A customer in Ashford called because the flat front door could no longer be opened normally from inside unless the key was used.
That symptom can point to several different faults, but fortunately this one turned out to be relatively simple.
As soon as I removed the handle, I noticed that the spindle was sitting unusually deep inside the gearbox. I tested the mechanism independently and confirmed that the lock itself was still working correctly.
The problem was that the spindle had moved far enough out of the handle that the lever was no longer engaging it. Because the handle was spring-loaded, it still sat horizontally and gave very little visual indication that the spindle connection had been lost.
Rather than replace good parts, I modified the spindle by cutting a new groove so the handle screw could grip it properly.
Once everything was reassembled, the inside handle engaged the spindle correctly again and the flat door could be opened normally without relying on the key.
