Familiar with throwing into a zip lock, I dissessembled and reassembeled a Smart Key Cylinder without the cradle, Was thinking it may be near impossible and I rarely say that, but seemed like the trick/solution was to remove the green cap and insert the pins, springs then the cover.
I will try it again knowing it can be done without removing the cover, a Contractor said they contacted the Factory and said it CAN't be reset in the Field, only at their Factory?
Their is a guy in North Carolina that makes a Comb pick, that pushes all wafers down together, and includes a Blue cut to all 9's and an SC1 uncut to reset without total dissembly. Video is on Youtube, he sells the "9" blue Key, the uncut SC1 and the comb pick for 30 including shipping. since I have a comb and an uncut SC1, I just need to modify a blue key, and rater than cutting down to all 9's, I was just going to cut most of the key off, add a point for easy insertion, and be sure to leave the slider part of the key.
[quote="tballard"][quote="dougfarre"]
- How hard was it to reassemble?
[/quote]
Good question. The first time I reassembled it, it wasn't too bad. Last night, I spent 20 minutes swearing before putting it in a ziplock baggie to fix "later".
The hard part about it is getting the tiny little tumbler springs into their oversized chambers, placing the tumbler caps on, and then dropping that whole assembly onto the plug without one or more of the tumblers becoming misaligned.
[quote="dougfarre"]
- What would happen to the functionality of the lock if the springs turn supple and non-responsive?
[/quote]
Functionally, I think it would continue to work just fine so long as gravity and vibration could be depended on to drop the sliders back down if they are raised beyond their proper level. I have some vague attacks in mind which involve compromising the springs, but nothing concrete. (And they might be considered advanced too...)
[quote="dougfarre"]
- When compared to your regular F series, how would you rate this lock to DE attacks?
[/quote]
With the disclaimer that I have very little real DE experience, and without getting into too many DE details, I would suspect this lock would be more susceptible to DE for the same reasons a KwikSet SmartKey is more susceptible than a normal KwikSet. On a regular pin-tumbler lock you kinda have to know where to drill, or you have to drill a LOT. On these locks, there a certainly better places to drill than others, but there are enough important small parts that I think a decent hole in it anywhere would be enough to compromise the plug.
Squelchtone has reported that he has possibly seen anti-drill plates in the deadbolt model, which would be game-changer. I don't have those in mine, which came from a keyed knob. I will also point out that at $24 bucks, this is about the cheapest Schlage you can find in a hardware store, so it might not have all the bells and whistles. (I really wanted the deadbolt because the bolt itself is a ANSI grade 1 supposedly)
[quote="dougfarre"]
- Why does the re-key key have the same cuts as the regular key? Does the lock have a static shear line reserved online for the re-key key? (what am I missing here?)
[/quote]
There are no shear lines. The "locking" function is purely a product of the sidebar on the left side of the lock (looking at the face) being able to push in due the the sliders being aligned. The "rekey" function is activated by rotating the plug to 11 o'clock, which requires the primary sidebar entering the plug, which requires the sliders at the correct height, which requires a properly bitted key. One the plug is at 11 o'clock, the grayish-green part of the plug which contains the springs and tumblers (top right quarter of the plug from the face basically) is going to try to expand outward into the shell due to some springs in the plug making it act like a "reverse sidebar" With a normal key, this expansion is prevented because there is a little "catch" mechanism. The "reset" key trips this catch with the extra protrusion is has.
[quote="dougfarre"]
- If you pick the lock can you then re-key it without the re-key key?
[/quote]
So far [i]I[/i] can't pick the lock at all. (though I haven't tried overly hard). But FarmerFreak has, so it must be my tools at fault, right?
If you have picked the lock, you could easily push the little catch to allow the plug to expand at 11 o'clock, but you would (I think) need a narrower bladed key to rekey. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the plug segment which moves tilts, more than expands, and that causes the top of the keyway to narrow, thus requiring a narrower bladed key to rekey. I can tell you that a normal key does not fit when the rekey function is engaged.[/quote]
Anyway, I've got a tool (which is detailed in the advanced section, sorry) that allows me to decode the cuts without even taking the lock apart or off the door, which means I can do that when a customer is locked out. 
