by raimundo » 17 Apr 2007 8:38
A follower is a round piece of wood or metal that is pushed in to the cylinder when loading it, sometimes it will have its end shaped to handle specific problems with certain plug end designs, you put the follower half way into the cylinder, then insert the spring and middle top pin, and hold them in by pushing the follower forward, when you have loaded the chambers from the middle to the front, turn the cylinder around and pull the follower through til you can see the unloaded holes in the back end of the lock, reach in and fill them one at a time with springs and pins while advancing the follower to hold them in place,
Now you have all the top pins and springs in place, you can push the loaded plug in with the plug turned to a picked position so that you are not pushing the pin drillings in under the top springs, but have it turned away from this position.
You work from the middle of the cylinder out because its easier than working all the way to the deep end