Masterlock combination assistance

[nothumbs]

I find myself in possession of ten working Masterlock combination locks. Having attempted to photocopy the back of the locks so that I can then send the photocopy and a notarized letter to Masterlock I find that it is pretty much impossible to get a legible photocopy of the serial number. Masterlock is pretty clear that if the serial is not legible they won't provide the combination. A little bit catch-22, but there you have it.

http://www.masterlock.com/faq/lostcombo.shtml

For those with an active curiosity, the locks came from my local gym's lost and found. These are locks that were not attached to anything when they were lost and the gym kindly allowed me to rummage through that part of the collection that was over 90 days unclaimed.

If there is a kind soul with access to the Masterlock combination code book who would like to assist me with the combinations for these ten locks, please send me a PM. I will reply with the set of ten six digit serial numbers. I can supply a photo of the ten locks laid out on the floor with their shackles open and not attached to anything if that would assure you of my legitimate intent.

If this is too much of a leap of faith for anyone I'll understand.

[unlisted]

If all else fails, play around with no flash/ and lighting on an angle to the locks. you should get a good shadow in the serial #'s.


Or "blaken" with a black marker, and gently rub off the surface, keeping the marker in the serial # grooves.

[adrenalynn]

I'm pretty darned good with the image processing, being an expert in video processing, encoding, and compression. I'd be happy to image process your lock photos to extract the maximum amount of image data. I bet you'd be amazed what can be done with image processing.

[unlisted]

I'm pretty darned good with the image processing, being an expert in video processing, encoding, and compression. I'd be happy to image process your lock photos to extract the maximum amount of image data. I bet you'd be amazed what can be done with image processing.

What DON'T you do?

[l0ckp1cker]

I'm pretty darned good with the image processing, being an expert in video processing, encoding, and compression. I'd be happy to image process your lock photos to extract the maximum amount of image data. I bet you'd be amazed what can be done with image processing.

Are there certain programs you recommend for this?

[nothumbs]

I appreciate the offer to image process. Rather than work from photos, if I were to pursue that route I'd scan (rather than photocopy) the locks and image process the result, then print it out for submission to Masterlock. I may go down that route if no other less time consuming method appears likely.

As far as what software to use, Photoshop offers a number of filters that can be used to enhance image detail. For those interested in open source, GIMP is highly regarded. Matlab is a more powerful commercial tool and offers a programmer's toolbox for creating your own custom filters.

[adrenalynn]

Yeah, photoshop is the goto, unless you're serious about it. At that point, you're probably starting with something like OpenCV, Gandalf, and/or SUSAN and writing your own kernels.

Unlisted - video is what I do. I fell into the lockie thing from the video thing, through a convoluted circuitous path. Fortunately, I've fallen back out of it and get to play with locks as a hobby again (or at least, I will once this week is over)

Sounds like you know what you need to do to enhance the scans or photos, nothumbs. As a general rule, I wouldn't look up undocumented locks by serial for the same reason that Master won't. Too much risk of misuse. That's not a swipe at you, just a general notation.

[nothumbs]

No worries. As I said, I've no expectations. Long term plan is to grind the back of one of these and figure out how the gates line up and what the offset is assuming I can see down the latch opening. So far it appears I need to somehow move the latch clear of the opening to better light and observe the gates. I'm hoping that removing the back on one lock will let me comprehend how to insert a tool to 'feel' the gates as they come around, and allow me to decode the combination. Knowing the combination in advance would let me confirm the offset, but I should be able to get this all working regardless. Thanks to those who have helped, both in this thread and via PM.

[MacGnG1]

have you tried to crack the combo using the master lock algorithm??? it works ive done it... a slow and boring task, but it works. search google if ur interested

[nothumbs]

Nope. Not really interested in that approach. I really am more interested in the decode approach. Getting the lock open is not the issue as they shim in a few seconds. Brute forcing the combo, even with space reduction, is not really of interest either. I'll post results later if I get something worth sharing. Having seen this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_afZORLGx5g I think I can expand on a better approach with a little study. I know I can product a better video.

[adrenalynn]

You want someone to several minutes looking up the combos up for you, but you don't want to spend five minutes decoding them via algorithmic keyspace reduction? May I ask why?

[nothumbs]

My experience has been that it takes considerably more than five minutes. YMMV.

[mattman]

My experience has been that it takes considerably more than five minutes. YMMV.

Actually, it really doesn't take too long. There's online calculators that can narrow down in the combinations considerably once you have the last number. I'd say that 10 minutes per lock should be about the max.

- Matt

[adrenalynn]

I agree, that's the absolute max. And that's assuming you have the incredible misfortune to have to exhaust the keyspace.

With a little practice, you should hit it consistently in 5-7mins. You exhaust the keyspace in about 100 tries if memory serves. If it takes ten minutes, you've tried one combination per six seconds and exhausted the entire reduced keyspace. I have three of those locks and was able to solve all three of them in 11mins. (Two known, one borrowed) That's atypically short, mathematically, but the last one require almost a full/reduced search.

[Legion303]

If you post the pictures and serials in the thread someone (maybe me, but I only have access to a few serial/combo pairs) will probably PM you with the information you need. I know several people here have bits and pieces of Master combos...perhaps enough to give you a complete set of combos for yours.

-steve