Serrated Medeco Keypin

[rrkss]

I opened up one of my Medeco Padlocks out of curiousity and found it to contain some pins that look like this (Not the exact pin, borrowed this image from squelchtone)



The last time I saw this type of Medeco pin was in my S&G 831-B M1. Is this an ARX type pin? The serration is at the top so it does appear that it can cause the keypin to bind if overlifted. Also looks to me as a way to prevent me from reading the sidebar with my hook unless the pin is slightly lifted. Does not look like a typical medeco ringed pin where the ring is at the middle of the keypin.

Anybody know anything about this type of pin. Is it for higher security type situations?

My medeco padlock has one of these and my S&G 831-B M1 has 3 of these in it.

[rrkss]

Oh yeah, one more piece of info. The medeco padlock contains a biaxial core while the S&G 831-B M1 uses the medeco classic core.

[datagram]

I am not terribly familiar with Medeco but I believe it is just a normal pin, though it is serrated and probably has a false gate. Both can provide pick resistance. ARX pins close the gap at the bottom of the pin, making it so you can't grab the sidebar groove directly.

Here's a better picture of a similar pin:
http://lockwiki.com/index.php/File:Mede ... om_pin.jpg

dg

[Squelchtone]

For me the word serrated implies more than 1 serration (especially when talking about lock pins.) So while an American Lock top pin is serrated, and some LAB security pins are serrated, I do not believe these Medeco pins are serrated. The ones from my pic and your very nice pic dg are ringed and from what I recall were to stop the John Falle decoder from working properly in the early 90's.

I'm curious to see a photo of rrkss' actual pin, maybe it's something wild none of us have ever seen before. How about it rrkss? Any access to a camera with macro function?

Thanks
Squelchtone

[rrkss]

ok, took out my camera and took some macro photos of the various pins. You can clearly see the ring including the serrations on my S&G 831-B M1 medeco classic core. This core was made in 1988 possibly before Falle's Decoder technique?

What I find interesting is the lack of false gates on the Medeco Classic pins. All 6 of them in the S&G lacked these gates even the standard ones.

[Squelchtone]

0 degree turning or Center pins do not have false gates, its a side effect of being a C pin as compare to a Left or Right pin. Imaging how much easier it would be to pick a Medeco if a lazy locksmith just pinned it up C C C C C C ? All center cuts.. the sad part is , I have seen L C C C C and it was at a place I worked.

nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Squelchtone

[rrkss]

Center pins do not have false gates

Makes sense to me now why they tend to set themselves. Nothing for the pin to catch on. Under tension, it will naturally spin as you try and pick it until the sidebar teeth catches the groove. I rechecked my S&G core and you were right, the R and L pins do have false gates. The three pins I happened to photograph were all Center pins, how ironic that the non-centers were standard pins.

I thought the new medeco cores would have at least one milled pin but my padlock core lacks a milled pin. Its strange that the core is biaxial but has the M3 sidebar installed with a notch for a slider even though biaxial does not have the slider. Maybe the locksmith just pinned it that way and used an M3 part.

[lockaholic]

In 2003 before the release of the M3 system the notches were added to the sidebars.

[JK_the_CJer]

Hey guys,

I have seen these before and may even still have a few around back home. As I recall, this feature was added (ARX feature) to prevent an old depth-reading attack that can't be discussed here. This little serration at the top of the key pins seems to be one of the most common additions to those special pins.

[lockaholic]

I just got some new Medecos that were factory pinned and every single pin was not a "normal" pin. The longer pins were milled and were with or without one groove/serration and the shorter pins all had one serration. Also, the one serration looks to be much larger than the other one serration pins that I have in my biaxial pin kits and 833Cs. Since I did not place a particularly large order, I'm think that this might be standard practice now (I did not get any of these pins in another order about 6 months ago). Here's a quick picture:

[rrkss]

Hmm reminds me of the spooled keypins in yale keymark. Seems like a fun pick, got to get ahold of a lock with one of these new keypins.

[lockaholic]

Here are some "better" photos of the new Medeco pins. I think it's crazy that it took Medeco 20+ years to introduce updated versions of their biaxial pins.

P.S. Taking photos close-up is really difficult and I have a DSC-H50 which is not that bad of a camera.

[lockaholic]

Ah... me thinks I have some photo resolution issues...

[JK_the_CJer]

Ah... me thinks I have some photo resolution issues...

This is great to see new and confirmed factory-pinned Medecos with milled (and ringed no-less!) pins. If you can resolve the resolution/focus issue, would you mind posting a
close-up of one or two (milled) on a whiteish background? I'd like to finally replace this picture on my site if you don't mind:

http://theamazingking.com/images/locks/upgrade.jpg

I haven't bought a new Medeco since the fix and thus don't have your proof-positive factory-standard milled Biaxial pins to make that picture as legit as it deserves to be