Got myself a few locks to practice with..

[Hyperion]

Hey all

Got myself a padlock, make = Some crappy company names Green Gem Security, and a couple of Yale door locks as well...

My Question is this..

If I look into the keyhole, right at the front I can see something that is either a piece of metal on a spring or is the first key pin.

What am I looking at??

The Yale locks are standard front door type Yales, and right were I would envision placing my torque tool there is some kind of spring loaded piece of metal, either a key pin as I say, or some other entity..

Whats bugging me is it's right were my torque tool should go, and if I palce it at the bottom isntead, it leaves me little room to enter my picks...

The picks really have to be thin and tiny don't they?

Am I right in assuming that's the first key pin??

The piece of metal in question rises and falls on a spring, I no this because I can feel the spring tension in it when I play with it..

Any ways thanks to all who answer

My Regards
Hyperion

[Hyperion]

The peice of metal in question is right at the top of the keyhole, and is spring laoded, you can push it up and down and see it go up and come back down.

I am assuming it's the first key pin, but .....

Regards Hyperion

[toomush2drink]

Yes thats the first pin your seeing. On a yale you do normally get 2 spool pins which make picking harder but not impossible so be warned that as a first practice lock you may struggle a little. I normally put my wrench at the top of the keyway and use a small hook so i can set the spool pins.

[Hyperion]

OK thanks for that toomush

So it may have some spool pins as well hrmm - and they need setting as well hrmm ok cheers

Yeah I figured the yales would be a hard one to start with, but I just had access to them, so I got them..

Actually the yales have a LOT more movement for the torque wrench to play with, than the padlock does - but that's definitely down to ware and tare I think; the yales are second hand removed locks, were as the padlock is something I bought...

Any ways thanks again

Regards Hyperion

[toomush2drink]

If you strip down theyales and remove the pins you ill get a better understanding of what your actually doing and also what spool pins look like. Just add one or 2 pins to begin with then maybe add aspool until you can pick it with all in. The older worn yales are easier to pick because of the play so you should be alright. Just remeber if the plug turns slightly the spools are probably caught and need lifting that little bit more with very light tension, try this with one pin and you will see what i mean. It can be fustrating but once you get it its feels superb. Some of these yales can respond well to raking also so give that a go as well.

[Hyperion]

Ok so I stripped down one of the Yale door locks...

I was way surprised by what I found hehe, it just goes to show how much you can learn from taking things apart first

The Yale lock has 6 pin sets, but strangely enough only 4 were spring loaded.
The other two pin sets were shaped like the letter, "I" and had no springs.

The pins with springs had tapered ends as well..

Took me ages to get the thing to open up hehe, but once I had gotten past the caliper pin or washer that was holding the back in, it was only a matter of opening the lock with the key and the whole pug came out then and the pins and springs went pop all over the desk lol..

Are those pins that are shaped like the letter, "I" the ones called mushroom pins? or are they those spools??

Any ways it was great to see inside the lock

Regards Hyperion

[Hyperion]

Thinking about it now, and what the word, "spool" means, I am leaning towards the pins shaped like the letter, "I" being spools

Now I just have to figure out by examining them, how they're are meant to thwart picking

Regards Hyperion

[EvoRed]

The ones shaped like an 'I' are spools. Mushroom pins are kinda mushroom shaped!

You do learn a lot by stripping things down and seeing how they work. And you aren't the first, and certainly won't be the last, to see the prings and pins bounce all over the place after removing the plug!

[EvoRed]

If you look at the MIT guide you will see how these pins thwart picking.

[raimundo]

when taking a lock apart, cover the workbench with a towel, it completly dampens the bounce and scatter of all the little parts. without it lock parts have an uncanny ability to run and hide.