Picking a Yale Pancake Padlock, Markham/Toronto challenge

[I Pik U]

We've got this Yale Padlock in our shop:



We're trying to make a key to it. Once picked, the levers can be impressioned, as they are held in place. We have advice and tech tips on how to pick it, including drawings showing the internal workings.
So far we have had no luck.

If someone in the Markham/Toronto area in Ontario, Canada wants a challenge, send me a message.

[Raymond]

Have you tried putting the shackle in a vise and applying outward pressure on the shackle while pushing the levers. If there are an odd number of levers they should be symetrically located. 1=5, 2=4, 3

[copeman]

the way i have seen it done is to CAREFULLY split it open and make a key that way but it is difficult to split the case without ruining the brass pins

[raimundo]

I would not put that antiques shackle in a vise just to pull on it, put a piece of thick hemp rope through the shackle and put the rope in a vise or on a doorknob or whatever.
that has a key that just pushes in the bottom of the lock,? this has the lever cuts on the end of the key and it goes to the bellies of the lever and sets it up. It could have as many as 8 levers, or as few as 4, with and inspection light, you can see the bottom of the levers through the keyhole.
I would not try to dissasemble it, even if you cannot pick it, its more valuable as a classy paperweight if its untampered with, and it will remain a challenge for someone to pick impression it. A paperweight with mystery see!
The shackle may also just come right off the lock when it opens, much like a modern D or U bicycle lock
another way to get a small pressure on the shackle would be to pack some rubber in the shackle so that theres pressure to open. a small pressure may be more useful than great pressure, as that just binds things up.

[I Pik U]

One of the techniques is to pull on the shackle which will put pressure on the fence and be forced against the levers. As you pick, the levers (6 in all) should bind and you can feel the gates. Once all the gates are lined up, the padlock will open and the levers will stay in place, allowing you to generate a key. In theory. We haven't had any luck so far. The instructions do say that later model padlocks do not work this way, so that may be why we haven't had success.
I was hoping the keys were symetrical, but they are not, as we've got pix of keys.
We don't want to split it open either.

Thanks for the replies.

[I Pik U]

Here are some pix from the technique, using a puller, which we've tried, also with a spring on the puller to give some pull force as sugested:

[greyman]

Depending on the make, the shackle tensioning technique may not work. These locks are hard to pick because you get no access to the bolt crank. There is a tool (a bit like an axial lock pick) available but I don't think it's very easy even with one of these. I'd love to hear if anyone does manage to pick it, and how long it takes.

[raimundo]

the puller puts a static force on the shackle, this is probably a lot of force. Just take a childs pink eraser, and cut it to fit in the shackle so that one end is pushing out on the underside of the top of the shackle, and the other end is braced more against the lock case, you can cut away any part of the eraser that grounds the force by pushing on the bottom of the shackle, so that the eraser braces against the case only. you could ajust the force by cutting the eraser thinner.