How to: gloves' scorpion wrench

[gloves]

Hello,

I've decided to take some pictures while making another one of these wrenches which I call "scorpion" due to their shape.
They are useful for playing with locks using a dust-cover and the design is very simple, which makes me think I wasn't the first to create them, though I've never encountered one looking like this.



You'll need only pliers, a sweeper bristle and a vice. They're made from a single piece and the tips can be tapered or not according to your needs. Same goes for bending in step 3, you can have them bend exactly 90 degrees and end with perfectly squared out tips, or do as that one in my picture, which is a little bit sideway so it fits in smaller keyways without the need to file the ends.

If you can't see picture correctly with your screen configuration and use Firefox, just press Crtl and - key to scale down. Ctrl and 0 key bring it back to default.



Hope you like it. Have fun

[MacGyver101]

Hey... neat! I've not seen that design before: thanks for sharing!

[MacGnG1]

that is neat!

[Phrop]

Gloves, how do you apply torque to the wrench?

[gloves]

Hey... neat! I've not seen that design before: thanks for sharing!

that is neat!

Thank you both for your kind words I indipendently created this design, hence never seen one looking like that,
though it seems so simple that if it really turns out nobody made one of this kind before, I'd be amazed

Gloves, how do you apply torque to the wrench?

Do you mean when shaping the wrench or when playing with a lock? About the former, put the sweeper bristle in a vice, let the shorter part stick out, and bend it accordingly. On the latter, just apply some tension on the "scorpion's tail" either clockwise or counterclockwise, and it'll rotate it open once you've picked it.

Comments are welcome

[Theist17]

Would you recommend shortening one end to prevent interferingwith the front pin?

[Oaklandishh]

It seems like its mostly meant for wafer locks.

[gloves]

Would you recommend shortening one end to prevent interferingwith the front pin?

It depends on the lock. But since I already suggested filing the ends to provide multi-fitting sizes, I think it'd be an idea.

Only thing which worries me is the aplomb of a wrench which is unbalanced, say if one end is shorter you still would have to fit that other one to the same height rather than fully so IMHO it'd be better to fit the ends only partially in the lock rather than having one end shorter which would provide uneven torque in deeper locks. It may be worth a shot though.

It seems like its mostly meant for wafer locks.

It should have just about the same functionality of any pliers which spring open or Falle style wrenches

Thank you both for commenting

[Haddo]

For us new guys that don't have a clue (Me) How long of a piece do you start with.
From the picture it looks like about 6 1/2-7" That seems kind of big.
I'm thinking more like 5 -5 1/2.

[ufd538]

Not to steal your thunder, but I've made these...I tried other styles a well but for using wiper metal this is the best. This style is particularly useful for locks with sliding shutters. For folding shutter, I would recommend something like peterson's design, as they hold in the lock better. I use the ' scorpion' alot when sight reading motorcycle locks for key fitting.

I am also sure someone came up with it before me.

[ufd538]

KI also made a variation...you'll have to use your imagination, because I am too lazy to figure out how to post pics but start with this... http://hpcworld.com/px/tensiontools/variable/index.html

Give wider prongs to hold back the shutter and instead of it being two pieces spot welded or riveted together it is one solid piece with a bend in it at that center point like your pic. You do need to heat that center point up before you bend because when using a wide piece of spring steel, putting a drastic bend in it usually snaps out in two.

[gloves]

For us new guys that don't have a clue (Me) How long of a piece do you start with.
From the picture it looks like about 6 1/2-7" That seems kind of big.
I'm thinking more like 5 -5 1/2.

Sorry for the late reply, I just can't find an easy feature to keep track of my threads other than subscribing
You're right the piece was about 6-6.5" long. You can use shorter ones too, but at a certain point the bristle's thickness
will impair the wrench's springiness and hence it'll be counter productive. Oh I forgot, the metal used was about 0.7mm thick, so with an easy proportion you can calculate the length/thickness ratio before even trying to shape one. Not that there's a perfect ratio or magic numbers behind, just that this one worked for me

Not to steal your thunder, but I've made these... [...] I am also sure someone came up with it before me.

No problem of course I'd like to see pictures if you've got some to share with us.

KI also made a variation...you'll have to use your imagination, because I am too lazy to figure out how to post pics but start with this... http://hpcworld.com/px/tensiontools/variable/index.html

I've always seen the two pieces welded design, for which there's also a tutorial here on the boards. Thanks for the info.

Cheers

[ufd538]

Well...I am pretty sure I made some like yours, at least similar, can't find em but here are some



Top one is my preferred, then the one similar to yours...other two are fails. Here are some for folding shutters..



Slots cut to different depths on each end for different fits...made of wiper metal. The two are different widths. Here is a quick go at my shutter tool.


6 inch or so piece of spring steel heated in center, bent, ends trimmed to match.




Roughly trimmed out with my angle grinder with cutoff wheel I prefer the one with the larger elbow, but thought I would try the second one for ease of fabrication...not that much easier, quite frankly it felt more dangerous. When you are finishing the length cut there is not much to hold on to, and your fingers are awfully close to the cutting wheel. It didn't really save that much time. Btw, I have the grinder mounted on the side of my work bench.


Finished up on bench grinder..from here, go over it with a write wheel put some shrink tubing on it.

[gloves]

Nice pictures, thanks for posting

Grinding all that excess metal seems like a lot of work though the final result is surely sturdy and one-pieced. However all that matters is that it works for you

Do you quench or cool down the metal while grinding or leave it alone?

Cheers

[ufd538]

I usually quench..but when I was doing those two, I was just switching between the two....had no problem with any bluing of the metal, I'm sure it didn't hurt that it was like 25 degrees F out. Yeah it seems like a pain to cut away the excess, but I wasn't in the puttzing around mood..so I just got to it, and it went pretty quick. The ones I made similar to yours just didn't sit as solid in the keyhole as ones I made there. When you have a flashlight in one hand and wafer deppressor in the other, you can't have it popping out from a small bump.