Interesting variation of super-n00b mistake, need help.

[Klaiviel]

Okay so to make a long story short, you know when you pick a lock 180 degrees and it gets stuck; well I accidentally figured out how to do even worse than that. I removed a cylinder from one one of my padlocks and put the key in to turn it. Unfortunately, I neglected to observe the holes drilled in the bottom of the cylinder at 180 degrees. At that moment all of my key pins fell out at once and of course I panicked and turn the key back to the 0 degree position. I was able to recover all the key pins; however, now I am stuck with a locked cylinder with only drivers and springs in it. Of course first thing I tried was to pick it which is interesting since I had to use a tension wrench to put all the drivers into the bible first otherwise I am putting tension on the springs which will break them. And that almost worked, however no matter how hard I try I can not push the pins far enough, using my picks, into the bible for them to stay above the shear line. Times like these I wish I would have not neglected my SPP training in favor of raking... Anyhow at this point I think my only option if I can't pick it open is the crunch up the springs and start over, but this again presents a problem. This padlock cylinder is fairly unique and out of production and being the size that it is I can say with almost 100% certainty that the springs are not standard size and thus would suck to find replacements; so that too looks to be out. Any ideas? I am fresh out.

[yng_pick]

try shimming it.

put your j hook to the last pin, overlift it, and place the shim and slid it. wont be as normal as regular shimming as you will have to overlift each pin in turn, but should work.

If you do not have shims, if you search around I have seen a couple people recommend taking the little security thingy out of a DVD case (little white rectangle) and cutting it open- there is a strip of metal inside that can be used as a shim. I think I have seen a tut on here about doing the same with a soda can.

Outside of that, making some kind of comb would work, that would hold up all four pins at once, though I am not sure what would be a good material for that outside of grinding/filing pick material (or hacksaw, etc)--- with the padlock being a smaller cylinder

[Klaiviel]

Thanks for the idea, I hadn't thought of that. A comb would be hard to do, their are actually 6 pins in this padlock. I am going to try the shimming technique although I do not have any commercial shims so I am going to have to get creative.

[Klaiviel]

Awesome, shimming worked, I used the dvd security strip as others have said. I never want to have to do that again lol. I can't believe what a nasty little padlock that thing was 5 spool drivers + 1 normal and 5 serrated key pins + 1 normal. Anyways thanks again for the advice.

I do have one question regarding shimming though, I have heard people say that they have used it while picking locks and I am unsure as to how that would be done. The only reason I was able to use shimming here is because I removed the U shaped clip at the end of the plug and shimmed from the back. The front is protected by a lip on most locks that I have seen, so how would you shim past the lip?

[Eyes_Only]

I think they may have been referring to a lock that has already been removed from whatever it was mounted on and the individual is trying to get the plug to turn so they can disassemble it for re-keying or something like that.

I used to do this a lot when I was working as a locksmith. Sometimes no matter how much I try to shim a lock from the back it just wont happen for whatever reason or I can't pick it cos of pressure and stress of meeting deadlines to get to other calls. So in these cases I would try to shim at least the last two pins from the back and then pick the remaining pins in the front so I can take it apart to re-key it.

[raimundo]

Yup, like eyes only said, you can combine shimming with picking if you can get the shim in. this is usually from behind, using the pick like you would use a blank key to insert a pin, Once you have shimmed on pin collumn your lock is one pin less secure from picking and by the time you have shimmed two or three collumns, its faster to finish by picking since there is almost no security left.

in extreme cases, when picking a locked door from the front, an attempt can be made to shim from the front, avoiding the flange that keeps pins from being directly inserted, a single pin collumn can be targeted for a corner of the shim to separate its collumn if you insert it from withing the keyway and spiral it around the plug to hit a pin at the middle to back of the keyway, this is difficult and is only for those who know what they are doing. The only reason to do this would be if there was difficulty with a pin in those positions.

[cedrice]

if you have dropped all the bottom pins, just crank on the plug. That will break the springs inside, and you can push the plug out with a follower. You will need to rekey the lock after.

[cedrice]

edit- advanced info.

[Raymond]

One does not have to push all the top pins back into the bible to correct this problem. If all the top pins are the same length, simply raise them all at the same time with a straght pick ( back of a diamond) until only the springs are on top. Turn to open.

If the top pins are different lengths, turn the plug gently so as not to crush the springs. Since the springs will give a little, and are likely to allow the plug to turn a bit, the top pin is not likely to go up into the bible when picking normally. These should pick very easily.

[cedrice]

depends if one or all of the pins fell out i suppose