impressioning help

[Romstar]

umm, i wanted to impression my brinks shrouded... but it has *cries* six serrated bottom pins...

... is this possible or should i just give up now

Nah, its possible, but its gonna give you fits and starts all the way.

If you aren't overly experienced, you may not notice the difference in the markings at first. Go buy a box of blanks for the thing just to be sure.

Romstar

[Deathadder]

Thanks Rom, just picked up like 10 blanks. I have the key to it so i will try to match them to that at first, to get a feel for the serrated pins, then ill try to do it alone.

[pelham123]

failed again.after getting everyones advise here, I made a special trip to school to have another shot at it. After filing down those first initial marks I just couldn't distinguish what I was seeing. Occasionally I could see a shiny dot but after a couple of good level swipes standing next to the window I would lose track of them. After taking apart the practise lock and shimming out the plug I could see I went way too far on 4 of 5 cuts. How do you guage when you hit the shear line in relation to the other pins?

[Deathadder]

This is why they stressed so much about not filing unless you are certain you see a mark. If you don't see a mark, there is a chance that you've already hit the shear line, and further filing means you screwed the whole key. At first just focus on the ones you can clearly see have marks. If you think it has a mark, but are not sure, my advice would be to either go on to another one that you are sure has a mark, or if there aren't any and the key hasn't opened, dull up the tops a little and try wiggling it again.

[pelham123]

Sounds good on paper deathadder but just duck if you hear a scream. It'll be my pro-lok impressioning handle flying across the room,,,, and it's got some weight to it.

[raimundo]

before you read a blank for marks when impressioning, wipe the blank with a shoptowel or napkin, I have seen tiny drops of oil that came from inside the lock appearing to the eye as perfect little dings of the sort that you are looking for. to cut one of these is a mistake.

[Deathadder]

Sounds good on paper deathadder but just duck if you hear a scream. It'll be my pro-lok impressioning handle flying across the room,,,, and it's got some weight to it.

LOL! I laughed for a good 30 seconds on that one! Yeah, it does sound good on paper, but I know how you feel . Ive been trying to get my brinks for the past 2 days and still cant do it . Pretty much the only things that can help you with impressioning is 20/20 vision and experience .

[Romstar]

LOL! I laughed for a good 30 seconds on that one! Yeah, it does sound good on paper, but I know how you feel . Ive been trying to get my brinks for the past 2 days and still cant do it . Pretty much the only things that can help you with impressioning is 20/20 vision and experience .

That and a light touch on the file.

I find that more than 50% of the failures in impressioning come from being too agressive with the file.

Try this as well;

While we know that files cut on the push stroke, they also "polish" on the pull stroke. When you have made your passes with the file, put it back a few times to polish the surface of the blank. This gives you an even and consistant surface for the pins to mark.

Good luck,
Romstar

[pelham123]

OK boys I'm off to school armed with new insight. If you don't see a mark don't file. Just clean the surfaces with a very light stroke and impression again. I had some good results with a couple of pin tumbler car door locks but they were easy. I could see the shiny dots clearly. Today I'll try polishing with a little backstroke. CUL.

[freakparade3]

I don't do alot of picking anymore because I got hooked on impressioning. I love doing it. If I could find a job where I just impressioned keys I'd be a very happy man.

[raimundo]

how well do you like impressioning a best cylinder? where there is no shoulder and the index is at the tip, anybody got a lot of experience doing that? I gave DB a best deadlock set that I had started to impression a key for, but best is just difficult, and I never heard DB say another thing about it, so he probablyl already traded it for something else.

[freakparade3]

I've never tried a Best cylinder. I still have alot to learn about impressioning but I love doing it. I don't know for sure why, but I just think it's alot of fun.

[raimundo]

When impressioning, you bind right or left and bump up, the blank moves in the tolerances of the keyway and fulcrums off the tip of the blank while the greatest movement is toward the bow of the key, this makes the best impressions on the bound pins toward the front of the plug,

However when you bump down, the fulcrum point is at the wall of the cylinder nearest the open end of the keyway, the greatest movement within the keyway is at the deepest part of the lock near the tip of the key.

On a best the second paragraph does not apply, it will always fulcrum off the riveted on cap on the far end of the cylinder. still giveing greatest movement toward the front of the lock, but when trying to impression the deeper pins, the tip of the key remains the fulcrum and the amount of motion is reduced so that the deeper pins in a best cannot give really impressive impressions, and the impressioner must read what impressions he gets very carefully.

[pelham123]

Welll with the help of this site and a good hands-on lesson from a pro I was able to impression a 5-pin house lock in about 20 mins. I watched what he did. After blading the key witn a flat file, firmly yet gently bumping the key back and forth a few times I could see the marks clearly. Then he started the cuts with his round swiss file. After going just deep enough to get a good start he widened his cuts just shy of meeting. Next bump he centered his cuts and then went hard after the biggest mark. He let 4 of us examine the key as he went.He was done in 15. It shows you can pick up tips on the internet. thanx

[Romstar]

Glad to hear that you got it. Keep practicing.

Oh, and you're welcome.
Romstar