Cutaways

[Shfake]

Hey guys, just a quick question. When you cut out padlocks so you can see the pins. How do i know where to cut as there is no way of telling by looking at the lock...

[Shrub]

You are best off looking at pictures of the lock already cut away that way you can just copy the cuts,

If its a lock you cant find a pic of you have to do a bit of thinking,

You need to remove the plug, these are done by removeing or loosening a screw at the bottom of the shackle hole or in other cases it would depend on the lock, some require a differant key and others require a pin or such like to be depressed but the most comon is the screw removal,

If your lock doesnt have a method like that it maybe that its not re-pinnable (the plug doesnt come out) in that case you then need to start thinking how it was made and where the top pins were loaded, you will usually find the metal is a differant colour or a differant colour after polishing/sanding it lightly,
This differant colour is the plugs that were put in the lock body to hold the bits inside,

There are various methods to remove these parts but they are all searchable so i wont go into them here as theres full guides on this,

You now simply cut as you wish to make the sort of cutaway you want,


If you give us the lock make and model we can maybe point you to a picture of one done or if you show us a piccy we could advise better on how to go about it,

Hope this is of some help, have a look around the various cutaay threads to see further details,

[Shfake]

Hey thanks for the quick reply, its a not a brand name lock, its just a cheep one from B&Q with a protected shackle, i just thought it might be a good lock to start my cutaways on as it was only a cheap little thing, and also i can only rake it open, so id like to know why i cant SPP it

Cheers anyway:)

[Jaakko]

and also i can only rake it open, so id like to know why i cant SPP it

That is just lack of skill. Practice and you shall SPP it

And if it is a noname lock, chances are that it is not re-pinnable and that it requires removing the pinstack caps with either heating and cooling or with drilling. Not an easy task if you ask me.

[Shfake]

No no, i just wanted to get a little window in there or something to see if the pins was over setting when i SPP it, and i also just wanted to have a go at it, ive browsed the forum for some time now (Didnt want to post untill i had a bit more skill as i was only poping open masterlocks), and ive saw some of the cutaways people have done and there are amazing, but im sure they wasnt using dremels...endmills and such i guess...

[Shrub]

Yes the cutaways with a depth machined out and not just slots cut are done on a miller or such like, not easily possable with a dremel,

The problem is made even more so with that method in that you MUST remove all workings before doign it otherwise you wreck your pins and springs,

Ill be honest and say that its pointless spending time on a simple lock, its purley skill thats lettign you down and once you can pick that lock will be useless,

Having a cut away to learn to SPP is a waste of time in a lot of peoples opinon including my own, this is because the slightest hinderance and you will look to see what your doing, that is very counter productive and will hold you back until you go back to a normal lock,

You need to be picking by feel and nothing else (maybe sound when youv got better at recconiseing what your up to),

Can i sugest you go back to B+Q and buy the cheapest cylinder you can that way you can follow the SPP guide made by DB (found through clicking my picture sig) also if not already seen take a look at my www button and maybe you will see what your doing wrong,

Can you answer a few questions for me?

1) Are you useing a commercial lockpick set or a home made one?

2) Can you get the lock so that only one pin is binding at any one time?

3) Are you picking it to the point where you think its picked but it doesnt open or are you not getting that far?

4) Can you set al the pins or do some drop down when you try to set any further ones?

[Shfake]

Ahh i didnt think of that...lol... so im just gonna cut through it and all the pins will shoot out at me...i have a few deadbolt locks and one or two euro locks, maybe i could try on those...your questions, Yeah i have a small set of picks, just the main picks, i also use some home made ones. im not too sure what you mean by your second question, what ive been doing with this lock is raking with a short hook, and sometimes it will just pop open...other times ill just have to put a little but of pressure on the last but one pin and it will open, other times i have problems with me oversetting the pins when im raking it...i mean its not a hard lock or anything, i just felt like trying something new with my locks and that was the first one i thought about becasue of the trouble i had with it SPP

[Shrub]

Were on about SPP here so forget the raking, you will not rake another lock until you learn SPP ok!!

Honestly forget the raking and the princibles learnt from it,

Click my www guide and read that then look for DB's spp exorcise,

You need to know why and how a lock is picked, i dont mean 'push da pins up until it opens' i mean why a lock can be picked,

Once you learn that my questions will make sence to you,

Just a little note, see how i pressd enter between each question and my paragraphs? if you do the same it would make reading your posts a lot easier for me


Ill give you some questions i want you to answer, i want you to look the answers up if you dont know them and your not to ask anyone espcially on the site in a posting,
If you come back with the answers you will understand what you are dojg wrong and what you need to do,


1) What feature of a lock allows it to be picked, im after why a lock can be picked and this answer will be based around how the lock is made and why that point alows it to be picked?

2) What is a binding pin? again an explanation is required,

3) What is a binding order?

4) How do you find the binding order?

5) Which is the first binding pin?

There must be more but ive just got a call, grab some answers and i think youll learn a lot doing it and answer your own questions in the mean time,

Once you at least know the terminolagy and what your talking about you will be able to ask or understand questions or replies a lot better,