Asymetrical spools

[Gordon Airporte]

I snagged a couple of locks dumpster diving (Russwins) and found that the rings at either end of the spools are of different thickness. Like this:

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Is there a prefered orientation for these (to make it harder to pick?) I popped them all out before I could see how they were originally installed. Chances are it isn't that important, but it seems like there must be a reason for them to be made this way.

I suppose I should experiment more, but I haven't been able to make much of a difference.
Theoretically, though, with the thicker end at the shear line (and the thinner end under the spring) the other pins would have more of a chance to fall out when the spool sets, but with the pin the other way 'round it should be easier to overset the spool from a false set, and harder to avoid a false set initially.

[zeke79]

Small end towards the plug. They could be lab security pins sized to correspond with the russwin top pin sizes. Lab spools are made in the way you described in the longer top pins.

[Deathadder]

are you positive they're spool shaped and not mushroom?

[Krypos]

Small end towards the plug. They could be lab security pins sized to correspond with the russwin top pin sizes. Lab spools are made in the way you described in the longer top pins.

of course zeke knows his stuff.

just think about it logically, the smaller side is more likely to get caught at the shear line and thus (help to) prevent picking.

[Gordon Airporte]

Thanks Zeke. If these are the longer top pins it's a little surprising since each stack had masterkeying spacers that leveled it off to almost full depth.
As far as the pickability goes, I'm increasingly of the opinon that spools make a lock easier to pick. Just standard spools with smooth keypins, that is. They offer a much larger target for a false set (vs. setting the gap between upper and lower pin at the shear line), and once you have that it's rare (in my experience) that the spools actually do their job and cause enough fallout that the lock cannot be opened readily.

[Schuyler]

yeah, my mini-durex kit has exactly these spools in it. I just repinned a padlock with a fistful of them.

[JackNco]

I saw these for the first time last night in an assa core the driers matched the key pin in length for some reason. so some were even more disproportionate. still haven't cracked that lock yet

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[Gordon Airporte]

I saw these for the first time last night in an assa core the driers matched the key pin in length for some reason. so some were even more disproportionate. still haven't cracked that lock yet

Yeah, these are called 'compensated drivers'; they even out wear on springs and keep you from decoding the lock by pushing each stack all the way down (or up in my case )
My Assa V-10 is the only lock I've seen them in, but I'm sure other companies use them. If you're using a classy HS lock it's worth the extra time choosing the right ones while pinning, I suppose.