Playing with fire - basic metalworking questions

[nezumi]

Alright, I read something about turning my half-diamond at a 15 degree angle so aso to more easily pick a particular sort of lock. This lock is currently KICKING MY butt. Since my SO set came with three half-diamonds and I only need one, I thought this might be a good way to make one of them more useful.

But now I have a problem, as I have never done metalworking before. From what I understand, to make the metal malleable enough to bend without breaking it, I need to get it really, really hot. How hot is this? Do I need special tools? Can I err... Well... can I use my gas stovetop? I don't have the money for expensive tools and this seems like such a minor change... There has to be a cheap way to make this modification, right? Right?

Is there anything else I should know or get? I presume some sort of hand-coverings are in order, as well as maybe something for my eyes. What else do I need to know so I don't set my apartment on fire and lose my security deposit?

(Please don't laugh at me!)

[illusion]

15 degrees, that sounds like the Hampton Medeco pick.

I recently did it on my Southord half-diamond by clamping the tip in a vice and twisting it... no heating required whatsoever.

[Shrub]

15 degrees, that sounds like the Hampton Medeco pick.

I recently did it on my Southord half-diamond by clamping the tip in a vice and twisting it... no heating required whatsoever.

Spot on.

For future referance i wouldnt advise you use it as a regular method but you can use a gas stove, make sure you fill the sink with clean cold water in case you burn yourself and never hold things in your bare hands, use pliers or somthing.

In this case illusion has it right, dont hold the 2 sides too close to gether as they need room to twist but half a millimeter will be fine, if you dont have a vise which is the better way to do then use 2 pairs of pliers.

[weldman]

Experienced metal worker here...

you don't heat the piece till it glows red

to soften metal you heat it up and let it cool SLOWLY

if it cools too fast you'll work harden the metal

home this helps

btw i don't have any specific temps for the processes

[Shrub]

Experienced metal worker here...

you don't heat the piece till it glows red

to soften metal you heat it up and let it cool SLOWLY

if it cools too fast you'll work harden the metal

home this helps

btw i don't have any specific temps for the processes

To the original poster, without meaning to sound condesending or meaning to start a flame war please do not pay attention to the post above,

Work hardening is the process where working a material as in bending repeatedly or hammering the material or such like makes the surface of the material harder, to quench material can make certain material brittle but its not called work hardening it.

DO NOT HEAT YOUR PICKS UP AT ALL TO DO THIS TASK

If it means me posting a pic of me bending a SO to 90' and back cold then i will but take it from me heating is not required.

Weldman, half a post can be damageing just like a little knowledge can, you dont mention that after annealing he would have had to reharden the material. The material the SO's and most other picks are made from should not be heated and are even made cold at the factory, ill leave you to investigate what material they are

[nezumi]

15 degrees, that sounds like the Hampton Medeco pick.

Yeah... I did find some 'high security' stuff on the non-high security parts of the site. Bad me! I'll go turn myself in now That said, the author is right, it isn't that hard to come up with. I'd either use that or some sort of teeny, tiny tweezers to squeeze the pin once it had hit the sheer line.

Alright, good, no fire required! I'll protect my little paws. Thank you very much for the information. I hope I get as much useful help next month when I ask about using my dad's old electric saw to cut up pieces of metal I found in the garbage... Boy, this hobby is doing absolutely no good for me!

[illusion]

There is a lot of stuff like that on the public forums, if people took the time to look at some of the old threads they'd shut the "but there's nothing in the public forums" mantra up.

As it stands I can't say if the Medeco pick is actualy effective... Yup, that's right.. the lock is kicking my arse .

[nezumi]

Have you gotten at least one pin with the sidebar? Without the sidebar I was doing pretty well, got up to 4. With the sidebar... It took me a while to realize the pins were actually twisting, so I'm sort of mucking it out as I go along. No pins yet, but soon! Soon, I'm sure.