinders, button cylinders, double or half cylinders are available in all the dimensions you wish for at the best prices.
A basic design, a color that hardly changes, this small tool that is the cylinder hides under its brass or nickel shell an unsuspected mechanism.
Before knowing how to choose your cylinder, it is important to use the correct words to designate this product. A cylinder may also be called "barrel" or "lock barrel". However, the term barrel normally refers to the metal piece that guides the key into its hole. It is very common to see it on lever locks (large old-style keys) and measures on average 40 to 50 mm. The term lock barrel, on the other hand, can refer to any mechanism based on a rotary motion, to avoid any confusion it is therefore advisable to use the name "lock cylinder".
The choice and installation of a cylinder, for non-professionals, require some preparation advice and compliance with several steps.
The first step is identifying the profile of your cylinder, which translates to the visible shape of it. Round profiles are generally placed on bolts while the European profiles, similar to the keyhole profiles on doors, are the most common on European locks, hence its name.
Next, you need to choose how you want to operate your cylinder.
Double cylinders have two entries, one on each side of the door, very practical for front doors or doors with an external access. Some cylinders have a button that locks your door from the inside, very useful for garages or other areas that require frequent locking and unlocking from the inside. The half-cylinder has only one entry, it is often used for curtain controllers or other similar elements.
Finally, measure your cylinder so that it is flush with the surface of each side of the door, a cylinder that sticks out is a cylinder that can be pulled out. The required dimension of the cylinder is equal to the thickness of the door plus the thickness of the handle support plates or rosettes.
Now that you've made your choice, one question remains:
How to change a lock cylinder?
Open your door, remove the lateral screw located on the edge of the door at the height of the lock. You then need to use the key, turn it in the keyhole by 20° or 30° from left to right in order to align the central cam so that you can easily remove the cylinder from its slot. To install the new cylinder repeat this maneuver in reverse order.