Any Cutaway cilinder DIY's?

[dirtymoney]

First post, just getting into lockpicking & wanting to practice with cutaway doorknob & deadbolt locks. I have a bunch of these on hand & want to make one of each myself. Plus I am cheap & those premade ones are expensive.

Anyone know of any online How-to's on making your own? I figure all I need is a vice, dremel & cutting discs.

[MrScruff]

This post, http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=21876&start=0, doesn't seem to have pictures anymore (it did a few weeks ago) but the information contained in it might be enough to get you on the right track.

My usual rant about cutaway locks applies though. The "tl;dr" version is that you should learn to pick by feel; seeing what's happening at the same time will interfere with that process and slow your learning in the long run.

[landeroth]

one thing to add... although the cutaway lock itself can slow down your learning, nothing helped me learn how a lock works as quickly as demolishing and attempting reassembly of a lock. that helped me advance more than anything. so even if your cutaway turns out like mine did, it can still be a valuable learning experience, even if the final product is a pile of garbage farewell, corroded master 140, you will be remembered.

[squelchtone]

The mind's eye will help you pick more than your visual senses.

As landeroth said, and as many here will agree, a cutaway lock is a great way for first timers to have those "aha" moments where it clicks and you understand how a lock works, what a key pin is, how a shear line works, what binding order means, but for picking practice, it's more of a pain to try to hold a cutaway, pick it, and look at it at the same time. If you take some locks apart and put them back together, this will build up your ability to visualize how the parts interact with each other while your pick is moving inside the lock. You'll be able to visualize distances and forces needed for the pins to be moved, as well as how much torque to apply to the wrench. This skill will come with time and practice, don't get discouraged if you dont have this "X-ray" vision in the first month of picking locks, most of the time, they will just seem to open with a mixture of skill and random luck.

digital_blue's exercises posted somewhere around here will show you how to take a lock apart and pin it back up pin by pin and build up your senses and skill level.

Welcome to the greatest hobby you'll ever be a part of.
Squelchtone