eric343 wrote:My assumption about 8 possible rotational positions comes from the 8 sectors into which the carriers on the two MCS locks I have are divided. On the master-keyed discs, the gates are always in those sectors.
When I first saw these discs, I made the same assumption.
But when I read th 299 quadrillion claim, I thought again, and came to this idea:
Assuming EVVA only uses this type of plastic rotor carrier with the 8 sectors - what conclusion can you draw from that?
1) There are 8 possible rotational positions of
key vs. plastic rotor, each in 45 degree steps; n of these positions can have a 'gate'.
1a) From one valid key in a masterkeyed system to another, only key magnet rotations of n x 45 degrees are possible.
There is no conclusion on
key magnet vs. plastic rotor, though.
That might vary by smaller steps.
Thinking of that, this offers interesting options in key 'blank' control:
As you mentioned, there are only 4 magnets in each key, not 8,
if EVVA were to sell key blanks and special magnets to locksmiths, for them to make their own locks, they could restrict magnetization options between the sides of each magnet, leaving some odd non-45-degree options for the factory only...
I think that's a highly theoretical case, but an interesting idea
Another thing:
Are you sure that they use both the passive sliders and the balls in one lock? I would be very interested in seeing one (do you have a picture?
). My current assumption is that both systems don't fit into the same lock. And that the balls were used in the 1st generation and the sliders in the 2nd generation.
I have a 1st generation MCS lock like the one shown on
http://www.chez.com/montmartre/mcs.html, and the balls have only two variations: Notch in key present or not present. Since this is a system where the key becomes locked in a 30 degree position when the notches are too big (as opposed to a normal pin tumbler system where the plug won't turn with the wrong heigth of cut), that would not be the system where you could use small tolerances to create many variations either.
Again, I would be very interested to see pictures from a lock which show that my assumptions are wrong
Cheers,
mh
