PACLOCK / Pacific Lock Co. 100G tear down

[InsertPickHere]

After reading about PACLOCK in another thread, and someone requesting a tear down, I decided to take it upon myself to provide such information. Disassembly was accomplished with vigorous filing with a Gerber brand multi tool file, and plenty of vise grip and hammer All in all it took about 30 minutes.

Here it is, all broken down. The plates are left in the stacks they were in when the lock separated in two after removing the pins.




This is what the top and bottom pieces looked like, respectively:






Shackle, bearing, and cam:




The part we care most about:












Ahh the pins... Interesting (to me at least) to note that there are no security pins and the key pins have fairly rounded tops, while the driver pins are mostly flat but still with rounded edges. I haven't tried to pick one of these yet but I suspect it will be fairly simple..



Curious spring we have there. I'm not sure what position it was in inside the lock, but in the photo the second one from the left is shorter and of smaller diameter than the rest.



Some more misc. images:





Start with the plate in the top left, pick it up, set it down on the plate below it. Continue until you finish that column then continue with the top right plate. By the time you finish you'll have a complete lock body:



Notice the 'wavy' nature of the pins that hold this thing together. I didn't do that during disassembly. If I had to guess I'd say that with 8 of them in the lock they would keep the plates from rattling around, keeping things nice and snug.



It is now almost 2 AM and time for bed. I'll get photos of a complete lock tomorrow, and try my hand at picking it =]

[MacGnG1]

nice stuff. thanks man

[ElAbogado]

After reading about PACLOCK in another thread, and someone requesting a tear down, I decided to take it upon myself to provide such information. Disassembly was accomplished with vigorous filing with a Gerber brand multi tool file, and plenty of vise grip and hammer All in all it took about 30 minutes.

Wouldn't a dremel with an abrasive cut-off wheel cut about 25 minutes off that time?

Great job with the tear down. I can see enough to know that I don't want one of those. It joins the ranks of "kwikset" and "defiant" as low end locks.

BTW, I notice only one ball bearing. Did you lose one or does it have just one?

El Abogado

[InsertPickHere]

Wouldn't a dremel with an abrasive cut-off wheel cut about 25 minutes off that time?

Great job with the tear down. I can see enough to know that I don't want one of those. It joins the ranks of "kwikset" and "defiant" as low end locks.

BTW, I notice only one ball bearing. Did you lose one or does it have just one?

El Abogado

A power tool would certainly be faster, but you gotta do what you can with that you have, right?

And it does appear I somehow lost a ball bearing during disassembly, though I don't know how. From looking at other locks there are two ball bearings in them.

Here, have some photos of an assembled lock and it's packaging:








Lastly I'd like to say that these are 'low security' padlocks, according to the Army, and they appear to be just that. A lock to keep honest people honest. I'm very glad to see Paclock getting these in to the military supply chain, I'd much rather support a small company in the US than a giant company that outsources to Mexico. Keep it up Paclock =]

Oh, also, is there any plans to produce keyed alike sets? I know American offers 5200's like this, but it would also be great to get these in the same fashion.

[Josh K]

How much would it cost to simply add some spool pins? Nothing crazy, but I can't imagine it being an unjustifiable cost to spool a cylinder or too.

[PACLOCK]

Great work on the tear down ~ and yes, that's one of our newer locks produced here!

The short story on the pins in the cylinder is that we are already field testing an upgraded version that has spool and serrated to pins for all five of the top pins. We're playing with some other components to increase the bump resistance of the locks as well.

Please keep in mind that our initial goal was to be just like Master. We've been fighting for years to win a contract so even a few pennies here and there for nice upgrades like security pins would have hurt our chances to get a contract. Master's locks with no security pins passed spec as did ours and that's all the government contractor knows when it comes to award time.

But now that we've supplied almost 700,000 of these style padlocks in '09 (our first year of the contract), we're setting our sites higher. Once field tests are complete on our cylinder improvements, we expect in a few months that the upgraded PACLOCK padlocks will be substantially better than the DG version. And, if all goes as we're planning, we're doing a significant overhaul to the body of the lock to improve its strength and durability... all the while increasing our depending on USA manufacturing.

Thanks!
Greg

PS. Right now our contract has us only supplying the 5340-00-158-3805 and 3807 (with chain) version. We have the capability to do KA, MK, and GMK variants as well. Just need to convince the government to give us a chance!

