Pocket Pen Pick Set... What James Bond Wished He Had.

[jondoe]

Wow guys! I am seriously impressed with the improvements! Keep them coming and keep posting your pictures.

[dblanchard]

Hi skygear,

welcome to the forum. I appreciate your idea but I'm having a hard time trying to understand your pictures: they're too big for my screen and I can see only a piece at a time. Next time remember that picture size should be 800x600 max.

Cheers

Hold down your control key, and tap the minus key until you get the desired dimensions.

D

[phishtaco]

Wow, looks good.

[LexDevil]

Very nice DIY set indeed.

[grndslm]

LOVE!!!

Who do I have to pay to make me one?

[joXeoX4v]

I’ve been searching around on this site for quite some time and after learning so much decided it was time for me to make an attempt to give back. I wanted to make a pocket pen pick set. I first searched for some ideas. The most common pen pick is this http://www.lockpickshop.com/SO-212.html. If you keep searching you’ll come across this http://www.hpcworld.com/Picks/p_vips14.htm. If you look deep within the depths of the internet you’ll come across this beauty http://www.electromax.com/lockpicking.html. This final pen pick design is what I based my homebrew on.
My first step was to find a suitable hollow body pen that can house the picks. After searching around I came across this http://www.sharpie.com/enUS/Product/Sha ... arker.html. I picked one up at Target for around 10 bucks.
After I found a good host I needed to figure out how I was going to couple the body of the pen to the piece which was to hold the pick. I wanted to find a way to screw the two together as the Sharpie already has threads built into it. However, I realized that an x-acto no.2 (for searching purposes… exacto, xacto, x acto, ex-acto) knife is approximately the same outside diameter as the inside diameter of the sharpie shaft. In other words, they pressure fit together nicely. I proceeded to cut the x-acto no.2 knife about 1 inch below the knurling.
When making your picks I recommend making the base of the pick in the same shape as the base of the x-acto blade. It makes for a very snug fit and will not move around when picking. When you have finished making your desired picks and tension wrench/es simply put everything together. Remember, it is all pressure fitted. I recommend closing everything up in this order: 1. Place the x-acto tip firmly into the cap of the pen. 2. Place the picks inside the shaft. 3. Place the end of the x-acto tip (which is now affixed to the cap) into the shaft.
I took some pictures because, well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Hope this helps!

Nice one you got there!!

[zeepia]

Thanks to jondoe, this is an awesome project!

I made my version with a few improvements or at least modifications.



There is room for at least six picks and one folding tension wrench inside. Sharpie´s tip is used to hide that it isn´t a working pen.
All picks are made from street bristles, width 3,2mm. I made a groove to every pick so that index finger rests on it. It helps when you rake, with spp it doesn´t matter so much. Picks are very tight fit so they don´t come out easily accidentally.

The folding tension wrench is explained here http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=55262



They fit very well inside and it doesn´t rattle at all. There is one neodym magnet which holds all the picks and tw in place, also preventing from rattling around.



This is the housing for the picks. It is a M4 bolt which I split in half with dremel for 18mm length. There is a short heat shrink tube so that it goes tightly in place, it also centers it well. I will also use some glue to provide permanet fitting in the pen. And at the other end is the magnet glued.



This is the housing from the frontside showing the split bolt. M4 nylon nuts proved to be perfect size for my bristles. There is one nylock nut in either end of the split bolt to provide as little movement as possible. It doesn´t wiggle at all.

Original pen weights 22 grams and this version is 32 grams so it´s not so heavy it would be suspicious. Not until you are asked to borrow a pen...

[t|n|<]

Is there any way you could make a template that works with the sharpie body? That would be amazing!

OR, if you take a picture of everything all laid out nicely with a ruler, I can convert it into a pdf template for you on Photoshop... if ya want!

[jondoe]

You guys have made some serious improvements. I plan to redo this project according to your guys suggestions. If you liked this tutorial check out my credit card lock pick project here... viewtopic.php?f=4&t=47912&p=362460&hilit=credit+card+lock+pick+diy#p362460. Hopefully we can see some improvements on this design as well.

[zeepia]

Here are my picks of this nice project, they are laid on a millimeter paper so they are 77mm long. These have already beaten a lot of locks



Enjoy!

[t|n|<]

awesome! Thanks so much! Its nice to hear that these are your preferred pics. So many templates are out there, it gets overwhelming so fast to noobs!

[zeepia]

I´m not saying these are the most excellent pick shapes there are available! But these looked about right in my eyes, I made these without any templates.

My deforest goes a little too deep and bogota still beats usually those two rakes. One with inside and other with outside curve. But it always depends on the lock you are playing with.

Take some time searching this site and learn what picks are usually preferred, and if you make them slimline you can use them in tight keyways also.

Just remember to sand your picks very smooth and then some more polishing.

[t|n|<]

Got it. I'm trying to absorb everything, so I'm reading all over this forum.

I guess I was drawn to this thread cuz I love to make stuff! Thanks for your advice and pick pic.

[t|n|<]

My version of the Sharpie pick pen.



I wanted to get it so the sharpie marker still worked, and I think I did! Here's what I did:

1. cut down sharpie refill right behind threads, (tape off extra half of refill, save for refilling later)
2. cut down X-acto knife 1/4" behind groove - I don't know which number x-acto it is. Sorry! It's the most common one, I think.
3. pull out felt ink insert from the pen half of the refill and cut off 1/2", replace ink insert in pen.
4. wrap extra thin rubberband around groove on X-acto. I used a really cheap, really, really thin hair rubberband. Braces bands or a tiny rubber o-ring would work also.
5. carefully push x-acto into the pen half of the refill, making sure the rubberband doesn't slide out of the groove, if possible. It should hold the X-acto inside the sharpie.
6. (optional) I added another red rubberband on the outside, because one little part of the internal rubberband was showing and I wanted it to look like it was on purpose...
7. Cut your picks to size, so it can be closed with your favorite pick ready to go, clamped in the x-acto.

I hope the rubberband and threads of the x-acto housing are air tight enough to prevent the sharpie from drying out. We'll see. I'm fully expecting the sharpie won't last that long, because of the small size of the ink insert. But it should be easy enough to replace later.

Currently, I still need to work on it so it doesn't rattle and make my tension wrench, but I'm very happy with it thus far!




Hope you like it.

[zeepia]

Nicely done! Love the feature that the pen is actually working

You could put a small neodym magnet there to prevent the picks from rattling around. When one pick is already in place in handle, they shouldn´t make a sound.