by Shifty » 14 Jun 2012 19:31
Hey man, i had a lot of problems starting out. What advice i can give you that helped me tons is this:
Take the "house door" lock apart. (Also, make sure this is an extra and not one that is in use.) You should be able to remove all the pins except one, and then put it back together. If you can't figure out how to take it apart, browse through these forums, i am sure i've seen quite a few posts about taking them apart. When you have just one pin stack left, put it together and practice that. It helps because then you can get a feel for how high you have to raise it. It doesn't help with tension until you put two pin stacks in though because you don't have to set the pin, you just have to break the sheer line with the one. However, it will be good for morale and getting a feel for too much tension. So after that, take it apart, put another pin stack in, then try that. This will make you apply the correct tension because you have to leave one pin on the sheer line and pick the other. Keep adding pin stacks as you get the hang of it.
Also, make sure you didn't skip the tutorials that all the experts have put on here. Especially be sure you understand the concept of binding order. I completely overlooked that my first time learning (Although my first lock didn't require me to understand that, it was cheap). But make sure you've read plenty of tutorials and posts on here, and also taken the lock apart so you can see inside to help give you an understanding of what's going on in there (And to make sure there aren't any security pins or anything).