[RevDisk]

I just started the process of dissecting a couple PACLOCK's. Overall thoughts... Not bad. Solid construction, crisp function. I'd need to toss it in the mud, leave it in a bucket of salt water for a couple days, toss it in my freezer and then my oven before I'd call it reliable, but thus far no problems. I'd be willing to stand on saying it's as good as an equivalent Master Lock. I'll hold off on saying "better" until I spend some more time picking away. So far so good.

My only beef thus far is the cylinder construction. I'm not overly partial to it. It appears to be copper coated zinc, but I might be wrong on that. I'd prefer a solid brass cylinder (or if you're feeling like something different, some good steel), which I'm guessing was avoided on cost. Perhaps I'm missing a point, but I really don't like the holes in the bottom of the cylinder instead of the top.

[InsertPickHere]

I'd like to add that I've noticed when using the key, the Packlock 100G works smoother and is more reliable at getting the shackle open than the Master DG. Anyone who has used a DG knows that half the time it doesn't want to open..

[PACLOCK]

My only beef thus far is the cylinder construction. I'm not overly partial to it. It appears to be copper coated zinc, but I might be wrong on that. I'd prefer a solid brass cylinder (or if you're feeling like something different, some good steel), which I'm guessing was avoided on cost. Perhaps I'm missing a point, but I really don't like the holes in the bottom of the cylinder instead of the top.

Yes, the cylinder shell is die-cast... considerably cheaper than making it from brass. Once again, this die-cast shell meets the grade... you can thank Master for that. Really, you can thank them for moving the military from a solid-body 5200GL series to the DG series. We used to manufacture solid-body locks against American Lock... until we both got blind-sided by the "meets the spec" Master DG lock.

Since then, it's laminated bodies and die casted cylinder shells... Master (from what I understand) got the spec changed to allow laminated bodies and won the contract about 8 years ago now.

The construction of these types of cylinders requires the pin holes on the bottom. There are some pictures on this site of Master DG cylinders with some bleed-through holes on the top of their bibles... we consider that to be sloppy manufacturing. There shouldn't be any holes or even dimples for that matter.

Greg

[RevDisk]

Yes, the cylinder shell is die-cast... considerably cheaper than making it from brass. Once again, this die-cast shell meets the grade... you can thank Master for that. Really, you can thank them for moving the military from a solid-body 5200GL series to the DG series. We used to manufacture solid-body locks against American Lock... until we both got blind-sided by the "meets the spec" Master DG lock.

Since then, it's laminated bodies and die casted cylinder shells... Master (from what I understand) got the spec changed to allow laminated bodies and won the contract about 8 years ago now.

The construction of these types of cylinders requires the pin holes on the bottom. There are some pictures on this site of Master DG cylinders with some bleed-through holes on the top of their bibles... we consider that to be sloppy manufacturing. There shouldn't be any holes or even dimples for that matter.

Greg

...

That's not good.

[morose.scion]

I"m just starting and just got my first lockpick set, a little $16 5 piece set from Southord. Im trying on two locks i have a Paclock 100G and an American 5200. I can't get either of them. I pretty positive it's something I'm doing as I keep hearing how easy the Paclock is with no security pins. But apparently I'm doing something wrong. First off I'm having trouble feeling the pins and I'm sure this just comes experience so I keep trying. But that's all I'm doing is trying and not getting any where. The pins keep sticking at the top of the lock like I'm applying to much pressure but if I loosen up on the tension I get nothing. Once again I'm sure it's all me but I feel that with all I have read up on I still don't know squat about what I'm doing. On another note In my storage I have a pad lock that's been cut open and a few picks and a locksmith manual that was my uncle's. That's what got me interested and now I'm trying. I just need maybe some help with it maybe there's something I'm missing. Thanks in advance for the help.

[eodjeff]

Thank you for taking the time to take down this lock. I am having the same issue as another poster of the PAC LOCK 100g with the bottom pins locking. I am going to continue to attempt to pick the individual pins and switching to a raking method just to break up the process. Any tips. It is hit and miss for me on locks as I have not had the time to pratice. So I am making time. Thank you for the advice and help. I have a hard time telling if the pin has met the shear line