too much picking

[laf]

Yesterday I experiment something very confusing. I have a dudley padlock(40mm) that is very easy to pick. I have picked it for about one hour. After this one hour of intense picking I wasn't able to open it again. At first I thought it was me. I found out that the cylinder was harder to turn with the same tension aply on it. Could the heat of my hands expand the metal of the cylinder wich would cause more frcition between the cylinder and the lock??

[ridinplugspinnaz]

It's far more likely that after picking for so long, your hands were getting fatigued to the point where you can't pick up on the "clues" that the lock is trying to give you when you're picking it. When you pick for extended periods, your hands are going to be far less sensitive to the telltale clicks and other movements that are transferred up the pick and tension wrench. Less sensitivity means a lower chance of successfully opening the lock.

If it really is the case that the lock has become stiffer, it's pretty unlikely that heat expansion had much of anything to do with it. It's not unheard of to accelerate wear on a cylinder by picking it lots, perhaps that's what's going on here?

[laf]

yeah that sounds more realistic.
thanks

[femurat]

After a few minutes you're holding the cylinder you heat it up a little. You start heating from the outside, so the cylinder becomes bigger and the plug has more room to move: in theory picking becomes easier. In practice I completely agree with ridinplugspinnaz.

Cheers

[raimundo]

Im gonna assume that femurat shares the same base temperature that we all do, just a bit above room temperature. That is not enough temperature variation to make any change in dimension that would affect picking a lock.

Take the pick you used and wipe it with a white tissue. that black stuff is some of the material that has been filed off the pins by the rough surface of the picks, the rest of it, including the bigger chips are still in the lock, some of them are between the plug and the cylinder.

After picking, does your tensor fall out of the lock or is it stuck? if its binding, its not producing the torque necessary to turn the plug, you also may be roughing the surface of the cylinder wall at the bottom of the keyway, you may also be roughing up the sides of the pins, and the sides of the drillings they are seated in. All of this wear will affect the response of the lock. USe a little lubricant to get it going again.

When you get around to it, sand off the sharp edges of the picks you are using.

[5thcorps]

Hands don't generate near enough heat to expand the lock components. I've have never heard of locks in the sun that pick harder because of the heat

[thelockpickkid]

when you get to the point where a lock seems unpickable, just put the lock down and wait for about a half hour, you have lost feeling, became impatient and the lock probably won't open!!!

[5thcorps]

Also try to stop concentrating too hard. Let your mind wander while working then presto!

[justbegginin]

it may not happen as fast but it could be over picking, Im sure there's a post on it around here...