by raimundo » 23 Apr 2004 9:23
Ace II mixes soft copper springs with hard stainless springs. the stainless springs are in the places where your pick gets pushed to the 7th/8th depth, (ace recognizes seven depths, fortlock sees eight) google for "steve arnolds gun room, and look on the second page for special ace type lockpicks, they are way too expensive, but if you send a sase to the address in dexter oregon, they will probably send you an info sheet on the most expensive of the pickmasters units that will explain a lot about the various permutations of ace. there are three common diameters and one small diameter for which the keyblank is not available, I make ace picks from keyblanks cut to the eighth depth with sliders from hairpins. I have a design that I have not produced yet for the ace II, which has the sliders going it brass tubes made from ballpoint refills, cleaned out and inside the refill, is a spring from the smaller bic lighter flint (find it under the sparkwheel, don't put your eye out when it comes out.) these brass tubes would be affixed to the shaft so that they can be pushed forward or back, Rubber banded on, actually, and this would make counter pressure that can be adjusted by pushing the spring tube forward, to counter balance the stainless steel springs in the ace II, the forward ends of the sliders would still be banded under two or three of those black O rings that you get from the plumbing section of your hardware store.
