Can't get my pins to "click"

[Scutting70]

I've watched many you tube videos about picking. Most pickets get there pins to "click". I can't. Why is this? Thanks for advice.

[Squelchtone]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Here are some important questions that will help us give you a better answer.

1. How long have you been picking, and have you opened a lock yet or is this the first time? are you raking or doing SPP (single pin picking)?
2. Which brand/pickset are you using and which picks from that pick set?
3. How are you applying tension? Beginners usually crank on the wrench too hard and the pins aren't free to move up and down in the pin stacks smoothly.
4. Which lock brand/model/style are you trying to pick (padlock, mortise cylinder, deadbolt), and does that lock have a key so you can tell that it is in good working order?


Practice is key, so keep working on it!
Squelchtone

[capt.dunc]

5. are you picking in hand or with a vice?

[GWiens2001]

Some microphones are overly sensitive to certain frequencies. It seems that many of them pick up the 'click' of the pins exceptionally well. Certainly much better than my ears hear them.

Gordon

[billdeserthills]

If your lock has dirt or dust in it that can get sticky and slow the pin stack down so you don't get a click
you can rinse it out with some brake cleaner or alcohol

[Seroxis]

Sometimes I don't hear them click while I'm picking either, but when I release the tension, I can hear them clicking back down into the locked position. I've still yet to open a lock myself.

[cj101]

The click sound is also very dependant on the lock, the tolerances and the pin form. Very very cheap asian import products (1 dollar, 1 euro cylinder lock) have extremely rounded pins (at the shearline) to counter the poor manufacturing tolerances. Furthermore, the drill holes of pins chambers are generously countersunk. These pins 'autoset' very smoothely almost instantly without feeling at the shearline and without a notable 'click' sound, If you release tension, the pins, however, are free to move and are accelerated by the spring and suddenly blocked by the keyway - hence they click by releasing the tension.
I have such a 5 lock set of such locks for 5€. (One lock of these is however unpickable - it doesn't even open with the genuine key!). These locks open without click sounds.
In a new clean, quality lock, however, you should either hear or feel a click.

[nite0wl]

Higher quality locks that are brand new (or at least have not seen significant use) tend to give more audible feedback, especially in solid-body padlocks. Putting the lock in a vise may amplify these sounds (as well as free up your hands to concentrate on proper pick manipulation and tension.
Occasionally the amount of tension you apply can encourage or discourage the amount of noise produced by the pins being manipulated.

Also, do not use the level and clarity of the sounds on most online videos as a guide for exactly what you will hear when you are picking. As GWiens2001 pointed out some microphones may pick up some of the sounds produced by the lock and picks better than your ears will. Also, at least some pickers on YouTube (myself at least) tend to put the camera quite close to the lock and the lock and pick tools will be one of the only sources of sound in the 'focus' area of the camera's microphone. Consider that the microphone integrated into many digital cameras are designed to be most sensitive in the area around the center of the lens' focus, something making even very small/quiet sounds inches away from the mic in its most sensitive zone these sounds will be picked up unless there is an overpowering sound source.