Worst example of saving money I have seen in a long time.

[JackNco]

OK so Iv had a blackspur lock kicking around for a while. it cost a whopping £2.49 for the lock and all the door hardware. Buy I could never figure out just how it was so bad. I must have raked it open 100 times and its always opened on the first time. even when I tried to SPP it all the pins seemed to magically jump in to line before I even wanted them to.

Anyway I finally striped it down and could not believe it. not only did it not have any security pins but it had ALL key pins! so the shear line was effectively 2mm wide! even the rounded edges were facing down.

Has anyone else seen this done in any cheap locks? I really cant believe they are allowed to sell crap this cheap.

John

[linty]

I've seen this many times before in cheap locks. It seems like for some poorly made locks it's the only way they can be sure they'll work at all.

[hydruh]

not only did it not have any security pins but it had ALL key pins! so the shear line was effectively 2mm wide! even the rounded edges were facing down.

N00b question.

What's a key pin?

S

[JackNco]

the pin that touches the key. they are also refered to as top and bottom pins but in europe we mount locks up both ways so its easier to refer to them as key pins and driver pins.

The main difference in construction is a key pin will in most cases have a rounded tip to help it glide up and down the valleys anf peaks of the key. and in its most basic form a driver pin will be flat (although this is increasingly not the case with decent branded locks)

The problem is with a rounded tip on a driver pinyou only need to get close to the shear line and the pin sets.


Hope that helps

John

[bumber]

ya, but wait till you find a pin that you can wrap a thin strip of notebook paper around twice and it still slides in and out of the pin hole/channel and the lock still works

[mh]

sometimes though, if the pins are too round and / or cone shaped, they don't set but always slide past the shear line. I noticed that in cheap tubular locks.

Cheers,
mh

[raimundo]

Yale? I have seen pins pointed on both ends as bottom pins in new brass yale rim cylinders 999keyway. or y1 or whatever. Said yale on the front of the lock.

Now I hear lockis in the UK talk about Yale as a good lock, but I wonder how many yale companies there are,

It seems to me that the Yale in the US that goes back to linus time has long ago been sold to the cheap quickset market, rather than the higher grade locks. Although you still see their former quality stuff in small towns installed years ago.

I did not see made in china on that lock but it was what I thought of it.

Yale has gone downmarket, Linus used to be kool

[hydruh]

the pin that touches the key.

Aah, that makes sense. The bullet shaped ones.

So they had one of those on top AND bottom?

That is cheap!

S

[JackNco]

Now I hear lockis in the UK talk about Yale as a good lock, but I wonder how many yale companies there are,

They are ok. they are the basic rim cylinders here and I have heard many people refer to rim cylinders as "Yale type" as they are very common. usually 2 spools but not that hard to pick. the euros give me a hard time for some reason but if i had any euros fitted on my house u can be sure they wouldn't be yales.

John

[Afisch]

I have a securit lock which has both ends of all pins rounded. not quite like a key pin but adds a good mm or two on the space you've got to pick it.
Well that and all the pins are the same length.