Hi all I'm new to picking, so please forgive my stupidity, I bought a a few locks, & one of them was a ABUS 83/55 Rock. I couldn't pick it so I thought I would take a couple of pins out, but I forgot to take the springs & driver pins out
I've tried to pick it but can't get the driver pins high enough.
My Question is there anybody in the UK who could fix this Please???
If you removed only the key pin, you have a problem. Normal picks are too short to depress the driver pin all the way down to the housing. Shimming is most often not possibe at all. If the driver pin reside completely within the plug, you coluld try to shear off the spring. (The spring will be destroyed, however, and the plug be probably slightly damaged - so please wait a bit for other suggestions from other users). To shear off the springs, pick the lock until you can turn it a bit (it will rotate a fair amount!) and then apply heavy torque.
If the lock has not been mounted in the padlock housing, you could drill the retaining pins of each pin chamber.
Stewroper1 wrote:Hi all I'm new to picking, so please forgive my stupidity, I bought a a few locks, & one of them was a ABUS 83/55 Rock. I couldn't pick it so I thought I would take a couple of pins out, but I forgot to take the springs & driver pins out
I've tried to pick it but can't get the driver pins high enough.
My Question is there anybody in the UK who could fix this Please???
Your problem is as cj has described it. Abus springs are steel rather than a softer metal so to shear the springs with force is not guaranteed. Damaged to the surface of the plug is certain IF they do shear.
If it is opened as how cj has said, I'd say you'll need a new core. Not just the springs.
I see you're in the West Midlands. I'm in Shropshire, so we're not too far away from each other. I'll give it a go if you want, but it's probably not possible without damage.
PM me. Let's see what we can sort out. I'll see if I can improvise something. I love a challenge We can chat on the phone if you want.
DISCLAIMER: Reader may posit an understanding of what was written, while this may not coincide with the intended meaning of what is read. Use of brain is required. One size fits all, and may contain traces of gibberish
Sadly, I've done this before; was progressive pinning a lock and got my chambers mixed up. Depending on the keyway and how restrictive it is (have only dealt with a couple Abus locks), you may be able to fix it by taking a length of steel wire, putting a gentle 90 degree bend in it, shaping it to the keyway and cutting the business end at exactly the distance from bottom of keyway to shear line. If the keyway is too restrictive, maybe substitute the distance from the top ward to shear line. Position the wire's tip at the base of the pin in question, then rotate the rest of the wire into the keyway so it levers the pin up and to the shear line (thus the purpose of the curved 90). Tension the plug, remove the wire and pick the remaining pins normally.
This worked for me the one time I needed it to, but to be honest, it's a long shot. Good luck!
EDIT: I re-read your initial post, and see that you're dealing with multiple chambers without a key pin. While I've never dealt with this exact scenario, may be able to make two of the wire rigs as described above and deploy simultaneously, lifting both pins above the shear line, then tensioning the plug to trap them above the shear line (hopefully; depends on natural binding order) while you pick the other pins. Good luck, there're quite a few variables in play here.
Would there be enough room to start loading master wafers below the driver pin? Flip it upside down, put a master wafer in each no key pin chamber and start picking. Add another wafer as needed and push until the wafer is flush with the former top of the keyway. You will hit a sheer line eventually.
Stewroper1 wrote:Hi all I'm new to picking, so please forgive my stupidity, I bought a a few locks, & one of them was a ABUS 83/55 Rock. I couldn't pick it so I thought I would take a couple of pins out, but I forgot to take the springs & driver pins out
I've tried to pick it but can't get the driver pins high enough.
My Question is there anybody in the UK who could fix this Please???
Your problem is as cj has described it. Abus springs are steel rather than a softer metal so to shear the springs with force is not guaranteed. Damaged to the surface of the plug is certain IF they do shear.
If it is opened as how cj has said, I'd say you'll need a new core. Not just the springs.
I see you're in the West Midlands. I'm in Shropshire, so we're not too far away from each other. I'll give it a go if you want, but it's probably not possible without damage.
