Recently I got from my friend GWiens2001 3 American Padlocks.
I think it's time to post some stuff about them. I still don't know everything about them and I appreciate who adds or corrects me if I'm wrong
So for starters. This is a key retaining lock. That means the key is stuck to the lock untill it's closed. No way to leave this lock opened without the key (unless you pick it of course. But you can't lock it without the shackle in place).
Here are the 3 of them:
To disassemble, open the lock and remove the screw that is inside the shackle hole:
Then, lock it again, remove the key and the fitting will come out. So will the locking mechanism.
It's actually a pretty small lock, comparing to the size of the padlock.
Behind it, it's shapped in a way so it moves the inside of the lock to locked/unlocked position:
Rotate it and tap the lock and that piece will fall, as so the ball bearings:
(notice the shape of it, matching the shape of the back of the lock? When you rotate the key, you rotate this also, allowing the ball bearings to fall on the notches, thus allowing the shackle to pop)
The shackle and spring can now be removed (they'll fall in fact
)
Now you are left with the completely empty body of the lock (notice the hole where the ball bearing goes?):
As for the pins. Amercan Padlocks (at least this models, the 5200) uses serrated drivers, serrated pins, and spoorated (serrated spools). As a side note, size 1, 2 and 3 key pins do not come with serrations, as they would be too short:
The lock itself has 5 holes where you can look at the empty plug:
With the key rotated, you can see the key pins there. If you turn this upside down, they will fall and you can repin the cylinder without using a plug follower (only the key pins, not the driver):
As for gutting, that's pretty much it. They are simple but effective. They are mostly used in Military for low-security applications (as for locking nukes
)Now as a bonus, I'll add something my friend Gordon has taught me when he sent those to me. How to know when they were made!
Notice the serial numbers on their back?
You only need the first 3 letters. So in these ones is VEG, QNN and QPL.
The first letter means the month it was built, The next two letter are the last digits of the year. Here's the code:
Z - Jan
Y - Feb
X - Mar
W - Apr
V - May
U - Jun
T - Jul
S - Aug
R - Sep
Q - Oct
P - Nov
O - Dec
N - 1
M - 2
L - 3
K - 4
J - 5
I - 6
H - 7
G - 8
F - 9
E - 0
So on these ones:
VEG - May, 08
QNN - Oct, 11
QFL - Oct, 93 - It is actually 20 years old and still works like charm
I hope you enjoyed this small review on these locks. I'll let picking techniques for more advanced pickers, as I still find these too nasty for me
