Pnumatic Lockpick

[IndigoChild]

This is a little concept drawing I had done today. I dont know if it would even work but I like the idea. It interested me. My idea is using a tension wrench like HPC's circular tensor with the numeric indicator and spring tension. Then put a rubber gasket on the front, and a air compressor adapter on the back. A small mechanic in the middle to create a pulse in the air to make the pins jump up and down and lastly a hole that you can thread a wrench into to get better accuracy with the torque. Simple, stupid, but who knows, it might work.

[GWiens2001]

Sort of an automatic tennis ball car door opener?

I suspect that the opening at the back of the keyway would leak too much air, but with an air compressor, it may be possible. I am not an engineer.

Gordon

[Altashot]

Lol! The tennis ball...
The idea of the tennis ball (which is a hoax) was not to pick the lock but to pressurize the door cavity.
The excess pressure, having nowhere to go would push the lock button up...Load of BS...

Sorry, but I don't think air is going to work. It will always follow the path of least resistance. IE: the back of the lock.
Even if you could make the lock air tight, air will not move the pins. It would pass in the gaps between the pins and the chambers
and fill the bible. The pressure would now be equal above and below the pins, accomplishing, nothing. Air is compressible and with
enough pressure, the lock would rupture, possibly at the bible where the wall are thinnest. It could destroy the lock.
Believe me, High Pressure Air can be dangerous. I am an avid air gun enthusiast and I know a lot about HPA. I have a few guns that
use HPA as "fuel" to propel the pellets. Extensive testing has to be done to make sure that these gun are safe. They fill to an excess of
4500 PSI. If one was to blow, people could die, in fact some air gunners have lost limbs and lives from a gun pressure vessel failure.

Good concept, very creative but, don't do it. A much safer alternative would be a hydraulic lockpick. I would expect better results from
water since its molecule is larger. There would be less chances of seeping in the gaps. Also, water is not compressible. In case something burst,
water would just leak out as opposed to compressed air that would quickly and violently return to its original volume.

M.

[Bob Jim Bob]

I don't see any way that the air pressure would move the pins to the shear line. It seems like it would just lift all the pins or some random ones. Or perhaps the ones that aren't binding which wouldn't really help. Just my thoughts.

[IndigoChild]

The funny thing is that the tennis ball is what inspired this idea.

As for you Jim Bob the idea is simple, aerodynamics. Now Alta already proved to me that this is a rather idea but I still want you to understand what I was thinking, Airplanes have lift because of the way their wings are designed, Car air vents direct air, A wind blows a wind vein in the direction of the airflow. The pins have a taper on the bottom, If you put a burst of air to the bottoms of those pins it will make it jump up, in theory. This is because the angle of the taper on the pin would direct the air downward and the laws of physics say for every action there is an equal reaction. The pin pushes the air down, the air pushes the pin up. I have personally picked several locks by way of rubber hammer and tensor. If you smack the lock to make the pins jump up and down over and over there is sure to be a gap at some point that allows the plug to turn. Same concept but done internally with air. The device would have a rapid pulse generator which could be as simple as a little fan inside to chop up the air as it spins, this is going to make the pins jump up and down in rapid succession, The torque that you could apply wouldnt be very much with this device as its spring controlled, A feather light tensor in other words. if you could get them to jump and create that gap with feather light tension in theory it should unlock. But as Alta kindly pointed out this much pressure could damage the lock or simply just leak out the back side.

I love the idea of using this same idea to create a hydro lock pick. The larger particles indeed would work a lot better, if your really desperate to get into a lock and you got a garden hose, maybe it would work, who knows. But I wanted to post this to see what people thought of it, Turns out people dont like it so I dont have interest in it any more.

[Bob Jim Bob]

Thank You IndigoChild I do understand the simple idea of aerodynamics, although I'm not sure that's the right term for what's going on here. It sounds like you are talking about using air pressure to lift the pins, really has nothing to do with aerodynamics or with any taper on the pins, or the lift created by an airfoil.

I thought you might be trying to use the air pressure to gently lift the pins but now I see you were thinking of a bumping technique which would leave a gap at the shear line if it worked.

I'll admit that there's a lot of locks I haven't seen, but I haven't seen one yet that would be blown apart by applying air pressure to the keyway. Better go check YouTube...

[Capt_Tom]

How would you maintain a feather light tension and keep the air tight seal at the same time?

[MacGyver101]

This is because the angle of the taper on the pin would direct the air downward and the laws of physics say for every action there is an equal reaction. The pin pushes the air down, the air pushes the pin up.

Hrm. Interesting idea. I think, though, that the blast of air will also push the pins towards the back of the cylinder (or, at least, the portions of the pins that are exposed), which would create a fair amount of friction against the chamber walls? (You'd also get some complex air flows once the flow of air starts to interact with the sides/back of the cylinder.)

As a thought experiment, in terms of pneumatic lockpicks, I'd be more inclined to think of some sort of super-flexible membrane that inserts like a key blank that's been cut to the lowest possible cuts -- and then inflate the membrane to push the pins up. If the membrane was sufficiently flexible (i.e., so that it's spring constant was much smaller than the actual driver springs in the lock) then it might work against locks with unbalanced pinstacks?

How would you maintain a feather light tension and keep the air tight seal at the same time?

Ah ha! scriptguru came up with a interesting possible solution to that.

[IndigoChild]

Thats a very interesting take on a pnumatic pick as well as using glue for a tensor. Very bazaar idea but if it works whats wrong with it then. I wonder now if there is a membrane that is durable enough to be used over and over again. Maybe could do a modified key like the sputnic pick so that it blows air straight up at the pins instead of using wires. Get a set of key blade attachments for most keyways. Never know though. You could be onto something.

[GWiens2001]

Indigo -looks like you are ready for this thread.



Gordon

[yono]

i had that idea too, my friend..however i scrap it off even before i had take a pencil to sketch it. but imagination is just like a dream until it put.. in black and white. keep it on, sometimes, amazing discoveries sparks unexpectedly. regards.

[LockDocWa]

My money is on Yono

[kerti]

Motor oil right to keyway? With one powerful impulse

[YouLuckyFox]

Reminds me of what a member of a different forum once suggested. They said to use a top of the keyway tension wrench and use Canned Air to put the straw on the canned air to the back of the keyway. The idea was the air from the canister would have no place to go but push the back-most pin up, then pull the straw back and work the rest of the pins up and so on. Of course, this just wouldn't work but I gave him kudos for creativity. If he were to make an ingenious per pin gas seal, it could work theoretically --but it to me it seems like almost a Rube Goldberg device at that point because it's some super complicated method of doing what bump keys and snap guns and electronic lock picks do better. HOWEVER, this does bring me to an idea I have tried (though not successfully) where you use a needle to press the pins to the top, use Canned Air to freeze the pins in position and let the bottom pins unfreeze and drop down! From my understanding this is possible.