Re-pinning question

[jbudofsky]

Hey, so I just discovered lock picking recently at HOPE 6 (which was absolutly awesome). I decided to start off with Digital_Blue's exercise. I sat down with my newly purchased lock and started to try and take out 4 pinstacks. I opened up the guide to re-pinning and got as far as the little circular metal peice on the back of the lock. It seems no matter what I do I can't get it off. I've tried my tension wrench, tweezers and just about every peice of scrap metal to pry it off. Does anybody have any tips or instructions for me? Haha I've had easier times getting of a girl's bra than with this... =P

[pinsetter]

It would be extremely helpful to know the brand and model of the lock you bought. It is hard to give an answer when we don't know what you have. If someone were to give an answer it would be a general answer and may or may not apply to your particular lock.

[jbudofsky]

Hmmm...well it looks like the brand name is Ilco. The label says Brass Rim Cylinder F216. 6 pins, keyway SC (don't know what that means). As soon as I find my camera I'll try and get a picture up.

[Shrub]

A typical general answer would be this,

If the clip has an eye on each end of it then use some circlip pliers or 2 screw drivers,

If its just cut ends then use 2 screwdrivers, use one to pry and the other to hold, if you can jam one in the back of the keyway to stop the clip tuning then it will be easier but dont damage the keyway,

You need to expand the sprung clip and pry it off basically and it depends on what tools you have to hand on how well you achieve this,

Some find some small long nose pliers useful and instead of squeezing with them pull them appart to open the clip,

Dont quote me on this but you may find some posts on this if you take a look for 'Tail piece retaining clip' as thats what its called

Tell us the make and model of the lock and even better show us a picture for more info,

[pinsetter]

A small vise would also be helpful to hold the lock while you try to remove the retaining clip. Some of those clips are stiff, and if trying to hold the lock in your hands while prying the clip off your screwdriver could slip off. That can get pretty painful if one of your body parts gets in the way and catches the screwdriver.

I always remove the clip with the lock in the locked position so I don't have to worry with the plug turning. After removing the retaining clip, just insert the key, turn the plug clockwise a little bit and start SLOWLY pulling the plug out. As you pull the plug out the top pins and springs will be ejected into the plug bore. If you are doing this SLOWLY as I said, you will be able to get the driver pins and springs out one set at a time and keep them in order. Also be careful when doing this not to dump the key pins out of the plug if you want to make reassembly a no brainer.

Another thing that might help:

Some rim and mortise cylinders have a small strip of metal in place above the pin chambers. If your lock has this strip, you can remove it by driving it out the rear of the lock. (It will be in a machined slot in the top of the lock body.) When you get it out, all your spring/pin stacks can be removed through the top of the pin chambers. Not all locks have these strips. You'll just have to look and see if your lock has this or not.

If by chance you don't keep everything in order when disassembling the lock and you have a key, you can place the key in the plug and use this to properly place the key pins. Just place the pins so that all are flush with the tops of the chamber bores when the plug is not installed in the lock body.

There is one more helpful suggestion that I can offer for re-pinning and keeping things in order for a practice lock where you'll be removing pins and springs and storing them:

Get a couple of those cheap plastic 7 day pill organizers that you can get from most any drug store or department store. Take a permanent marker and number the compartments from 1 to 7. So then if you have a 6 pin lock and you're wanting to leave only 2 in the lock for practice you can store the others in the pill case in the compartments corresponding to the position they were removed from the lock. So if you removed stacks 3,4,5,&6, you would place those parts in compartments 3,4,5,&6 respectively in the pill organizer. This makes replacing the stacks a breeze when you want to add a stack or two back in.

Well, I hope some of this helps someone at least.

[jbudofsky]

Thanks guys, FINALLY got it off. As far as organization goes what I've always done is taken the paper CD case and made a smaler version from maybe 1/4 of a sheet of paper for each set of little screws (or in this case springs and pins). Yet to fail me.