Tubular 7pin southord. tension etc

[hlywkar]

Hey. I just got my southord 7pin in the mail. all excited, yet I can't get this thing to work. I have read many a post on this lock. I sanded down each pin with emry, I sanded the channels. I moved them up and down lots. I tried pulling out the allen key pin and moving the shaft around. and greasing the bad boy up. nothing.
I don't find that the allen key has that much of an effect; when I remove it all together the pins on the other side still stick.
sanding did help a bit though, as did oiling.

Tension. how much?
I am working with an old lock, that seems a little sticky. but I managed to get all the pins to move fine.
With too little tension I put the pick in the lock and all the pins move all the way back. with more tension it seems to not really move the pins up at all when I move left to right. It is also hard for me to move certain pins when I add more tension.
I assume that with the mechanics of the lock, when torque is applied the springs so how push more? it doesn't quite make sense to me how turning the pic and pulling up a bit will cause my pins to align with the shear lines.

Feel free to explain that one to me.

How do I know what tension to use?
Where am I going wrong with technique?
-- I tired various tensions, putting pins to a flat surface. then slowly pulling out and rotating left and right.
- same thing, turning only to the left
- same thing, turning only to the right.
-- I tried putting it in, pins flat again. tension, stop, pull up, tension, push down, repeat.
-- I tried putting it in and manually feeling each pin to find a "stop". when I think I might have somethimg nope. I either found the bottom or the top. not the shear line.

should I work on the lock to loosen the pins more?
should I mod my tool more? add a rubber band? if so where
remove and O ring? if so which one?
move my orings around? small on top? small on bottom?
should I clip the ends of my pins?
Anything else?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get my pick to work.
Thanks.

[Shrub]

Far to many questions for me to go through and answer so ill tell you how to use it,

Put the grubscrew back in for starters, i dont know of any post that suggested to remove it but its wrong if so, the post im thinking of said put another in the opposite side but its not important,

Remove any grease you have put on the pick for starters,

Remove the washer if you can as its only a hinderance,

Put the pick flat on the table and push all the feeler picks down so they hit the table and thusly level,

Tighten up the thumbturn that holds the feelers to the pint where the feelers are quite stiff to push,

Insert the pick into the lock and put some tension on, this should be around if not slightly more than the key would exert,

Now rock the pick slightly up and down and left and right and then the diagonals, make slight movements and all while the tension is on, you may find it works better by putting tension on and then letting it off instead of rocking it,

You should see the feeler picks moving up to simulate the key,

The lock should open very quickly, its all down to the tension you put on the feeler picks and not the lock with the pick,

To single pin it slide the feeler picks up and insert the pick into the lock,

Put tension on and slowly move each feeler pick down a bit at a time until you feel the shear line, you should work in a clockwise direction strarting from the pin on the right that is the closest to the tension pip,

[hlywkar]

well. I got it to turn the front notch to about where the first pin is, but it's not opening. that's the furtherst I have gotten. I also noticed that my rocking up down and diagnal has started to creat cuts in my tool. not sure if this will affect performance or not.
do I keep going at this point, or does it mean I only got one pin?
do I reset the pins?

[Shrub]

Create cuts in the tool?

Silly question, you are trying a 7 pin lock arent you?

You are rocking it too much, just try tension on then off a few times instead,

If you have turned the lock you have picked it and it shouldnt stop in one position, what brand is the lock your trying and what is it connected to?

[Nasydave]

In all honesty, I've never understood the turn back and forth crowd myself.

I have all my success moving in and out, keeping the tool straight as you do so. I actually have my thumb against the lock plate as I do so, so I'm just flexing my thumb muscle. You don't need much movement, maybe ___ that much at max. (I start with the smallest movement you can make, sort of _

(keeping tourque applied while you're in-and-outing)

If you've gotten it to turn so the notch ios where the first pin was, you actually did pick the lock. Tubulars will re-lock every 1/8 turn unless the pins are tight enough to hold the settings.

[hlywkar]

Create cuts in the tool?

Silly question, you are trying a 7 pin lock arent you?

You are rocking it too much, just try tension on then off a few times instead,

If you have turned the lock you have picked it and it shouldnt stop in one position, what brand is the lock your trying and what is it connected to?

ya its a 7pin lock, with the 7pin southord. the cuts are in the groves, at the part where you see the larger grove cut ins bellow the pins at the end. they measure the distance between the top and bottom of the 7pins of the lock.
I'll try the tension on off... about how far should I be moving up down left right diagnal... I assume you mean to treat it as a compass, and move north,south, east,west, etc. and not the up as in out of the lock itself.

[hlywkar]

In all honesty, I've never understood the turn back and forth crowd myself.

I have all my success moving in and out, keeping the tool straight as you do so. I actually have my thumb against the lock plate as I do so, so I'm just flexing my thumb muscle. You don't need much movement, maybe ___ that much at max. (I start with the smallest movement you can make, sort of _

(keeping tourque applied while you're in-and-outing)

If you've gotten it to turn so the notch ios where the first pin was, you actually did pick the lock. Tubulars will re-lock every 1/8 turn unless the pins are tight enough to hold the settings.

K I will try this method as well... in terms with the relocking after the 1/8th turn... how can I prevent this? tightening the tension? I have found that once it does turn I was able to turn it back to the begining, but not back again.

[hlywkar]

got it. using the rocking method.... man why do all the post use the turn left right pull out method. I can't get any where near getting that to work... turns out the reason it wasn't opening was that I was turning it the wrong way!... not clock wise, counter clock wise... wierd.

[hlywkar]

the combo was 5371514 does that sound hard?

[hlywkar]

man. this is such a pain. I have managed to get this one lock open in about ten seconds. I try a second lock of similar make and it seems to get me to no avail.

[Shrub]

Its just practice, your getting there though,

[hlywkar]

you may find it works better by putting tension on and then letting it off instead of rocking it,

The lock should open very quickly, its all down to the tension you put on the feeler picks and not the lock with the pick,

can you explain these two?

do you mean don't rock, just turn the pick slightly then release?

and for the second one? can you explain how I put tension on the feeler picks? do you mean with the tightener?

[Shrub]

Yes i meant to simply turn the lock to unlock and back whislt pressing in can quite often open the locks,

To single pin pick with them you tension with the pick handle and then slide each feeler pick in slowly until you feel the shear line, after youve been round them all you may have to adjust a couple a bit more to get the lock to open otherwise reset and try again,

This method will need to be used mostly on Ace II locks,