Easy way to unbend a padlock shackle?

[bukujutsu]

I recently salvaged an American Lock Series 1205. No idea what happened to it. It doesn't look too pretty, but it seems to function fine. Here are some pics:







It was hell to pick and really hard to get the shackle to open all the way. It was originally attached to a foot long chain, and when I couldn't get it open I used it to pull it open; it took a lot of strength. I also had to use a knife to turn the plug. I can't remember if it was too hard to turn with a tension wrench, I might have used the knife right away after I noticed that all the pins seemed to be picked.

After I gutted it I tried using pliers to pull it into shape and then I jammed it in my bed frame and used a chain to try to the same effect, which caused that thing that keeps the ball bearings in place to fall out and the whole shackle came out. Fortunately I didn't lose anything and gained a full understanding of how a lock works.

I'm not planning on using it to secure anything, but I do like having the shackle pop open after I pick a lock. It's like the celebration music in a video game after you beat a level or something.

The only tools I have are pliers and a screwdriver. Is there any easy was to bang the shackle back into shape?
What is the shackle made of? If I heat it up could it weaken the metal enough to pull or pry it enough?

The keyway doesn't seem to be able to turn back when the shackle is open. If I put pen caps or something in there it should work, right?

[yono]

XFH Series 1205 is an older version (of course) of the American Padlock.
We are using the VGL Series 5260. However, the shackle can be rebend if you have a Vise Clamp, standard size hammer and a metal plate that you can support the shackle while rebending it back to good shape. regards

[raimundo]

shackles for these locks are replaceable, but that lock has been heavily beaten, i would only save the internals, the plug, cylinder pins and springs, as well as the ballbearings, and the plug tailpiece that inlets the ballbearings,

You may have few locks to work with so that may be all salvageable for you.

you can adjust the bend in the shackle if you tap it with a steel hammer, carefully on the correct place, and support the rest of it that doesnt need adjusting.

most of the bend is at the point where your fingertip is under the shackle, remove the shackle from the lock and clamp the part of it that is below the bend in a solid bench mounted vise, then insert a steel rod or large chisel inside the shackle, hold most of the chisel length in one hand and tap a steel hammer on a small part coming out of the other side of the shackle, this makes it possible to tap on the area above the bend without hammering on the opposite side of the shackle loop,

Metal has memory, the crystals that are stretched in the bend will want to go back to previous crystalisation if struck in the correct place, However this is effected by time so a new bend will adjust more easily than an old one.

Dont be surprised if you need to fix other less obvious faults in the shackle to make it better, but if you think and observe before deciding exactly where to start tapping it, it is probably doable.

[bukujutsu]

Thanks for the help guys. I guess I won't be able to fix it without tools, unless I can find a lock with a detachable shackle that I can cannibalize.

I decided to move the plug into the housing of a less challenging padlock and it was also my first time taking the pins out of a plug:







It's interesting how just using the plug affects feedback. I may take it out and practice on it like that.

[Evan]

I recently salvaged an American Lock Series 1205. No idea what happened to it. It doesn't look too pretty, but it seems to function fine. Here are some pics:

[...]

After I gutted it I tried using pliers to pull it into shape and then I jammed it in my bed frame and used a chain to try to the same effect, which caused that thing that keeps the ball bearings in place to fall out and the whole shackle came out. Fortunately I didn't lose anything and gained a full understanding of how a lock works.

[...]

The only tools I have are pliers and a screwdriver. Is there any easy was to bang the shackle back into shape? What is the shackle made of? If I heat it up could it weaken the metal enough to pull or pry it enough?

The keyway doesn't seem to be able to turn back when the shackle is open. If I put pen caps or something in there it should work, right?

First off that lock looks like its been chewed up and used hard... Where did you save it from an old construction site or something ?

The date code stamped on the back "XFH" tells me it was manufactured by American Lock Co. in March of 1997...

The keyway (and thus the key if you had not picked it) can not turn back to the key pull position when the lock is opened because it is a key retaining lock... You can tell this from the picture where you have the pieces from the gutted lock, the part which operates the lock (it holds the ball bearings in place) is a half-moon shape which means key retaining on American Locks... If it was a quarter-moon shape you would be able to pull the key out with the lock open... You can convert a key retaining lock to a non-key retaining one or vice-versa but doing that requires replacement of the part in question...

~~ Evan

[fjardeson]

@Evan

I work for a construction company these are very common locks for "Lock Out Tag Out" (locking out equipment, breakers valves etc that you are working on).

Mainly because they hardly ever accept the wrong key, have a lot of permutations especially if keyed with all six pin stacks, and quite durable. I like 'em!

[Evan]

@Evan

I work for a construction company these are very common locks for "Lock Out Tag Out" (locking out equipment, breakers valves etc that you are working on).

Mainly because they hardly ever accept the wrong key, have a lot of permutations especially if keyed with all six pin stacks, and quite durable. I like 'em!

The Series 11xx safety lockout locks are popular with companies interested in safety in their workplace... The padlock lock bodies are available in several colors which can be issued to tradesmen in different departments or work crews to allow for a color code to know who is still working on the machines and who has to be located to find out why a machine is still down...

Going even further, you can obtain those safety lockout locks in a unique keyway which American lock uses for no other purpose but those safety lockout products to prevent the risk of someone being able to use a random American padlock key to open a safety lockout lock...

~~ Evan

[raimundo]

the marks on the aluminum lock body that appear on the edge of the lock between the two legs
of the shackle indicate not hard usage, but an attempt to break the shackle out of the lock by inserting two hardened bars through the shackle and sissor/levering.

each bar inserted from opposite sides of the shackle, and then the long ends/handles force together
pull up on the shackle. Obviously the lock did not break.

[Evan]

the marks on the aluminum lock body that appear on the edge of the lock between the two legs
of the shackle indicate not hard usage, but an attempt to break the shackle out of the lock by inserting two hardened bars through the shackle and sissor/levering.

each bar inserted from opposite sides of the shackle, and then the long ends/handles force together
pull up on the shackle. Obviously the lock did not break.

I would not agree with you on that raimundo, those look like imprints from chain links made by someone pushing on a chained gate with something very heavy like a vehicle...

Your theory of two bars being put through the shackle and then being scissored to try and lever the lock open would not explain the mark clearly visible outside of the shackle area behind the fixed pivoting portion of the shackle... How would someone get any leverage to make that mushroomed mark on that part of the lock using a bar ?

Since a chain would be on both sides of the shackle it is much more likely that those mushroomed imprints were made by large forces transferred to the soft aluminum body of the lock by a chain made of harder metal securing some kind of gate...

~~ Evan