Electric Scissors or Electric Pick

[BorisTheSpider]

I actually made a similar device using a Singer brand electric scissor. I use the term "similar" loosely, because mine was a bit rushed and slapped-together. It doesn't work so well...or at all. There's just no torque whatsoever. It stops running with the slightest resistance. I suppose it's what I get for getting the cheap model ($3 at Big Lots).
However, I just noticed some nice, shiny Black & Decker brand electric shears selling at wally world for $20 USD. I've held myself back thus far, but I think I'm gonna cave and try them out for this. Just wondering if anyone else had tried them?
I don't really need a pickgun, I'm pretty good doing it right. But I love to tinker, and I'd love to brag that I got a quality electric pickgun for under $30 (total cost).

[gstrendkill]

there is a similar device in the dvd "lockpicking for the new millineum"

your design looks worth a try, especially because i live really close to a walmart

[ju_]

there is a similar device in the dvd "lockpicking for the new millineum"

your design looks worth a try, especially because i live really close to a walmart

Good luck with the build. Will check back every so often. If you do build why not post some pictures..

[gstrendkill]

there is a similar device in the dvd "lockpicking for the new millineum"

your design looks worth a try, especially because i live really close to a walmart

Good luck with the build. Will check back every so often. If you do build why not post some pictures..

it may not be any time soon but if i do make one pics will definitely be posted here

[mtt.tr]

heres an idea put a variable resistor on the motor so you can adjust the speed.

[5thcorps]

One of the best motors to integrate into something like this is out of an electronically controlled throttle body. to overcome the high resistance of throttle return springs the motors are very high torque. I actually had to cut off half of the scissor housing and glue on a plastic cylinder to house the motor. For lower torque applications i simply take out a couple battery cells

[notes5]

I've found this electric scissor of Black & Decker.

Link: http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGu ... =1570.1792

Is very simple to modify, and you can change the head (2 blades) very quicly, if you want to reset to original use...

Cost about 30 Euro.

Notes5.

[IrefulSoul]

I've found this electric scissor of Black & Decker.

Link: http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGu ... =1570.1792

Cool, those are available on Amazon for $19 US at the moment.
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-SZ360-3-6-Volt-Cordless/dp/B000BAURWU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1269266313&sr=8-1 Black & Decker SZ360 3.6-Volt Ni-Cad Cordless Power Scissors

I wasn't able to find a US store selling the Draper scissors, but for everyone in the UK, Amazon UK has them for cheap (£6.49) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-80509-6V-Cordless-Scissors/dp/B000ELJ0Q0

I was panicking reading through this tread looking for EZ Cut and all I could find was this huge beast of a machine! http://www.ezcut.com/products.htm

[dusanp]

I will try this as soon as I get to buy one of these (Although I first want to learn SPP properly). I thought of using a vibration motor- I could get one fairly easily and cheaply, but according to what I read around here a vibration motor would be pretty useless here.

[dusanp]

heres an idea put a variable resistor on the motor so you can adjust the speed.

All the credit and potencial criticism goes to the maker, but I just copied a part from a I-hacked.com article, to which ju_ pointed earlier in reference to Southord design pick gun:

It is sometimes suggested that simply putting a variable resistor in series with a DC motor is an effective speed control, but that's simply not true. To begin with, the variable resistor must be able to handle the worst case motor current (with the motor stalled), which might be a few amps. The maximum resistance would typically be a dozen ohms or less. Low ohm variable resistors rated for high current (often called rheostats) are not easy to find. If you connected one to a small motor you would probably be able to vary the speed just fine -- under no load. But load the motor down a bit and you may find that it won't start until you crank the voltage up to a certain point, then it starts suddenly and runs faster than you want. Then as you try to turn the speed back down, the motor stalls because it has very little torque at slow speed. Another fallacy is that you can make a good speed control with an electronic component called a variable output voltage regulator. It's slightly better than a series resistor, but still performs poorly at slow speed. The reason for this exasperating behavior is related to the fundamental way a DC motor works, and probably not worth a technical explanation.

[Ward]

Is it desired to slow down the number of vibrations per unit time to help lengthen the window at which the operator can apply tension and hopefully catch the pins bounced up above the shear line?

You might achieve this using PWM (pulse-width modulate) to drive the motor.

[Quickpicknpay]

Cool thread.
I originally bought a HPC Electropick around 18 years ago for a hefty price around $450 and when I looked at at the action it reminded me of a pair of electric scissors and so I made one similar to the one in this thread. It did work but not as well as the real one. Some minor tweaking was needed. using the HPC model we ended up having a pick competition on a random new lock at work to see how many times we could pick and relock the lock in 60 seconds....and the winner was...me with 67 openings next place was around the high 40s but we proved it worked very well. Today as time means money in my job my main preference is the electric pickgun. I now use a Dinopick as my old faithful HPC firstly started to hold less charge and then I lost the charger for it. I still look at the old thing sitting upon my shelf and wonder if I should bother replacing the batteries and finding a charger but as I have 2 Dinopicks and have just ordered another elcheapo model for only $53.50USD I think I will never get around to fixing it up.
I am amazed at how many of you thought of different things that can be modified to work as an electric pickgun from shavers to toothbrushes where will it end. Another thing I used to make was a hand powered pickgun that was simply 1mm(approximately) round spring steel that was bent like a spring in the rear and the top that did the work was just ground on either side to fit into the keyway easily and all you had to do was insert it and use your thumb to flick down on the top side so that when it came back up it would flick the needle and vibrate the pins. this worked amazingly well but on stubborn locks your hand would need a rest. But for the cost of a length of spring steel, i amazed quite a few locksmiths with it. I will see if I can dig it up and post a pic if there is any interest. great reading these threads as it is bring back some good memories and some tools and techniques that I have forgotten about. thanks everyone.