Profile Wrenches idea

[femurat]

Ray told me about his idea, and I decided to follow him in this little experiment

I recently started making what I call profile tensors, these are made from the end of a bicycle spoke that has the bend and the nail head. Its very easy to make profiles on this nail head such as an L shape, or its reverse, cut to fit into the lower part of the keyway, what they do is make a shape that will fit some part of the where the tensor blade usually goes...

...one thing that they do well, as tensors that are only intended to go a short distance into the lock, they do not fall out easily as so many top tension tools do, the shaped nail head gets a good grip on the walls of the keyway...

...these shaped tip tensors show some promise, and they are very quick to make, just a few file strokes after you have found a way to hold the wire steady. I used a groove in a wooden 'benchpin'...

This is my first set, I made a few drawings to help you understand the shape I gave to the head of the spokes.

I found them useful, in particular the V the L and the little triangle.





Feel free to experiment and tell us your opinion.

Off topic, but since we are here:
You could also make a profile tensor for the inner end of the bottom of the keyway. But this will work JUST in that particular keyway.
I made this wrenches for a SC1 keyway, it gives me all the space that I may need for my pick and don't interfere at all with the cylinder.


Cheers

[Josh K]

I had a similar idea but never got around to cutting the ends to fit.

Upside is they fit tight and won't fall out, also blocking any tricky warding that may hinder your picking. Downside is they normally only fit one keyway profile so you have to have a couple.

Nice job, I look forward to hearing how they turned out.

[raimundo]

any part that could touch the cylinder wall should be rounded and sanded. The tensors give a feel more like top tension in that plug is free of all binding force and applies the tension to rotate on its axis

[Squelchtone]

femurat,

You sir, are awesome! Nice photos, and well done project based on raimundo's concept/idea. tballard made me a Medeco top of keyway tension tool from a lawn staple that you would use to stake a water hose down to the ground, it fits very well, does not fall out, and has a nice big handle that I can rest my finger on for extended periods of time without feeling any fatigue or discomfort.

It would be great if someone made a set of fitted top of keyway wrenches for the most common locks in US/Canada/UK/Europe/Australia. So for me it would be SC1, KW1, AR1, M1, Y1, BEST/Falcon, Medeco Air, Assa Twin/V10, and Corbin Russwin. Also a generic one for Medeco Biaxial, they have so many profiles, that carrying around 20 wrenches would be cumbersome.

Are bike spokes steel or aluminum?

Thanks,
Squelchtone

[femurat]

Hi Ray, as you suggested I sanded the side that may touch the cylinder. I think that the other sides must be just filed, not sanded, to get a better grip in the keyway. It's also important to file them (or at least to finish them) by filing in the direction perpendicular to the lock axis. This way I got a rough surface that will grip on the brass to stay in place, without leaving scratches.

Hi Squelchtone, these are stainless steel bicycle spokes. Just the second from left in the first picture is steel (non-stainless and a bit dirt to be honest). As you can see from the pictures below, in the past I made some top tension wrenches.
This is my favourite one

This is another good one

The other side of both is round, but filed on both sides. These 2 are a good assortment of top tension wrenches: with 2 height and 2 width choices. I'll post a complete picture if I find it.
To answer your question, I agree with you, a good selection of these profile wrenches is useful: just send me the locks to test them and I'll be more than happy to provide you with all the wrenches that you may need

Cheers

[LocksmithArmy]

Very cool idea, I dont have a bicycle but when I make keyway specific tensors I use nails, I think Im about to go to the store and get some nails lol

[femurat]

Here you can see my favourite wrench I was talking about. It's ideal for top tension. The small side is filed on both sides and fits perfectly in many padlocks (abus, american 1105...).
The taller side is perfect for the medeco you can see in this page and for many other locks if the first pin isn't too short.


I'll look for lawn staple next time I go to a "garden center". I'm always interested in trying new materials.

I think that nails are a good, cheap and "easy to find" alternative to spokes. Nails are brittle so it could be easy to break them: bend them before filing so in case you break the nail you haven't filed for nothing.

Cheers

[raimundo]

to get a 90 degree bend in a nail that close to the nail head, Im thinking the way to go would be to put the nail through a hole in a hard piece of steel, a hole that loosely fits the nail, then this steel tool can hold the nailhead end while you bend it with whatever, then you could let the nail out of the steel bar because the hole is just loose enough.

its gonna be hard to bend a nail just under the head without some special tool and this one would do it.

[LocksmithArmy]

Somewhere on here there are pictures of some TOK tensors I had made for the 5200s out of nails... I used needle nose pliars to grip behind the nail head and other pliars(any kind) to grip furthur down... it worked fine... then file as desired

[zeke79]

You and Rai are definately on to something. I am going to have to start looking around for an old bicycle so I can make some of these. Come to think of it, I think the neighbors son has been leaving his bike outside the past couple of nights. I may have to give him a visit .

[loki-aka]

As as source of spokes may I suggest ones' local bike shop ?

I would imagine they have damaged rims- with spokes, while not perfectly "square"
and straight-that could be salvaged.

[raimundo]

Just drive down two or three alleys and look for an old bike wheel beside the garbage can, you can cut a lot of spokes from one wheel.

[nothumbs]

You can visit your local bike shop and ask them for used spokes. Wheels often get trashed, particularly in mountain biking areas. I've managed to get a good collection of different sizes and profiles. Some spokes have a flat rather than round profile and can be used similarly to windshield washer inserts. Great for those euro profile locks or other small profile locks.