Key Mark Locks

[vitti]

We recently had our locks re-keyed at work. Actually we had new cores with new keyways installed rather than simply re-pinning/keying. They were going to throw away the old cores and keys after letting go of two employees who had keys. There were 5 cores total but the top one on the back door (two deadbolts on the backdoor for whatever reason) was damaged by an attempted break-in years ago. So I asked if I could keep the 4 working ones and they agreed.

So now I have 4 matching plugs and 6 working keys. All I know is that they are made by Key Mark, have custom keyways, and according to our upper management they cost about $125 per core. I haven't removed the pins yet to see if and how many security pins there are.

I am considering making a picking trainer with them by removing pins and making one each 7 pin, 6 pin, 5 pin, and 4 pin. Install them on a mount and go from there.

Are these locks too difficult for a novice such as myself to bother with? I can pick just about any standard residential deadbolt and padlock in my collection and installed in my home in reasonable time. I haven't really dealt with security pins aside from one Brinks padlock with a single spool pin.

Also, where might i find cylinders to mount them in? I can mount them in a piece of wood but I'd prefer something more elegant.

thanks for any info

[mcm757207]

You absolutely do not want to try to start learning to pick by practicing on those cylinders. That lock is made by Medeco if I'm not mistaken, and while it doesn't have the secondary sidebar which Medeco is notorious for it will still be a serious pain to pick. Not to mention the keyway is probably really difficult to work around because (again, if I'm not mistaken) the bottom of the keyway on KeyMark is angled rather obnoxiously to one side. I believe this is primarly to make the keys very difficult to copy (won't set in standard machines), but it also makes it very difficult to even maneuver picks inside.

Just start with a Kwikset or Schlage deadbolt for practice, maybe save these in case you really pursue this and become really good.

Best of luck.

[vitti]

I believe you are right about the keyway being very restrictive. I have played with it a bit and maneuvering a pick in there is no simple task.

I call myself a novice because I haven't explored any security pinned locks yet. When I first started out I purchased a lot of 3 like keyed kwikset deabolts keyed inside and outside. I mounted 5 of the 6 total cylinders to a board and removed pins to make the first one a single pin, second 2, etc up to the final bing the full 5 pins. Worked very well for a trainer on standard pins.

I also have a collection of 20 or so padlocks, a couple of 6 pin Schlage doorknobs, 4 different brands of cheap deadbolts, a yale mortise cylinder, and a couple of bicycle locks. I can pick all of these, some in seconds, some take time.

I'm still not that great at SPP. I tend to rake first to get an initial set then SPP the remaining pins.

I first started playing with locks a few years ago but lost interest until recently. Not quite like riding a bike, that muscle memory and sensitivity is indeed forgotten as easily as learned.

[bumber]

Well seeing as how you have an idea of whats going on, and you got the locks for free my answer would be to try one of them as-is and see what happens. Im gonna see if I cant find a parts breakdown on them to see what it takes to break them down...but if they are what i think they are I may not be able to post too much about them...we'll see

[vitti]

thank you. I don't have a respectable camera handy right now. I left mine at my father's house a few weeks ago after a long photo hike through a local nature preserve (photography is my other budding hobby). I'll be heading back that direction this weekend to pick it up and promptly put up a couple of images.

[Squelchtone]

Thsi should be enough motivation for you to pick those Keymark cylinders. It's actually not that hard. I recommend the Peterson Slender Gem pick, as it is thin enough to get into the lock at a 45 degree angle in order to work the pins.

this is your motivation:



good luck!
Squelchtone

ps. don't lift the 1st pin if you can help it. I think all of the Keymarks I've seen have a very low 1st pin stack.

[bumber]

well i could only find the exploded view of the normal medecos and i cant say if they are the same as these or not, but if they dont have the side bar they are more then likely not that hard to tear down...try not to break anything though good luck

[maintenanceguy]

Yale also makes a keymark cylinder. Very restrictive paracentric keyway. More restrictive keyway than the medeco's I've seen so this may be your cylinder.

The Yale Keymark has several spool pins but the number varies.

Spool pins plus dual shear lines (one to turn the plug and one remove the core) makes for a really tough lock.

[raimundo]

Yale? I suppose with all the mergers in the lock industry yale must be associated with medeco now.

The keymark cylinder has no sidebar, unless thats changed, but why would medeco upgrade the product that they made to be their cheap brand.

the pins sit in the upper third of the keyway, all the rest is key copy control warding, drifting off southeast.

The trick with these locks is the slimmest pick you have or can make. If the lock has a long pin, near the front, this can make it very difficult.

A pick made of round hard piano wire of a relatively thick sort, (unwrapped base note string) and shaped like a 6 where the loop is a finger hole for the second (bird) finger, and the upper tangent curve going over the first finger, to a pickshaft that is not longer than the key, with a hook tip is the best option. and easy to make.

the round wire shaft makes it manuverable in the wards, and it has no edges to hang up on the warding. the handle makes it possible to control the hook tip orientation.

these are very easy to make, round and sand one end of the wire and bend this into the loop handle, (sand to keep sharp ends from your finger) and then bend the hook and cut it off to length after bending, then file and sand the hook tip to a smooth round top.

the locks do not even seem to have security pins in them, but its been a few years since I picked one so that could be different now.

[vitti]

Well these are definitely Medeco.

Here's some pics...

Oh, and squelchtone, looks like these do not have a deep first cut.

[vitti]

where can I find a deadbolt housing for these cores? I want to mount one to my lockboard.

[Squelchtone]

where can I find a deadbolt housing for these cores? I want to mount one to my lockboard.

HERE


IC deadbolt or BEST deadbolt are also good words to search on that site.


Squelchtone