Hearing a Pin drop

by **Guitar_J** » 8 Jul 2004 22:59

On my Kwikset cylinders, I can often set the pins and then hold the lock and shake it to see if I have any set or if the key pins are binding. Well I'm trying to do this on this Brinks shrouded lock I bought today but a) I'm not setting any pins.. at all.. or b) this lock and perhaps others with tighter tolerances, don't make that ever so obvious sound when I shake them around...

so which is it.. a or b or c (something else)

I know this lock has serrated pins so maybe thats why I'm not setting them or hearing them... Dunno.. this is my first encounter with serrated pins...

Any ideas?

by **Chucklz** » 8 Jul 2004 23:00

If you set a pin on a deep cut, an 8 or a 9, you may not hear anything, because the pin has very little "bounce" distance. Also, try lubing the lock a bit. Your pins may be a bit stuck in their holes.

by **zeke79** » 8 Jul 2004 23:13

the brinks lock you have is put together with an american am4 keyway. It is 6 pin and if i remember right 4-5 top pins are spools and 3 or 4 bottom pins are serrated. I hope this helps you out a little bit. I have a tension tool i made for this keyway that works outstanding on these locks. You can download it from my ftp server at ftp://lockpicking:101@nickz.homeftp.net . The zip file is named american tension tool.

by **Guitar_J** » 8 Jul 2004 23:38

That looks nice.. I'll have to try my hand at making one of those...

thanks
-Josh

by **zeke79** » 8 Jul 2004 23:41

its make from a hacksaw blade. It has come in very handy and like i said the feedback is far better than the standard turning tool. :wink:

by **Guitar_J** » 8 Jul 2004 23:48

From looking at that, I realized that this keyway is pretty open, however my wrench takes up too much space (i feel) so I took one of my southord tension wrenches and bent it on the end about 2mm and I put it in the top of the keyway rather than the bottom... this allowed me to discover the position of a spool pin... For me... this is a rather nasty lock... I'm going to love opening it!

by **zeke79** » 8 Jul 2004 23:52

keep after it, after you open it a few times you'll be able to open that type of lock time after time. I was the same way when I went from master no.3's and kwiksets up to a schlage.

by **Guitar_J** » 8 Jul 2004 23:55

I'm just now hopping on the train leaving the Master No3 and Kwikset and easy wafer station... perhaps this is too big of a jump?

Have you ever tried those circular tension tools? they look nice.. but I wonder about the feed back with them...

by **zeke79** » 8 Jul 2004 23:58

I have not tried them myself so I cant say if they are good or not.

by **Guitar_J** » 9 Jul 2004 0:01

Well this wrench I bent just keeps falling out of the keyway.. I will make one of those wrenches you made tomorrow... looks useful, I thought about making a falle style adjustable one...

by **zeke79** » 9 Jul 2004 0:07

adjustable would be good so you could use it in a wider range of locks. as far as taking too far of a step up in locks, I think it is always good to have a lock that you cant pick. It keeps you motivated. Mine right now is this #$%@ schlage primus.

by **Guitar_J** » 9 Jul 2004 0:18

heh.. I've heard alot of mention of the Primus.. but I've not seen one...

I looked them up online though... they look like a beastly lock... Good luck...

by **zeke79** » 9 Jul 2004 0:36

On the backside of the brinks lock if you look close you can see where they have plugged the lock body. That may have something to do with removing the core also.

by **Guitar_J** » 9 Jul 2004 0:37

Yep.. possibly... Someone needs to discect one of these and photograph it nicely...

by **Mad Mick** » 9 Jul 2004 16:36

If the tension wrench is slipping out of the keyway, rough up the edges a little with some coarse (120 grit or similar) emery/sandpaper. This will help it to grip a little better.

Hearing a Pin drop

Hearing a Pin drop

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