Drill resistant lock cylinder and method of manufacturing

A lock cylinder plug comprising:

• a main body extending between a front face and a rear portion;
• a keyway disposed in the front face;
• and
• a plurality of key follower recesses defined in the main body aligned between the front face and the rear portion;
• wherein the lock cylinder plug is formed by:
• injecting a material into a mold, the material having a metal component and a plastic component, the metal component being at least partially steel;
• molding the material into the lock cylinder plug by way of the mold, the lock cylinder plug having a keyway passage;
• debinding the lock cylinder plug by removing the plastic component from the material forming the lock cylinder plug;
• supporting a portion of the lock cylinder plug using at least one ceramic support before increasing a density of the lock cylinder plug by performing a sintering heating process to the lock cylinder plug;
• and
• inspecting the lock cylinder plug using a keyway gauge, wherein inspecting includes:
• inserting a keyway portion of the keyway gauge into the keyway passage of the lock cylinder plug;
• and
• classifying the lock cylinder plug as acceptable, at least in part, according to whether the keyway portion of the keyway gauge is insertable entirely within the keyway passage of the lock cylinder plug.

A lock cylinder plug comprising:

• a main body extending between a front face and a rear portion, the main body having a longitudinal axis extending between the front face and the rear portion;
• a keyway disposed in the front face;
• and
• a plurality of key follower recesses defined in the main body aligned between the front face and the rear portion, wherein a central axis of each of the plurality of key follower recesses is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the main body;
• wherein the main body, the front face, and the rear portion are resistant to drilling and formed from a material having a hardness between 25 HRC and 36 HRC or between 36 HRC and 42 HRC.