Kwickset SmartKey: How to Pick

[dougfarre]

Here is my best advice for picking the Smartkey. Its not a typical lock, and this tutorial is for those with a bit of intuition. So apply your favorite method here. I will add in, however that I don't rake locks. Raking a lock is a horrendous sin, and i find it quite disturbing. So don't rake your SmartKey. What if somone stuck a sharp, serrated object into you and moved it in-and-out really fast? Or even slow for that matter? A medium size feeler pick is the only pick necessary and is great for all Kwickset keyways.

In addition you will need:

1) A large or double sided tension wrench to provide very uniform tension on the plug.

So here we go, just follow these steps, and you should be well on your way. If somone would have given me this information, I would have been much less frustrated with my SmartKey for the first few weeks I had it. If you follow these steps, and practice, I guarantee you will get your lock open at least once.

2) Extremely light tension. If several pins lock-up at once. No good, you should start over. Otherwise let loose on the tension until they unlock. DO NOT TRY: to lift pins up while they have locked-up. This lock, will lock up your pins every time you apply even the slightest of tension. If you think that by pushing really hard on the pins, you will be able to move the pins then you are wrong. You will break your pick, and ruin the pins. The pins have a little metal ledge on them that could bend or break.

3) Try to pick from middle -> back or middle -> front and then proceed to pick the front or back pins. The sidebar is such that it only gets pressure from the lock housing in the center, unlike a Medeco which gets pressure from the housing at all points. Don't try this techniqe untill you really figure out whats going on inside this lock.

4) The sidebar provides the primary locking function, so there is no driver pins, only key pins. If you pick a pin, it should stay at the height you have picked it, but it should not "lock up" If you hit it to hard (with a pick) it will fall back down. The exception to this is if you have the pin picked and then apply some serious tension on the plug. However I do not recommend doing this, because it will miss-set the sidebar and the pins will "lock up."

5) When the SmartKey is picked it will slide open ever so smoothly. The plug rolls on several ball bearings so there is no need to ever apply hard tension.

6) If you pick one please post your findings hear.

I recommend to start off by finding a key with very low MACS and re keying your smart key to that key. Then progressively keying it to higher and higher MACS as you begin to conquer this lock. Also, you will learn a lot by disassembling the lock, but make sure you are very very careful. There are at least 15 moving parts that can get lost.


It is quite an interesting creature so enjoy.

[Beyond]

Picked one on the way to a job Monday. We're a Kwikset dealer, in addition to many, many other brands and we got 2 already mounted for displays. I asked if I could toy with one since we don't even have room for either of them. It's been that way for the past few new locks we've gotten from dealers. The last one I played with was MasterLock's Anti-Bump system and their combo dial/mortise cylinder. I really looked for this one after reading the other thread.

It wasn't that hard. I shuffled between raking and SPP, like I always do. I really liked the design. I immediately took it apart so see what made it, in the words of Kwikset, "not susceptible to bumping". I figured it was just a regular pin tumbler w/ some sort of anti-bumping pins or grease or something else, like the MasterLock. Boy was I surprised when I took it all apart.

Not really much else to say. I varied tension from the start and found a slight compromise of medium to light to be the best, or at least how I gauge it.

I don't see how it's any more high security than say, any GM sidebars. I can understand the addition of re-keying simplicity, but that's about it. Unless I'm overlooking something?

We also got a reset cradle, although I doubt they'll be more willing to let me play around with that.

[dougfarre]

Thanks beyond! Anyone else have any more experience picking it? Also, I have a post on the site somewhere with lots of pictures detailing the reset cradle if anyone cares to look.

One a side note: there are ways to reset the lock without taking it apart without the reset cradle.

[guest5999]

i'd be interested in seeing that

[dougfarre]

i'd be interested in seeing that

viewtopic.php?p=283837#283837

[New-York-Locksmith]

Thats really very interesting... good knowledge gain, Thanks

[joseph01]

Thats really very interesting... good knowledge gain, Thanks

yep - quite interesting workout

[Beyond]

Sorry this is delayed but I finally got around to buying one instead of using the one at the shop. I think I read somewhere that it can only be re-keyed 3 times? Is that correct or am I thinking of something totally different? Thanks in advance Dougfarre, lol.

[Eyes_Only]

I haven't read anywhere that it can only be re-keyed 3 times. Should be as much as you want or as frequently as you lose your keys.

[dougfarre]

I think he is trying to make a joke, but his sense of humor is a little...eh well. The Smartkey certainly wouldn't be the "Single Greatest Lock Ever" if it could only be re keyed 3 times, now would it beyond ?

[Beyond]

I think he is trying to make a joke, but his sense of humor is a little...eh well. The Smartkey certainly wouldn't be the "Single Greatest Lock Ever" if it could only be re keyed 3 times, now would it beyond ?

I don't know, I just took it apart and put it back together and its principle of operation alone is pretty great.

I thought you were just make a huge deal over nothing, especially when I picked it but, I finally bought my own and took it apart a few minutes ago. I must say, it's a truly epic lock. Those false gates are sneaky, I love them.

[cav_king]

How very perculiar, i have never seen these before, do they do these in the UK?

[David Swearingen]

These locks have been around in the U.S. since 1978, sold under the name "U-Change".

[squelchtone]

These locks have been around in the U.S. since 1978, sold under the name "U-Change".

I don't believe this is just a rebranded U-Change, but a new release and update of a previous design. Just as the U-Change also took ideas from patents issued to other locks prior to 1978. I don't have access to the U-change diagrams right now, but here is the patent for Kwikset Smartkey.

The first two pages reference dozens of related patents that were used to make the final product. I think the 1978 patents for U-Change are somewhere in there, but Google patent search is down at the moment so I can't compare diagrams.

Kwikset Smartkey:
http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat7007528.pdf

if link doesn't work, try this:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=MiN3AAAAEBAJ&dq=7007528


Squelchtone

[raimundo]

how many depths does it have and how many possible depths are the variable pins capable of?

It seems that it maybe be limited in possible combinations if my guess is right. I don't have one to look at.

Doug says that it has some delicate parts, I think they may not be as delicate as that because in normal operation, on a multi dwelling, there would be wrong keys used hard, like the way they are used when people break them off in locks. I would guess it has to stand up to some abuse.
any lock that cant take abuse and shrug it off is not worth much.

any delicate parts may also be subject to wear, from normal use of the key by the heavy handed, So I wonder how long such a lock would last,
I have seen medeco kik 's on the front of apartment buildings that after ten years have a completely eroded keyway, with the warding all worn down.