trap-pins myth or reality ?

[SkilleD]

is the trap pin consept realy asembeled in normal locks today??
me and a friend have a little lock pick contest once in a while , and he told me that trap pins was the newest .... but i newer heard of it! kan anyone explain to me the function of those =?

[datagram]

They exist, but are not terribly popular because once they fire the lock does not function anymore and has to be forcibly removed (though there are possible exceptions that's the general idea).

In function, they're similar to relockers within a safe. The basic premise is that if the plug rotates without the pins being firmly held at the proper height (such as when picked or bumped) the trap pins fall into the pin chambers and stop the plug from further rotation.

dg

[Olson Burry]

The do exist in high security locks yes.

Basically, trap pins sit in their own chambers to the left and right of the regular chambers in the lock. When the lock is closed, they rest against the cylinder and dont enter the chamber.

When a key is in the lock and it is turned, the key pins pass underneath the trap pins and they stay where they are, as the driver pins do in the normal chambers.

If, however, you dont have a key and you turn the cylinder, the trap pins will force their way in to the empty chamber, on top of the key pins, locking the lock again. At this point you can't turn the lock back to its original position again either, you must now pick all the trap pins which will probably all be quite skinny spools.

Hope I've explained that ok! Good luck.

[Olson Burry]

Whoops. Didn't see your post Datagram. Hope thats ok.

[datagram]

Whoops. Didn't see your post Datagram. Hope thats ok.

No worries

dg

[atikin]

Olson Burry explained pretty well. You can see, how does that work on this site:
http://hanfeylocktechnologies.com/

[SkilleD]

thanks for the help ppl

[maintenanceguy]

I had one experience with this.

I supervise a pretty large group of guys. I had somebody who kept locking a door in our work shop when another guy would leave for lunch. I won't go into the details but it was obvious from when it happened and how often it happened that one guy in the shop was just being a jerk and trying to lock another guy out of one area. I really didn't know who it was so I talked to the group and told them it had better stop. It didn't stop.

So one evening, after the work day, I pulled the cylinider, removed the plug and drilled two shallow holes in the plug a few degrees to the left and right of the regular pins. And reassembled the cylinder and put it back in the lock.

If the lock cylinder was turned by a key, the top pin would drop into one of these shallow holes and lock the plug. Since the pins can't be raised with the plug turned, the key would be trapped. I made sure to make a quick visual check of this lock a few times a day.

The next day the cylinder was a few degrees off center with a broken off key in the plug. I called everyone back to the shop for an emergency meeting, took a key inventory and gave the guy with the broken key a few days off.

[Wolf2486]

I've never had experience with this type of trap per se. But those KABA dimple locks have a similar, albeit unintentional, effect when the plug is picked too far. Unfortunately, all the pins spring out and the lock is utterly destroyed. Had a few bad experiences with that before.

[New-York-Locksmith]

actually trap pins works differently that's why some of us don't know how they are working....

[Jaakko]

actually trap pins works differently that's why some of us don't know how they are working....

Works differnt compared to what?

[n2oah]

actually trap pins works differently that's why some of us don't know how they are working....

Works differnt compared to what?

I think he's trying to say that there are different types of trap pins...

[VashTSPD]

I had one experience with this.

I supervise a pretty large group of guys. I had somebody who kept locking a door in our work shop when another guy would leave for lunch. I won't go into the details but it was obvious from when it happened and how often it happened that one guy in the shop was just being a jerk and trying to lock another guy out of one area. I really didn't know who it was so I talked to the group and told them it had better stop. It didn't stop.

So one evening, after the work day, I pulled the cylinider, removed the plug and drilled two shallow holes in the plug a few degrees to the left and right of the regular pins. And reassembled the cylinder and put it back in the lock.

If the lock cylinder was turned by a key, the top pin would drop into one of these shallow holes and lock the plug. Since the pins can't be raised with the plug turned, the key would be trapped. I made sure to make a quick visual check of this lock a few times a day.

The next day the cylinder was a few degrees off center with a broken off key in the plug. I called everyone back to the shop for an emergency meeting, took a key inventory and gave the guy with the broken key a few days off.

If it's true, that's a hilarious story.

[squelchtone]

actually trap pins works differently that's why some of us don't know how they are working....

Works differnt compared to what?

I think he's trying to say that there are different types of trap pins...

I think he's calling spool pins and mushroom pins trap pins. I think the only pins that can specifically be trap pins are the ones that spring out into the plug when it is picked and turned so the plug holes match up to the holes that the trap pins are sitting in just waiting for that moment in time. Spool pins and mushroom pins as most of us know stop the picker from creating a shear line in order to turn the lock to begin with.

Squelchtone

[squelchtone]

They exist, but are not terribly popular because once they fire the lock does not function anymore and has to be forcibly removed (though there are possible exceptions that's the general idea).

In function, they're similar to relockers within a safe. The basic premise is that if the plug rotates without the pins being firmly held at the proper height (such as when picked or bumped) the trap pins fall into the pin chambers and stop the plug from further rotation.

dg

It would be interesting to design a 2 piece trap pin which if activated would telescope out by the springs pressure, and the 2 pieces lock into place when the two pieces are fully extended. For some locations where picking is a real concern, they don't care if they have to drill out a lock in the morning, it's more important to know if someone is trying to attack the facility surreptitiously.

As always, fences, cameras, alarms, good locks, and good guards are a plus for such locations.

Squelchtone