Tri-Circle 264 pinstack images

[Xarragon]

Hello everyone, apologies for posting more images of this old trusty padlock, but when I opened my Tri-Circle 264 I was somewhat surprised to find what appears to be five mushroom pins (or is the first one a regular pin?) and a sixth bore with a different-colored spring inside (I have no idea what it does, anyone care to elaborate?). I cut it open in order to try learning by picking with only a few pins, plus I had a hard time identifying which pins were the security ones. I used an abrasive disc in my cheap Dremel knock-off in order to cut the brass cover until I could see the holes underneath, at which point I just jammed a large flat-head screwdriver in the cut and yanked out the strip.



I then extracted all the parts and laid them out for viewing. The steel spring goes into the uppermost hole.


And at last, a view down the holes:


I find it a tricky lock overall, hard to tell what is happening inside compared to my ABUS padlocks, but that might just be because I'm new to the sport. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the images. Sorry for the crappy lighting. The hideous text/logos at the bottom will probably also be axed in later images, I was bored and played around in the GIMP suite.

[LocksmithArmy]

wait, 5 pin stacks and 6 springs...

whats that for, an extra just in case you open it and lose one spring

[Solomon]

They seem to be fairly standard in tri-circle padlocks. I have a 265 lying around somewhere and it has 6 mushroom drivers. Nasty little lock, because it's so badly made it's an absolute nightmare to pick. I've seen it picked before and the guy made it look easy, but the one I have is seriously awkward.

[Xarragon]

Just to clarify things. The sixth hole (the one with a steel spring) is not drilled down into the plug at all. I removed all pinstacks, turned the plug both ways and yet I could not spot movement in the sixth hole, nor could I poke around in it with a piece of wire to dislodge any pinstack. It is just a hole, seems to be a solid bottom shaped like the tip of a drill piece. Could this be some manufacturing detail, like they have a pin stacking machine that operates on six-hole padlocks only, so they make a dummy hole for the lower-security 5-pin locks?

Anyways, the damaged springs are not due to the cutting, but rather wear and tear plus me trying to push out the brass strip by offsetting the foremost pinstack by a piece of wire.

By the way, anyone know how to further dismantle these locks?

[Wizer]

My 264 had no mushrooms, just some poorly crafted/deformed driver pins.
I quess you never know what you get with these china-locks.

[femurat]

Hi Xarragon,

welcome to the forum. To further dismantle the lock you have to remove the sixth pin, called retaining pin. It has nothing to do with the key, it's just a pin that holds the plug in place, letting it free to rotate. For better understanding of this you may have a look at this 2 very interesting posts:
http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10665
http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29887

Cheers

[Xarragon]

Many thanks for the excellent links, femurat. Illusion's guide was what inspired me in the first place to open the lock. I'll buy some el cheapo locks from a local hardware store and try to fully dismantle them, then I'd want to make a small video demonstrating how it's done. But I need to find the spare time for it first. This worn 264 is actually my old high-school lock, so I don't really feel like completely destroying it right away, hehe.

It's interesting to note that in illusion's picturs, his sixth hole seems plugged at the top, whereas mine is open and has a spring inside. Mine also lacks the third set of pins, used to offset the springs from the brass shell.

[raimundo]

take the lock body and give it a couple of slams on a block of wood and see if that retainer pin does not fall a bit and allow the plug to come out.

of course, I mean slam it with the hole you dug down, the pin may loosen or be driven out.

you cannot push it in any further because its bottomed on the slot in the plug,

you may also want to rotate the plug a few times to see if that dosent loosen it.

[Xarragon]

Hat's off to raimundo. You were of course right on the money, all that was needed was a good "thump" into the nearest available hard surface. I accidently got the plug out when my box of locks fell over yesterday. I then proceeded to pick up the 264 because it was destined for some work involving a metal file, and to my surprise there was the plug, free of it's housing.



I've always wondered how these padlocks are built inside since I've always just disassembled laminated ones so far which typically has a separate cylinder from the housing.



I kind of like the slightly off-center placement of the pin holes there. The large elongated cut in the sixth position is obviously where the retaining pin engaged the plug. I also noted that the keyway goes all the way through the plug and that nothing seems to block access to the locking arms near the top/rear of the lock.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

[Rickthepick]

Its often these cheap chinese locks that are the biggest pain to pick.

[mcm757207]

I see those pins and that padlock and I immediately think 'comb pick'... tried one yet? Looks like it might be a good method for that lock.

[Xarragon]

I see those pins and that padlock and I immediately think 'comb pick'... tried one yet? Looks like it might be a good method for that lock.

No I have not. You were thinking that I could simply overlift the entire pinstack? Be careful, I think they count that as a bypass, which is a topic for the advanced forum only. But thanks for the tip anyway, I actually planned to make a comb pick a while back but have forgotten about whenever I am out in the workshop.