Shims

[Marcus8880]

Hey, I've been looking to find a material thin and strong enough to make them into shims to shim a Masterlock. I tried a floppy disk piece of metal and it worked for Bufflo locks. But not Masterlocks. Pop cans are too big and those metal security devices that you find in cds are too flimsy... Any suggestions of metal to use as a shim to open a Masterlock with? Or at least any padlock other then a flippin' Bufflo?
Many thanks,
Marcos

[Dragunov-21]

Something I've found very useful is metal measuring-tape. Their thickness is usually related to their width/cheapandorcrappyness. A small cheap one should work, and they already have a slight curve which makes life a little easier

[freakparade3]

Their are several threads on padlock shims. Homemade shims are moderately effective at best. If you want results buy some commercial shims. It's worth the money.

[Eyes_Only]

A lot of times even a commercial shim can turn out to be not strong enough so using homemade shims can be even more of a challenge.

[nothumbs]

For me commercial shims have been too thick, at about .005 inch. I've used shim stock at .003 with good results. You can buy a roll of it (6 inch by 100 inch or so) on eBay for well under $10US. This should be a lifetime supply for most folks. A shim made from this is good for a couple of locks then toss.

The shape of the shim and the technique makes all the difference. Search for my template and guide to making your own in another thread on shims.

[kostassk8]

the aluminum shims are breaking all the time i cant open any lock

[UWSDWF]

is the lock you are working with shimable?

[raimundo]

master lock usually has heel and toe locking dogs, so you would have to shim both ends of the shackle and the locking dog on the fixed end of the shackle is deeper. The only master locks that lend themselves to shimming are the combo padlocks, with one livebolt locking dog.

I use stainless steel that I find as springs inside some of the old vhs tape cassettes, I make a knife type shim that is pushed straight down over the locking dog, rather than the rotate the shim butterfly type. I cut the metal on that spring to a long tapered point rounded near the tip.

[MacGyver101]

One issue that I ran into the first time I tried making a homemade shim is that I didn't have enough of a curve on the portion of the shim that pushes into the lock body. Even relatively flexible material (e.g., floppy disk metal) becomes quite rigid if you curve it properly... and that was the step I was missing on my first few tries.

[vmikulich]

I've found the use of WD40 or a synthetic lubricant to be helpful when using shims. A few locks I could not open with a commercial shim opened right up after using a lubricant.