AMERICANZI LOCK

[rake]

Im having some trouble picking the 1900 serise American the multi color locks. Some rake out on the first or second rake and open. Others are much more difficult and time consuming I have three of them one died from fatiuqe of over picking. Another only picks by single pick that echos one mushroom modified pin to jump up as soon as another is down. Eventualy I get them right and it opens. On the third lock it will not rake open or pick and goes mushy. I hear a lot of other tales to put all the pins down hold them then slowly rake up this has never work. I would like a fast rake on them to open them in a second or two, they are rated number four of the tuffest pick, I just cant get the uniformity of it down to get them all to open in under 30 seconds.

[quickpicks]

Some rake out on the first or second rake and open. Others are much more difficult and time consuming I have three of them one died from fatiuqe of over picking.

First of all theese locks dont always open like magic with violent raking. Put away the rake before you murder anymore cylinders. You cannot rake open american locks all the time, in fact I did it one time but after that... never again. Use a small half diamond and go pin by pin. you might not be able to because of the damage from the rake to the lock.

[LockNewbie21]

Honestly if you have to rake, rake gently with an L rake or and S rake.. remember GENTLY with light tension till you have a false set, the GENTLY put down the rake and use a half diamod or my prefernce a hook and push up the security pins, i never had the pleasure of picking an american.. will have to get one.


Andy

[quickpicks]

once you get the 'feel' for the lock by picking pin-by-pin they are super easy. Try it a few times and see how it goes.

[rake]

I half to make a correction that was the 1305 series. I pretty much have got the other ones mastered. They do die from over picking and even a key wont open them. The security pins I guess you mean the spools generaly two some dont buck when passing threw the share, and lcok up when the tension bar takes a mad dive then it they lock up on the spool or mushroom pins, only to have it complicated that once one has it on share the plug is tuff to turn I notice this on a few of the locks putting more stress on when its ready a tuff plug to turn.

[raimundo]

the colored ones are anodize aluminum bodies, but the lock cylinder is still made of brass. open on of them and look down in the shackle hole, the phillips screw in there holds the cylinder in, you can take it out, and take the cylinder apart, there are some fatter ballpoint pens with a plastic tube that fits perfectly for a follower for this lock, but when using a tube for a follower, be sure to plug it with some wadded paper, because pins will try to escape through the tube, all you need to do is stopper it in the middle of the tube and you won't lose these pins. on the lock that seems to be wrecked by picking, you may find that cleaning out the brass filings created by picking will help, and you can examine the plug wards and pins for any burrs created by picking. then lube it and reassemble, and it should be somewhat improved, rememeber to make a place to sort the pins as they come out. I use a piece of corregated paper such a lightbulbs are shipped in and lay the pins in the corregations with the key drawm on it so that you know which end is which, and I lay the five collumns of pin and spring in these corregations with several corregations between collumns because if they get out of collumn when brushed by a shirt sleeve or whatever, they will not mix in to the next collumn as will happen if your collumns are laid directly beside the next one.

[raimundo]

one more thing, american locks have a spring tension on the plug that is opposed to the tensor, and when the lock needs lube, you can sometimes have the lock picked and not know it, so before dropping tension, put a straight blade screwdriver in and give it a test turn, to see if the tensor needed help to move the plug.

[pinsetter]

I ran into this last thing on my American Series 1105. The spring tension on the plug was VERY strong. I had the lock picked, but thought I only had it false set. Someone replied to me in my own thread about American locks stating I should try a screwdriver to make sure I didn't have it picked already. I think it may have been raimundo that told me that too. Anyway, I picked the lock to what I knew was a false set, then continued to pick. In a few minutes I got just a bit more plug rotation, but the plug still would not turn with my regular tensioner. I held it firm, inserted a small slotted head screwdriver and gave it a turn and discovered that I did have the lock picked.

After that post I also discovered that my tensioner was creating a small binding on the cylinder wall. I made a special wrench with bends that fit the wards in the bottom of the keyway. Since changing tensioners I can now pick the lock with just the tensioner, but the spring tension is still very stiff.