Newbie is close....

[rriella]

OK, OK... I know another newbie who has the bug. Got my Southord Pick set 1 hour ago and started in on a Master
padlock. I can hear 4 of the 5 pins drop when I relieve tension. I think I am not heading all your advice and using too much tension. Thoughts?

Bob

[LocksmithArmy]

You will have to give more information... what are you doing before you release tension.

use very little tension because if you are overlifting the pin it will still fall and make the same noise as if it were picked and fell when you released tension. or maby you over lifted 2 pins and herd them drop to their shear lines and then drop to the bottom so you heard 2 pins deop twice...

[rriella]

Success... I have now opened the 1st lock several times. Now trying for consistency. I am strictly trying pin lifting.
Raking seems so brutish at this point. I am hooked. Good stuff!

[ElbowMacaroni]

I had advice from others here on master padlocks to apply tension CCW instead of CW, and can open it ALOT easier going CCW. I've only got it once or twice CW, but can reliably SPP it going CCW.

Just a thought for something to try...

[CptedIV]

I got the same advice, but I felt like it would be the same, just start from opposite side if you go the other way. I'm gunna try going ccw on a couple locks that were hard for me to SPP, but easy to rake..

[rriella]

CW, CCW.....please explain.

[CptedIV]

Clockwise and counter clockwise, I was confused for a while too...

[rriella]

AHHHHHH..... makes sense now. Thanks for the explanation.

[ElbowMacaroni]

Yeah, what he said...

[NanoDuke]

Also changing the direction of rotation will help if you have a strange shaped keyway, or you find that the tension wrench keeps slipping.

[CptedIV]

I think another problem I'm having is too much tension. The problem is I need a lot of tension to turn the lock once the pins are sent because when I took the kwikset apart, I used a flat head screwdriver to pop off the clip on the back. Doing that, I bent the clip and it kind of rides against the rest of the lock while holding the plug adding a ton of resistance to the lock. What kind of tool can I get from a home depot or hardware store that will take off and put these on cleanly without bending them?

Thanks,
Ed

[LocksmithArmy]

a pair of needle nose pliars... I use 2 small screw drivers usually. put one at one edge and push aginst the other edge with the other screw driver. the clip will rotate off withoug being bent... try not to pry it off.