Cant open lock after turning it 180 degrees

[Murmelinen]

Hello everyone.
I have this board I bought for practicing my picking that has 4 locks attached to it. They all seem to be wafer locks and can be turned 180 degrees after which they lock again in that position and can, of course, still be opened with they key. However after I managed to pick this one lock and after turning it 180 degrees and having it lock again I somehow cant pick it from that position again. If I turn it back to the original position I can pick it but not if Its the other way around. What could be causing a lock to act like that? Its just that one lock that I cant pick from that position but the three others are easy to pick regardless of being open/closed positions.

[KPick]

Can you show me pictures of the troubled lock? I'd like to see more so I can see whats going on and the kind of lock you have.

[Squelchtone]

This is a fairly common problem for beginners, please see this post, it may help: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=47988&p=362641#p362641

If your lock is a wafer lock and not a pin tumbler lock, then it may have a rotation limit stop on the back end, or like KPick suggested, a photo would probably clear all this up much faster.

upload your photo to http://imgur.com/ or to http://tinypic.com/ and then Paste the URL in your reply.


Also, I invite you to use the Search feature, it isn't the greatest, but it works most of the time and helps from having multiple versions of the same question floating around. Search here search.php

good luck,
Squelchtone

[Capt_Tom]

If the lock has pin tumblers, when picked and rotated 180 degrees, the pins will drop into the key cutout on the opposite side of the cylinder.... thus the lockup. Don't pick it to correct the problem. Using a small diamond pick... or straight piece of metal... slide it into the bottom of the keyway...(opposite the side that you picked) lift all pins at one time while putting a slight twist on the pick to turn the keyway. (If you are using the diamond, let it face into the cylinder rather than toward the keyway slot)

[Murmelinen]

Alright. Took some pictures with my phone.
The key has "L F" and "England" written on its front and the number 92311 on the back.
On the picture with the 4 locks visible it is the top-right one. Also on the lock itself it has the number 311 above the keyway.

http://imgur.com/rpMnbBv
http://imgur.com/wazqYMJ
http://imgur.com/vKb08o7
http://imgur.com/TKTgz57

[KPick]

Do you want to take a side picture of the lock that's giving you trouble?

[cledry]

It is just a Lowe & Fletcher cam lock. Unless a spring from one wafer is missing I can't understand why it should be more difficult to pick.

[KPick]

It is just a Lowe & Fletcher cam lock. Unless a spring from one wafer is missing I can't understand why it should be more difficult to pick.

I'm thinking you might be running into the small metal bump on the back of the wafer lock. If the nut on the back of the lock is tight enough it can cause the metal bar to catch onto the bump on the back of the lock's housing.