SFIC Lock

[logosys]

Ok, I picked up a BEST lock just for giggles, and I have a real quick question... How on God's green earth can you tell what shear line you're setting the pins on?

[CaptHook]

Thats what is soooo fun about them.
Chuck

[logosys]

:twisted: Thats what is soooo fun about them.
Chuck

But HOW do you do it????

[thertel]

depend on if you have a true best brand lock or one of hte falcon brand knock offs....on the falcons, cus of poor tolerances, you can actually see it from behind when you look at the lock with a boroscope
the other way is that after you've picked a lot of the best locks you can start to feel it by how much the tension wrench jumps when you set the pins. The control shear line jumps more hten the standard shear line...but its a experience thing


This from the guy whos only been picking for a few months and finally stopped lurking, if you want to learn how to decode the control key later i can explain it rather well.

Thomas

[randmguy]

The easy answer is you don't know which shear line your at. The complicated answer depends on the lock...If its old and dirty(meaning its been more than a month since it was combinated) you are much more likely to set pins at the change key line. This doesn't mean that you've set the pin at the correct level just that it set at the change line. If you've set one of the control pins at the change line you're gonna know it when you try to find the next binding pin. If you're set at the wrong shear line you'll either have more than one pin stack that feels like its bound up or none of the pin stacks will bind after your first set. If either of these happens you're gonna have to start over again. It stinks. This is why I always try to pick to the control line. It takes more tension than you think it should because the control line is so seldom used but putting tension on the control sleeve means that nothing will bind at the change shear line. And if you get one that's totally gummed up there's always the jig and the rotary pick.

[Chucklz]

A quick addendum: If the lock has been freshly combinated, I have found that the control shear line is rather easy to pick in most cases. I generally use a standard tension wrench, in the normal manner, appy a fair amount of tension and rake a few times.

[HeadHunterCEO]

tell ya how i do it

i take a best control key and cut it down all the way so that s maybe an 1/8 of inch left. basically all the way down but leave the control tip unscathed

then brek the head of the key off

pick the lock and blamo
the core comes out.

[thertel]

Now I have a question about an answer.

You said control tip on the control key, so this has me thinking...I got about 40 best lock cores and I dismantled one and made a key that set the only possible combination of pins that could activate the shear line and then file a key to do this. Now this key works on all 40 of the locks and I used a regular BEST key blank for the G-Type Keyway (1A1G1-KS208-KS800 OPERATING KEY) and it is able to set the control shear line on all the locks. Is there a different key blank that is somehow different that is meant to be the control key?

Thomas

[CaptHook]

Nope, the control key refers to the bitting required to turn the control sleeve in the shell. The pin stacks are such that they "tie" the plug and the control sleeve together. A change key, just sets the pins required for the plug to turn.
Chuck

[thertel]

Thats what I thought but when they specified a best control key I started to wonder if I was wrong and since i'm new I decided to ask to make sure I wasnt wrong.

Thomas

[locksmistress]

I think it's common (if not standard) that the control shear line is also only different from the operating shear line on the middle 4 chambers - depending on who pinned it (factory or independent).

[thertel]

That would seem to be the case on hte locks i have.