Pictures: Raimundo's Custom Snappers

[edsmiley]

I picked up some custom snappers off of Raimundo a little while ago and have had almost instant success with them. Cheaper deadbolts and knobs opened in just a few snaps, was able to get some Master padlocks quickly as well. Moved onto something with some better tolerances, and opened up this best in about 10 snaps. Don't have a key, but if I could get it to control I could see the bitting on the key. Anyhow, the point is that these things work phenomenally. I am adding this to my always carry case because these are just as useful and quick as the bogotas I carry (Raimundo's other specialty). You should add one as well!

My one snapper comes with a tension tool that hooks right onto the snapper. Easily comes off and on when needed, a great addition to the snapper tool!



Cheers!
Ed

[spyderco monkey]

Hey Ed,

Glad to hear your having such success with your snapper. Also very interested in the nested tensioner on your model- do you think you could post a pic showing them together?
-------------------

I have been very distracted these last few weeks as I am getting ready to launch a book on Kickstarter, and so I have been busy editing and shooting film for that project. So I apologize that I have been so slow to report back.

I am having decidedly mixed results with the new snapper. Some locks, shown with the blue post it note, were zapped open in a few seconds. The Master lock in the middle with the pink post it was opened by a mixture of snaps, and then single pin picking with the tiny hook on the tip of the snapper. Meanwhile, the collection of locks by the yellow post it were unable to be opened within my 30 second testing window.







Although the Banananomic model is much more comfortable in the hand, I had a higher rate of success with my original snapper from the earlier photo sequences. I believe that is because of two factors. Primarily, my original snapper was made of a flat bicycle spoke that struck with greater force than the round spokes. Additionally, the very fine needle of the pick allowed me greater sensitivity in the keyways. However, this fine needle proved to be its undoing, as it bent out of shape within the week.

I clearly need more practice with the snapper, so this is hardly a definitive verdict, but so far I have not found it to be as reliable or easy to use as the Bogota's, which remain the standard by which all others are judged.

I will report back when I have conducted more testing.

-mark

[spyderco monkey]

I realized I've been behind on this review, so I conducted some more testing this morning.

I began using my right hand, with little success. Worse, I've started to develop a repetitive stress injury in my right hand from excessive snaps, which in extended usage extremely taxing on the hands. This will not be an issue for field use, as a few minutes is fine, but be aware before you spend hours on end snapping locks.

However, in a bit of lemonade, I decided to try the Snapper out with my left hand. Bam! Within about 2 minutes I had zapped through 5 locks, including a 6 pin disc padlock that I have been unable to pick manually due its smalle keyway.





I'm not sure why I was so much more successful with my left hand, but I do have a hypothesis. In shooting, we perform thousands of "dry" repetitions to work on the nuances of proper trigger control, which is about 90% of accuracy. Programed correctly, you become a lifelong marksman. However, program the wrong skills, and your going to be a lifelong trigger jerking sumbitch, whose shots are always 6" off the mark. This is whats known as "programing an incorrect torque profile," and its a terrible fate that is difficult to recover from.

I suspect that I have inadvertently programed an incorrect snapper torque profile into my right hand, which causes me to to repeat the same mistakes in the lock over and over. By comparison, since my left hand has no programing, I sort of just stuck the needle in the lock and snapped a few times and it worked 5 out of 9 times.

Between my now incorrectly programed right hand and the onset of some type of hand injury due to excessive snappage, I don't think I will be making this my go to tool. The Bogota's are easier to carry and more effective for me.

However, I do intend to always have a snapper in my toolbox for locks I cannot Bogota, such as the narrow keyway disk lock from above, and especially this Schlage. It has extremely stiff springs, at least one security pin, and is generally unreceptive to my charms. However, a few snaps sets most of the pins, which allows the lock to then be opened with a bit of rough diamond raking.



Additionally, Ray has very kindly sent me a replacement for my favorite tool, made of the flat bicycle spoke, as well as another prototype that paved the way for the current Banananomic design. I will be testing these as time and my hands allow, so stay tuned.



-mark

[raimundo]

Ouch, Im sorry to hear about that, I developed an irritation of my thumb, and that probably led to the thumb spinner, trigger,
that other snapper, the old one is made of really strong bike spoke, becareful using it.
I am not convinced that greater force is always desirable,
to moderate force with a snapper one could learn to press it less than full down.

take some time off, get away from those snappers.
No one wants you to get injured.

Thanks for the testing, and the review.
I appreciate it.

snappers are handed, you start to make them at the trap, by bending the box, then you need to think about which direction to
bend the trap from the straight length of the spoke, this is the point where it becomes handed.
you probably want the upper arm coming from the where the coil will be made to be away from the side that the trap will be on.
then you put on a thumb spinner, and think again before winding the coil, I think it should be stacked on the side which has the trap
after that, the rest is obvious, thin the needle and put the ergo bends in the long parts, by hand so no tool marks appear and put it in the trap, close the trap and sand the needle.

thats a pretty short tutorial but thats all there really is to it.
anyone can easily make their own.

go ahead and try

[raimundo]

Ouch, Im sorry to hear about that, I developed an irritation of my thumb, and that probably led to the thumb spinner, trigger,
that other snapper, the old one is made of really strong bike spoke, becareful using it.
I am not convinced that greater force is always desirable,
to moderate force with a snapper one could learn to press it less than full down.

take some time off, get away from those snappers.
No one wants you to get injured.