PM me. Let's see what we can sort out. I'll see if I can improvise something. I love a challenge We can chat on the phone if you want.
can't get images to resize from Imgur ....back in a bit
Squelch: don't have the function to delete this post. Could you do? Many thanks.
Last edited by MrAnybody on 18 Jan 2015 6:10, edited 1 time in total.
DISCLAIMER: Reader may posit an understanding of what was written, while this may not coincide with the intended meaning of what is read. Use of brain is required. One size fits all, and may contain traces of gibberish
This Abus 83/55 was fixed over Christmas, so I thought to share out what I did to get it done.
The real for me was that I ended up with corrupt vid files from the pre-edit I did of fixing it, so that was a real bummer. Thankfully, I got some stills and could recover some vid files, but not enough to do a complete vid.
I'll write it up here with what I can.
Issue:
Padlock was sent to me for repair after it had 2 key pins removed with a view to pick it as a progressively pinned lock. However, it was then reassembled, and locked without removing the driver pins and springs out of the housing in those stacks.
Of course, this left the padlock inoperable because stacks 1 and 2 were pinned with only a driver pin and spring. Key would fully insert, but no plug rotation. The other 3 stacks were pinning to the key bitting.
Mission:
Need to find a way to unlock / rotate the plug enough to pop the shackle open, in order to remove the retaining screw in the shackle seat, and drop the core out to repin. With that done, this glorious padlock would be able to fulfil its purpose in life
Possible Solution 1:
As the shear line for stacks 1 and 2 was only blocked by the springs, the 3 correctly pinned stacks could be picking, and then the plug could be forced into rotation. This will hopefully shear/break the springs, and allow enough rotation in the plug.
However, this could easily leave deep scaring on the surface of the plug from the spring pieces as the plug is forced to turn, so it can only be classed as a destructive method. Probably need to buy a new core anyway (as well as replace 2 springs) since the scarring would definitely give a stiff and crunchy rotation, if it could get as far as being repinned correctly.
With that said, it might only be possible with soft metal springs, and more than likely cause rotation to be blocked before the shackle pops. Could also (more than likely) completely jam the plug and prevent opening > core removal > gutting to repin with the missing key pins.
If a lock has steel springs (as is the case with most Abus locks), it's more than likely they won't shear, and will just unravel/twist some, and without doubt block rotation, with no way back.
Possible Solution 2:
Pick stacks 3, 4 and 5 as normal, and then overlift the driver pins past the shearline on stacks 1 and 2 with something like a gonzo hook pick. As one example, Southord equivalents of this pick would be a MAX-06B or a MSL-06.
This could work since the keyway is not too paracentric and the stacks to be manipulated are 1 and 2 at the front of the keyway. It's not destructive in any way, and would allow normal opening to repin with the 2 missing key pins.
If the problem stacks where further back, or the keyway more of a monkey, it would be tricky to get the pick that far back and overlift the offending driver pins.
Possible Solution 3:
While solution 2 was doable in this case, I decided to get all creative, and have a play I went for a 3rd option I could see. I'd be very interested if anyone has other options in mind I hadn't thought about. That would be cool.
On the white paper in the image below, you'll see the 3 tools I used. The first at the top of the page is just a tension tool, but the 2 tools below it is something you may not have seen before. Which I can explain with the vid files I could save.
This vid is 'Unlisted' on my YouTube Channel. I'm thinking it won't make complete sense without the write-up to go along with it.
Enjoy
A Happy Ending:
DISCLAIMER: Reader may posit an understanding of what was written, while this may not coincide with the intended meaning of what is read. Use of brain is required. One size fits all, and may contain traces of gibberish
GWiens2001 wrote:Very nice and creative, MrA. Kudos to you. Guess there is something to a cup of tea while thinking a problem over.
Gordon
Indeed Much kettle boiling was involved in this one.
Thanks, Gordon
DISCLAIMER: Reader may posit an understanding of what was written, while this may not coincide with the intended meaning of what is read. Use of brain is required. One size fits all, and may contain traces of gibberish
We can chat on the phone if you want.
I went for a 3rd option I could see. I'd be very interested if anyone has other options in mind I hadn't thought about. That would be cool.
