which way do i tension my medeco?

[south town ninja]

Which way do i tension my medic to set the sidebar first? i made a groove grabber and i'm able to set it into the groove, but i can't seem to understand what feedback i am looking for in determining when the sidebar is set for that particular pin side groove. a lil help please?

[kwoswalt99-]

I believe you would have to pick the standard pins first. This is what I have been lead to believe.

[cheerIO]

This may help:

http://www.randombytes.org/medeco.html

I just skimmed this article again and didn't see it, but usually people say that CW the pins have to be set first and CCW the sidebar binds first.

[MBI]

When you're rotating the pin and you feel like you have it rotated correctly so one of the legs on the sidebar have entered the groove on the side of the pin, you want to try to wiggle the pin rotation. If the pin feels like it has some wiggle to it, then it's probably set in the proper groove. If it feels like (rotationally speaking) it's stuck in place and won't wiggle at all when you try to rotate it, then it's probably in the false groove.

But the best advice I can give you in learning to pick Medeco is dumping all pin stacks except one. That way you can learn what the feedback feels like when you move things around with your tools. When you feel like you can teel exactly what's going on inside the lock, purely by feel, and can control what the pin does, add a pin stack and start over again. Keep adding pin stacks after you master the lock at each level. This will be a hundred times more effective for you in learning the lock, than having someone trying to describe to you how to understand what the feedback feels like.

[south town ninja]

I have a used medeco biaxial with only one pin chamber loaded and it seems a bit unresponsive. Whether i try to set the sidebar first or try to set the shearline, i get no feedback. Do i need to clean out my lock first? i noticed when i dumped the other pin stacks that the top and bottom pins stuck together with their master wafer stuck in between. i thought it might be a bit of magnetism at first, but going by the way the lock feels (gummy) i think it is fouled with grease. Should i clean it out or does it need to be like this for some medeco specific reason? If i do need to clean it out , do need to completely strip it out and soak it all in brake cleaner or should just spray some in (and then obviously i would hit it with some graphite)

[Squelchtone]

Merged your latest topic with this existing one, let's keep your Medeco project in one cohesive thread, instead of 3 to 5 threads.

Thanks,
Squelchtone

[Squelchtone]

If i do need to clean it out , do need to completely strip it out and soak it all in brake cleaner or should just spray some in (and then obviously i would hit it with some graphite)

Don't put graphite in locks, .. especially don't put powdered graphite in a Medeco

http://www.medeco.com/Other/Medeco/Down ... cation.pdf

take it all apart, dont lose the sidebar springs, clean it with something like Brake Kleen, dry it off and then pick it without any additional lube or if you really need lube, get Locksaver spray or the real Medeco spray or worst case some WD40 if you have nothing better kicking around.

Squelchtone

[south town ninja]

thanks squelch tone! I'm on it. i'll probably need help getting it back together again tho.....

[Big Jesse]

have you tried reading ANY write-ups on medecos at all?

[MBI]

have you tried reading ANY write-ups on medecos at all?

Yep. Pretty much all the answers to the questions you're asking are already on this forum and the other one you recently joined, in the existing Medeco picking threads.

Also as to reassembling, if you understand and can visualize how the lock works, Medecos aren't that tricky to reassemble.
If you have one with the grub screws on top they're even easier than a regular pin tumbler lock.

These locks love a dry Teflon lube. That's basically what Medeco's proprietary lube is, a solvent carrier which also flushes out the lock, leaving behind a film of Teflon powder.

Good luck and have fun. They were always one of my favorite locks to pick. They provide a good challenge, but one that's achievable. Especially rewarding since many locksmiths still consider them to be unpickable. Spend some time on them, especially with just one or two pin stacks at the start, experimenting with different levels of tension.

I assume if you've reached this level of picking and haven't jumped ahead of yourself, you already have picks that are nicely smoothed, sanded and polished to help give you the best feedback.

[Big Jesse]

have you tried reading ANY write-ups on medecos at all?

edit:
forgive me if that came off a little crass. what i mean to suggest is, there are DOZENS of great write-ups on everything from picking medecos to disassemble. And what is not here, can be found elsewhere.

As far as cleaning and assembly goes just look at medeco's website and you will find downloads of how its broken down, the specified cleaner specially designed for medeco, how the pins function... etc.

the tolerances in medeco are so perfect, that adding a 'granulated lubricant' such as graphite will 'foul' it up.

If you want to learn how to compromise/defeat/manipulate high security locks (not that i can by any means), then you have to start 'thinking'. Asking only gets you so far, its only 'one' aspect of the problem solving spectrum.

[south town ninja]

Update. i have successfully learned to use a groove-grabber to set the sidebar, and can now pick the medeco with two pins, attempting three pins now.

[south town ninja]

I assume if you've reached this level of picking and haven't jumped ahead of yourself, you already have picks that are nicely smoothed, sanded and polished to help give you the best feedback.

i may have jumped ahead of myself a bit. the biggest challenge i have surmounted is an american 700 (or was it a 5200) cylinder pinned with six stacks, 6 of them serrated with as crazy a bitting as i could conjure. Still, i am picking this medeco with 3 pin stacks reliably, and working on a fourth. Still it seems like a pretty big jump from american to medeco. I jumped up because i couldn't get a concrete answer from others on there forum as to which lock i should progress to from an american padlock. Now that i have some basic understanding, it's easy. I think i will be able to pick four pins by tonight, six pins (reliably and repeatably) by the end of next week (hopefully). then , it's all about sliders (m3, i believe) and milled pins. if i can do all of that, should i even bother with "Open in 30 Seconds?"

[Big Jesse]

I jumped up because i couldn't get a concrete answer from others on there forum as to which lock i should progress to from an american padlock. "

not true, i specifically remember suggesting schlage high security locks, then posted this below...

Classic: No security feature installed
Primus: Finger pins/sidebar installed
Primus XP: Finger pin/sidebar installed, #7 Finger pin installed

Everest: Check pin installed
Everest Primus: Finger pins/sidebar installed
Everest Primus XP: #7 Finger pin installed

Everest: 29: Check pin installed
Everest: 29 Primus: Finger pins/sidebar installed
Everest 29 Primus XP: Finger pins/sidebar installed, #7 Finger pin installed

your very good at not listening to advice, unless it pertains to your exact question at the moment of your concern. you have still yet to read ANY of the write ups on medeco in this forum or the other. i wish you the best of luck my friend, but to say nobody tried to help you, when you have a combined 100 years of experience replying to your questions on a whim every day... is most certainly incorrect.

good luck with the medeco tonight and tell us how it goes.

sorry if i came off as a negative nancy. just try to put into perspective the amount of wisdom these guys are throwing at you, and your inability to thoroughly take in that information and comprehend your current predicament. never be afraid to ask a question, the only stupid question is the one not asked, but on an internet forum, a stupid question is the one not thoroughly researched before it was asked. GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND.

[south town ninja]

true, but is the schlage series more or less advanced than medeco? i guess it was not lack of a concrete answer on your part, so much as lack of clarifying questions on my part. i recant my post.