Position of keyway.

[Varjeal]

I wasn't sure what to call this subject, but I wanted to bring to everyone's attention the proper orientation of keyways.

In about 95% of applications, the proper orientation of the lock is to have the pins at the top of the keyway so that when inserting the key, the cuts face upwards.

This is especially important for pin tumbler locks as having the lock "upside down" will do a couple of things:

1. It will put constant pressure on the thin, relatively fragile springs which will eventually collapse and jam the lock.

2. Will increase the amount of debris falling into the lock and causing problems as the dirt, etc. will be ground into the pin chambers and increase the wear on the lock drastically.

There are a few exceptions where manufactures (due to design, etc.) have reversed the "normal" procedure, but this has proven to be an exceptionally bad idea.

Just thought I'd add this tip for those of you who are practicing on real doors. If you do encounter this while picking your own home's doors, please re-orientate your locks to the proper position.

Thanks.

Hope you enjoyed this tip.

[n00by]

I think the bottom lock on my garage door is installed upside down, I haven't tried to pick it because it's in this condition.

[Varjeal]

One thing I've found helpful sometimes with the locks positioned upside down (which I should also mention makes it a real pain in the butt to use a pick gun btw) is to rap the knob with a small hammer to try and jar things. Sometimes it will loosen corroded parts enough to get them to open.

[jpc1618]

The Euro profile and oval cylinders are intended to be mounted with the pins at the bottom of the keyway. I was just curious how the manufacturers have dealt with the problems of spring fatigue and garbage collecting in the pin stacks? Is this design considered to be flawed, or is it kind of like driving on the left (right) side of the road???

[Anero]

holy resurrected posts!

it's a Varjeal newbie post!

[greyman]

The Euro profile and oval cylinders are intended to be mounted with the pins at the bottom of the keyway. I was just curious how the manufacturers have dealt with the problems of spring fatigue and garbage collecting in the pin stacks? Is this design considered to be flawed, or is it kind of like driving on the left (right) side of the road???

Good point. It may be a historical thing. Maybe Europeans are more used to inserting the key with the cuts down. Varjeal's points make a lot of sense, but I think there may be some more aspects that have to do with how the cylinder couples to the lock. BTW, oval cylinders in Australia are almost always mounted with the pins up top, so it's a European thing. I'd like to know the answer.

Another thing - some locks don't work properly when mounted upside down. The folks at SEA took pains to tell me I had the photos of their locks in my book the wrong way round - they only work with the base of the keyway at the top.

[mh]

There's the theory that a keyhole looks like this
(..)
.||.

and a upside-down Euro cylinder would look like this
.||.
(..)

and that's not what people wanted to see, so they started to install it the other way...


Interesting bit about the SEA locks indeed, it seems that the tip of the key would still lift the bar-wafers so that they could enter the slot in the key, but it might not be smooth enough and cause too much wear.

Cheers,
mh

[greyman]

mh - I like that idea The esthetic reason - which might explain why it's actually better to mount the cylinder with the chambers above rather than below.

You are right about SEA - the key still goes in, but it is not smooth and can even get stuck.

[bumber]

There's the theory that a keyhole looks like this
(..)
.||.

If youve ever seen the old skeleton key style keyways and old prison door locks they were like this...not that these locks are the same as pin tumblers, just maby they just really liked these kinds of locks when making theirs ...just a thought

[raimundo]

the euro cylinder seems like sometime, post war, the bolt mechanisms were standardized to accept the cam operation and all the cylinders are made for interchange in these mechanisms. how and when that came about I don't know.

however, I believe that the pin springs on the euro cylinders are actually stronger than those typically used in northamerica.

the odd thing about standardization of the euro, is that they have the built in flaw of the nose grabber breaking them.

there is something wrong with putting the set screw through the weakest part of the cylinder. it needs a redesign, not just the breakaway cylinder parts, but something stronger.