Trouble bumping a Tricircle 264

[bosium]

Hi All

I am very new to this, but despite reading all i can find on it and watching countless videos on youtube, I still cannot manage to bump any lock. I have made a few bump keys by hand for yale-type locks but with no success.

I found an old tricircle lock for which I have no key, but I filled it with Q20 (kinda like WD40) and left it overnight before attempting to bump it. I have a old tricircle key which fits it, I am confident it is the right profile of key. I cut away a lot of metal to make a bump key to fit it, and I can't see a problem with it but I am no pro.

The lock is not stiff and the pins can be easily pushed up with a paperclip or whatever, but try as i might I cannot bump it. I will post a scan of my key as soon as I can. Is this lock bumpable at all? I will give picking it a go when i have some tools but for now it would have been nice to be able to bump it.

Any suggestions? Thanks for a great site btw.

G

[bosium]

here we go:

[linty]

you know how people tend to say that the better a lock is the easier it is to bump? follow that idea back the other way and you'll find that tri-circles probably aren't good to start on :)

your cuts look a little flat though and you may not have taken off enough of the shoulder.

[illusion]

I have a Tricircle bump key somewhere - I'll hunt around for it and post a picture later.

Your bump key is horrible! The sides of the cuts aren't cut straight, the valleys are not straight. You need to smooth out all the cuts, and I think also take a small amount of material off the shoulder and tip.

Urmhhh... Why did you fill it with 'Q20'? I haven't really noticed a large improvement when bumping heavily lubricated locks... And yes I have tried for the sheer heck of it.

Tricircle bump easily, well the two 265 models in my collection responded well at any rate.

What model is your Tricircle? It's not the 265 since it only has 5 pins.

[bosium]

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

As I said, I'm new to this, I never professed to be a pro. I filled the lock with Q20 as it is an old lock of unknown origin (found it attached to a length of chain in my girlfriend's garage) and I didn't want its internal mechanics to stick because of dirt / corrosion. I didn't think it would aid bumping in particular.

Are you saying that the little peaks need to be sheer, as in perpendicular to the bottoms of the valleys? I was afraid of the key getting jammed in the lock if the sides were too sheer.

It is a Tricircle 264, with five pins.

[illusion]

OK - I wasn't aware of the fact it was old, and that you had loosened up the insides merely because they were probably gummed up. I just read that you had used it, and assumed you were doing it to aid bumping. Clearly I presumed wrong, but then again, no harm done really.

The 'hills' of your key are rough, but the first one is actualy pretty good - make the other 4 look like it and you're rolling.

The 'valleys' between the 'hills' should idealy be flat... A few quick strokes of small file should get them looking nice.

The tip of the key should usualy be in a 'V' shape - I honestly haven't ever deviated from this, so am unsure as to the effect of having a fairly flat end.

Check the Engadget.com link on this page for a nice shot of what a bump key should look like: http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?p=174292#174292

[bosium]

Thanks Illusion, I will give that a shot with your advice in mind, or else start from scratch with a new key. I know my local locksmith so I may be able to get him to cut me a bump key from which to work if he doesn't protest.

I will post my results when I get home from work

Btw, I just managed to shim it open with a coke can shim after a few tries - I know it's off-topic but it seems to be how well you construct your shim that makes all the difference.