Overlifting Paranoia

[MrAngry]

Overlifting is when raise the pin set too high, causing the key pin to bind.

What are some signs that one is overlifting? My intuition tells me that as you let the tension off slowly, you would hear two small clicks in quick succession. But I've never heard this, only one loud click as both the pins fall simultaneously.

How do you combat overlifting? Clearly you can't do it by economizing the distance that pick travels. If you lifted very slowly, would you never overlift?

[MrScruff]

The most common symptom of overlifting is, as you mentioned, that the key pin binds. You'll probably notice that the key pin doesn't want to move freely and won't come down on its own.

I think that click you hear when you reset is actually the key pin hitting the bottom of the chamber after the driver pin hits it and transfers its kinetic energy, kind of like a Newton's cradle. If you overlift the whole stack stays er... stacked, so you're still letting the equivalent of one pin down.

It's not so much about lifting slowly as it is about lifting carefully; the only way I can describe it is that there's a slight "release" when the driver pin sets. In my experience, you need to focus on feeling that moment to avoid overlifting.

[MrAngry]

You'll probably notice that the key pin doesn't want to move freely and won't come down on its own.

Well, there is another issue. I can't experiment with it because I have no means of knowing whether I've overlifted a particular pin (other than the first pin as I can see it). I can tell at the end when none of the pins are binding but lock won't open, but determining which pin was overlifted eludes me.

I think that click you hear when you reset is actually the key pin hitting the bottom of the chamber after the driver pin hits it and transfers its kinetic energy, kind of like a Newton's cradle. If you overlift the whole stack stays er... stacked, so you're still letting the equivalent of one pin down.

I don't understand what you're saying. When the key pin is bound, the driver pin will be sitting immediately on top of it. When you release tension, they should fall as one body, causing a louder click than would be the case if it were merely the driver pin falling onto the key pin.

It's not so much about lifting slowly as it is about lifting carefully; the only way I can describe it is that there's a slight "release" when the driver pin sets. In my experience, you need to focus on feeling that moment to avoid overlifting.

Do you know of any resources that describe this feeling in more depth? Deviant's text only devote a paragraph to it.

[MrScruff]

First piece of advice: stop looking at the lock.

Second piece: don't lift each pin stack as high as it can go, lift each pin stack as high as it needs to go. Pins are tiny little things and you're exploiting a tiny little gap between them so it's easy to miss that gap if you push the stack up with too much enthusiasm. I know it sounds kind of silly/obvious but it took me a while to figure that out and it may help you as well.

For the next part, I have to ask a question: can you feel the pin stacks individually? Or put another way, if you were presented with a completely unknown lock could you figure out the number of pins using only your tools and know which stack you were manipulating? I ask because being able to tell each pin stack apart is the only way to know which one you've overlifted. See, normally the key pin will only do one of three things: move with no resistance (driver pin is set), move with slight resistance (driver pin is not set, spring is pushing the stack down) or move with slightly more resistance (driver pin is not set, spring is pushing the stack down, stack is binding and lifting it enough will set the driver pin). In all three cases the key pin will more or less move freely. When you find a key pin that doesn't want to come down anymore you've found the one you overlifted and will have to release just a little bit of your tension to let it drop.

As for the click, what I meant was that you're only going to hear one click regardless of whether just the driver pin is coming down or the whole stack is.

And lastly, the best resource that describes that feeling of the driver pin setting is... experience. Sorry, I wish I had a better answer but it really just comes down to practice; when you pick a lock the only feedback you get is through your tools and it just takes a while to learn to interpret it. Some people pick it up in a few days, some (like me) struggle for months until it just works all of a sudden. For me, when the driver pin sets it feels like the tension tool twitches ever so slightly and the key pin loses all resistance; the chamber turns just a little and there's no longer an opposing force from the spring.

Hopefully this helps.

[wa1ker00]

Maybe those overlifted pins really are coming to get you....

*cue Twilight Zone music*

[3-in-1]

I suspect that one possible case where overlifting would be likely to occur, is when two (or more) pins stacks are binding, not necessarily equally but binding nonetheless. This would be more likely seen in tighter tolerance locks but could feasibly be found in any lock. I would recommend getting cut-away cylinders of several different locks to help you see and understand exactly what is going on.

[dls]

Dont forget that if your lock has spools on some drivers they may not drop fully when releasing torque on the tensioner and they may also not be fully over set. It could be a false set in the spool.
Also overlifting can in itself be used as a devastatingly effective method of overcoming spools by releasing tension slowly the key pin can fall below the shear leaving the driver set, if you cant get them to fall in the right order you may have to hold one or two up with a pick to upset their natural order to let the others fall.

[raimundo]

Overlifting is also a word used to describe a technique that has become popular with our british members for certain auto locks, however this is probably an advanced technique, and I have only read of it, never tried it.