Thanks for the testing, and the review.
I appreciate it.

snappers are handed, you start to make them at the trap, by bending the box, then you need to think about which direction to
bend the trap from the straight length of the spoke, this is the point where it becomes handed.
you probably want the upper arm coming from the where the coil will be made to be away from the side that the trap will be on.
then you put on a thumb spinner, and think again before winding the coil, I think it should be stacked on the side which has the trap
after that, the rest is obvious, thin the needle and put the ergo bends in the long parts, by hand so no tool marks appear and put it in the trap, close the trap and sand the needle.

thats a pretty short tutorial but thats all there really is to it.
anyone can easily make their own.

go ahead and try

[docjon]

I saw these snappers a long time ago but didn't bother making any till recently. I am impressed. They work quite well. Even my son thought they quite useful. Well done. And thanks for showing us. Jon

[kjb]

Hello everyone im new to the forums and lockpicking. Would someone mind explaining snaps to me? I've been reading everything I can, but i have no idea what a snap is/does.

[Divinorum]

A snap or snap gun is a device that can be used to open a lock. It's named appropriately after the sound it makes when used. The larger part is held in hand while the tip is inserted into the lock. The top portion of the device is pressed down (typically with the thumb) and then quickly released. When released the top piece snaps back into place and hits the rod inserted into the lock. The upward kinetic energy from the rob hitting the key pins within the lock is transferred to the upper pins within the lock. When the upper pins are 'bumped' up just right it causes a momentary gap at the sheer line which allows the lock to open when tension is applied. This is the same principal behind bump keys or electric pick guns.

This video should give you a visual of how it is used. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2iLocDRtEU

If you don't already have a basic understanding of the different parts of a lock and how they operate, look into it and you will then have a better understanding of how a snap gun works

[billdeserthills]

So, I've been playing around some more, some observations and additional mods.

Firstly, the snapper has allowed me to open a lock that has been in my drawer for ages, that I have never been able to open with regular tools. So the snapper is officially awesome in my book.



However, it took me a bunch (20+) snaps to open the lock, as the pin springs are very strong. In the process, the repeated impacts caused the very fine needle of the pick to bend downwards.



I'm jealous of the egg tip profile on the new pick design, as I think that would be tremendously helpful for finding the last pin, and preventing from striking the internal body of the lock.

Since I couldn't reprofile the tip, I figured the next best thing would be to mark on the pick the typical depths of my two most commonly encountered keys- the Master Lock 4pin and the basic 5 pin deabolt. I put the pick tip next to both keys, and scratched the sides with the file of my leatherman to indicate the appropriate depth. This has allowed me to begin opening some padlocks, as previously I had been inserting the needle too deeply.

I didn't realize that matt had so many of the old style ones, and he completely didn't give you the new ones that have a more ergonomic curve and an improved slip trigger, and a tiny hook at the tip for feeling the last pin.

Those are obviously all the old ones that were just steps on the development of the new ones,

I will be sending one of the new ones to mortimer duke today and he will have the one that I wanted to be posted,

Matt did have the new type, but its not in this collection.

Ray, thats interesting news, as I was under the impression that these were the tools to review. Looking at the photos from the other thread, I like the newer design very much. It looks like it would be much more ergonomic in the hand, and really, the egg tooth profile would be so helpful. Right now I'm mostly guessing and finessing trying to find that last pin.

How is the effectiveness on the newer designs? Does the thumb tube allow for a faster snap, or is it mostly for comfort? Also, are bicycle spokes superior to street sweeper bristles for this application?

Very interested to see how this tool develops, as I'm a huge fan of the Bogota's.

SActually I'm surprised you were able to pick open this lock, it is a Schlage B300
series and I think they were the first Schlage locks to come factory loaded with
4) spool driver top pins.

[south town ninja]

so how do you make one?

[Sublimis]

so how do you make one?

He uses bicycle spokes, if I remember correctly you can do a Google search and find the exact dimensions and bends for making one.

[RubberBanned]

Is there any way to um. Buy one of these? I'm afraid I don't have the facilities to craft one. Or maybe faculty. Just curious.

[Onz]

Wow these are bloody amazing! Would love to see a online store if someone has a link.

Onz

[silvfox1200]

I made three of these. They do work, if you can last long enough. You hand will get wore out. One works better than the other three. I like the one with the angle. But I would rather spp a lock

Thanks

James

[Ron1]

It's a shame that first Banananomic design didn't work as well as you wanted. I like the design of that one. Glad you got it with a flat spoke, since that sounds like the missing link to make that one stand out (to me, anyway).