Aftermarket Pins

[the_hacker]

Has anybody heard of the pin manufacturer "Speciality Products"? (www.splockpins.com). I'm looking to buy some pins to rekey a few Schlage E keyway cylinders. I'm not sure if the difference is significant enough to make it worth paying the extra $4-$10 a bag for the original Schlage pins. Are they of reasonably good quality to maintain lock tolerances or are they not worth looking at?

Thanks!

[cledry]

Never heard of them. LAB is the standard at least here in the US. Either should be fine, but both LAB and the company make Schlage replacement pins which will work slightly better. Some manufacturer pins work better than universal pins, Yale, Corbin/Russwin, Sargent for example but aftermarket manufacturer specific replacement (not universal) pins work as well and generally cost less. The differences compound themselves when master keying, so for the best job if you can use original or specific replacement pins it will be worth the cost.

[keysman]

They are fine .. the company has been around for a long time ( west coast anyway).. the pins are almost Identical to lab .. the colors are different ,so if you refill with lab pins you may have 2 different colors. So far as quality ..I always thought they were labs “ generic brand”. Slightly cheaper but the same product.

[2octops]

We stopped buying OE and LAB pins several years ago and started stocking only SP OE pins (not the colored ones).

I can not tell the difference between these and original Schlage or Kwikset pins.

I hate those colored pins no matter who made them.

[Wizer]

I have allways wondered about those colour-coded pins; Could you not look inside the keyway (with a scope perhaps) and the colours give you the keycode?

[keysman]

I have allways wondered about those colour-coded pins; Could you not look inside the keyway (with a scope perhaps) and the colours give you the keycode?

Not always the case .... the pins are usually the same color for the same manufacturer depths ,you might find a few exceptions but you would only see green pins or red pins or yellow pins.

[the_hacker]

Thanks everyone,

I was just going to buy the individually bagged pins, I'm going to assume the "original design replacement pins" are not color coded as I tend to think it just makes the job look unprofessional.

If I were to go with LAB pins, would the Schlage Mini Dur-X kit be sufficient or should I go with the larger sized kits? I'd like to have enough pins to last through at best a few rekeyings of perhaps 10 cylinders but I'm not sure if 25 pins in each pocket is enough.

[cledry]

It would be enough if you generate your own keys and are no master keying and they are not KAA. It is not uncommon to have a couple of .30 or .60 in each lock. How will you be generating the keys you will be using? If they will be KAA then you may run out but still unlikely. It would be uncommon to have more than 2 of the same cut in a 5 pin key, but in a 6 pin you might get 3 of the same. Personally I would buy bags of individual pins.

[2octops]

I have allways wondered about those colour-coded pins; Could you not look inside the keyway (with a scope perhaps) and the colours give you the keycode?

It's a complete non issue.

There are only 5 different colors of pins. A .003 kit has 124 different pins. That means there are about 25 different green pins, 25 different purple, 25 different gold, 25 different silver and 25 different red pins.

Also factor in that sometimes they work better if you use a pin that is .003 shorter than what it says to use and sometimes people use pins other than what is suggested to make something work or they are just out of that one so they use the one next to it.

You would be guessing for days before you could figure out what key a Schlage was that had 2 reds, a purple, 2 greens and a silver.

[keysman]

I have allways wondered about those colour-coded pins; Could you not look inside the keyway (with a scope perhaps) and the colours give you the keycode?

Also factor in that sometimes they work better if you use a pin that is .003 shorter than what it says to use and sometimes people use pins other than what is suggested to make something work or they are just out of that one so they use the one next to it.

You would be guessing for days before you could figure out what key a Schlage was that had 2 reds, a purple, 2 greens and a silver.

+ sometimes an .005 pin kit is used or maybe 1 or 2 of the pins came from a .005 kit ( ie. . 195 for a schlage)
which could again be a different color.. have fun decoding by site that one

[the_hacker]

Just to be on the safe side, I think I'll buy the bags of individual pins because I'll probably do a little master keying, and being able to do a re-key always helps. I'm just stuck trying to decide what brand to order - the Speciality Products pin set on CLKsupplies.com is $53 for 100 each top, master and bottom, while the LAB individually bagged pins cost $170 at the same quantity. The difference is huge! From the posts I've heard SP is a reputable manufacturer but it seems there's some sort of catch with the low cost.

[clearmoon247]

I can say, through first hand experience, that CLKsupplies.com is a truly amazing place to get pins, locks, keys, and lock parts. I ordered a pack of 100 serrated pins, pack of 100 springs, 5 tubular key blanks, and a couple of lock cylinders, then shipped insanely fast and the pins came in plastic containers labeled LAB. I guess that's just my two cents on the matter.

[2octops]

... The difference is huge! From the posts I've heard SP is a reputable manufacturer but it seems there's some sort of catch with the low cost.

The question is not why the price is so low. The real question is why are LAB so EXPENSIVE?

More expensive does not always mean a better product. You are actually paying for a lot of their advertising budget.

[cledry]

LAB manufactures the pins here in the USA, and they make them for most manufacturers. Those two things are worth something in my book. However if SP manufactures their stuff in the USA I'm willing to try them too, however none of my suppliers stock them. We tend to buy a few hundred dollars worth of pins at a time and about once a month or two.

[the_hacker]

I got lucky and was able to pick up an original LAB Schlage kit. I'll probably still buy a few spool pins but otherwise it looks like I'm set!

Thanks for all the help everyone!