Badly designed Yale lock

[Dr Nick]

I bought a Yale lock from my local B&Q to practice my tumbler lock picking skills. Being an amateur, I anticipated a picking time of at least a couple of minutes as the lock claimed to meet the British Standard BS EN1303: 2005 key security 6 (6 pins with anti-pick protection). To my surprise, the lock opened after a couple of seconds of initial raking and rough picking. As the cylinder plug turned within the cylinder housing there emanated a scraping sound and the movement eventually seized up. I forced it back and tried using the key to check things were alright but it was still very stiff to open. After a couple of rotations, bits of spring fell out the back of the lock. I decided to open the lock to examine what had happened. Below is a photo of the disassembled lock:

http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss23 ... edYale.jpg

I discovered that in the resting position (no key inserted into the cylinder plug) a number of the driver pins, while resting on top of the bottom pins, were positioned below the shear plane or the cylinder plug and cylinder housing:

http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss23 ... loseUp.jpg

This makes these pins obsolete during the picking process as one only needs to pick the pins whose driver pins are blocking rotation of the cylinder plug inside the cylinder housing. In the lock that I had, the last 2 pins were positioned as such and so one only needs to pick the first 4 pins for it to open. It does mean that when the cylinder plug is rotated and not all the pins have been picked, the springs will get caught in the shear plane and will be destroyed.

So much for the high security of this lock!

[edit- killed image links- images too large- please 640x480- unlisted]

[Solomon]

Hi, Dr. Nick! What you have there is the X5, I have one of these myself and have to say it's actually fairly tricky to SPP.

With 3 of the pins at/below shear at their rest positions, it's no wonder you made such short work of it by raking. Bit of a problem though - judging by what's left of the 2 missing springs in the first pic, you haven't actually set them. The springs got trapped when you rotated the plug (that's the scraping sound you heard) and have gotten ruined. Ouch!

You must have been using way too much tension for this to have happened. Mine has 2 very high setting pins just after the front one - see here - and this has never happened any of the times I've picked it. You need to be VERY gentle with the tension when picking these cylinders, even less so than regular ones. Just because those couple of pins were resting below the shear line, it doesn't mean you don't have to set them... the springs will get caught in the works and jam everything up if you turn the plug prematurely, like what you've experienced here.

If the plug doesn't rotate with almost minimal effort, it means the shear line is blocked. In this case, it happened to be blocked by springs, which you didn't feel because you were using too much tension... and of course you've acidentally ruined them in the process. No biggie though, we all make mistakes. I know I did! One thing to keep in mind is that these cylinders are very smooth and have higher tolerances than average, so the amount of tension required to turn the plug in something like an Iseo is even too much. You'll definately learn a thing or two from this experience anyway, so don't be disheartened.

Get a locksmith to give you a couple of new springs and reassemble it, then come back to it again after you get a bit more practice with some other locks. The Iseo F5 is a fantastic practice lock if you're gonna learn what "light" tension really is. It took me a long time to realise how little you really need, and trust me, it's VERY little. I'm teaching my gf at the moment and her idea of light tension is waaaaayyyy too much, just like mine was when I was just starting out. Every lock is different, some actualy do need a fair bit to get pins setting properly, but for a brand new X5 right out of the packet you need like a hairs amount.

[Rickthepick]

Its not that theyre a bad design its just theyre not designed to be picked. That wouldnt have happened with the key in. with a key you wouldnt turn until it was fully in and all pins were set.
Iv seen a lot of yales like this the pins seem to hang a lot lower in the keyway than other cylinders

[Dr Nick]

Many thanks for your replies and advice! I am using less tension now and it seems to be a far better technique.
As for the lock, I managed to salvage the remains of the two damaged springs and now the lock works without any problems.
I must say though, this lock is designed as a higher security lock and specifically states that is has anti-pick protection on the packaging. However, by containing low-setting pins that sit below the shear plane, they have eliminated the need to pick these pins in order to open the lock. In the case of my lock, that effectively makes it a four pin lock as you only need to pick the four pins that are not low-set and then the cylinder plug will rotate. If a criminal is going to pick this lock then he will not care one bit whether he damages it in the process. Instead he would be pleasantly surprised to be able to open the lock after picking only four out of the six pins, a much easier task.
I will get some longer pins to replace the low-setting pins and that should convert this into quite a good practice lock as the high-low combination of the last three pins will be tricky to pick.

Kind regards

[thelockpickkid]

However, by containing low-setting pins that sit below the shear plane, they have eliminated the need to pick these pins in order to open the lock.

No, actually your wrong on this, and as stated above by Solomon, remember, the springs are hanging down, if you don't pick these pins, the springs will get caught in the sheerline, and you will break them again. Not trying to be rude, just want to make sure you understand this. Only thing it will result in is possibly a jammed up lock or just broken springs.

[LocksmithArmy]

I think he means from a security stand point its bad because a burgler only needs to pick 4 pins. he doesnt care if he breaks the locks as long as it opens once...

the op of course would not want to break his own lock but that does not make it more secure.

[thelockpickkid]

OH! Ok I see what ya mean. I like yale locks, I think they are a pretty darned good lock.