somenewguy wrote:My guess is he's trying to decode a 3 or 4 wheel padlock that is used in real estate to keep a copy of the house key in it for the agent to show the house to potential buyers. OP: you probably already know this but you can look up info for the Master 175 or Sesamee or similar 3 or 4 wheel combo type padlock and try to apply that to your situation at hand. With a Master 175, it is very obvious; your shim drops in 1/8" or so when you hit that flat... Not sure how much more can be discussed in the open forum.
yea, that's what it sounds like to me.
op, just to clear up any confusion in the future, when you are shimming a lock you are inserting a very thin piece of metal between two or more internal mechanisms in such a way as to defeat the security features of the lock allowing it to be opened without the key/combination. while you are using a shim, what you are doing is decoding the combination of the lock as somenewguy has said.
what you need to do (and if i have gotten any of this information wrong, more seasoned members please feel free to correct me) is insert the shim on the right side of the wheel you are wanting to decode at a slight angle so that the corner of the shim is resting lightly on the inner part of the wheel. slowly turn the wheel until you feel the shim snag or drop into the gate (idk the actual term) then do the same with the rest of the wheels. more often then not this will NOT be the working combination, however, you have just reduced the number of possible combinations down to 10 (as there 10 numbers on each wheel and the wheels are now in the correct order). try to open the lock, if it does not open move each wheel 1 turn and try again. if the lock does not open after you have tried all 10 combinations you have one or more wheels out of order and have either performed the method incorrectly, or the particular lock you are attempting this on is not vulnerable to this attack.
for a video demonstration of sesame lock decoding, check out
this video by schuyler towne.
if the lock is of particularly poor build quality the shim is not needed, only a good bright flashlight. my wife bought a lockbox to keep her cash in when she worked as a nail tech and if i hold it at the right angle with a small led flashlight i am able to see the notches.
