Yale 800-Series Body Pins Advice

[Robotnik]

Over the past couple weeks, I've managed to absolutely donkey-punch a few really nice 1930's/40s Yale padlocks.

One was a huge, 4"+ one with seized internals; wasn't able to fix it. Even drilling out the cylinder didn't open it; it's officially transitioned from padlock to (very effective) paperweight. The other was a 1" mini padlock; botched cutting a key on my only blank. Not a good week so far.

The reason I'm posting though is the third Yale, an 850. I'm attempting to take it apart to make a key after failing at both making a key that matched the blind code as well as failing at impressioning. I'm familiar with how these come apart, and after picking open, I tried to tap out the body pins. No luck, got them a mm or two out before each stopped. Think the 3/32 punch I was using was slightly too narrow, and peened out the back side of the pins. Kind of press-fit them in place, preventing the pins from coming farther out.

After hitting a wall with tapping them out, tried to drill a bit of material off the back side of the pins. Went about 1/4" down, figured this would relieve the pressure...but no dice. Drilled a little farther down, as well as drilled the front side (heads) of the pins. Still nothing.

At this point, I'm looking for advice before I go further. I've effectively created press-fit roll pins tacking the case onto the guts of the lock. No good; basically everything I've done this far has made the situation worse . Any thoughts?

[kwoswalt99-]

Hit it HARDER! Maybe some pics?
It doesn't make sense to me. There should be a large gap between the case and the body right? Even if you expanded the head a little, it should still move more than a mm. Is it not protruding out the other side anymore? I guess you could just drill the entire length out with a slightly smaller bit than the pin, then crush the wall of the pin with a needle punch. Heat usually loosens things up, but I don't know how hot it can get before it discolors the brass. Why would you drill out an antique yale? So sad.

[billdeserthills]

I'd dump it in a good lubricant soak for a day or a few, then try bashing those pins again

[kwoswalt99-]

What type? In my experience penetrating oil only works on ferrous metals. It's always worth a shot I guess.

[billdeserthills]

What type? In my experience penetrating oil only works on ferrous metals. It's always worth a shot I guess.

It also qualifies as a 'cooling off' period

[Robotnik]

As to why I'd drill the pins, I've exhausted every other option for making a key. It's been re-keyed before, so the blind code no longer matches the pinning. Impressioning - several attempts - didn't work out either. I like my locks keyed; if done correctly, it has minimal effect on aesthetics, IMHO; I don't personally find it sad at all.

Unless you're asking why I'd drill the 4". In that case, I started with a non-functional display padlock, and ended with a non-functional display padlock. Turns out that one's guts were completely, irredeemably seized. That's a story in and of itself, though .

I'll try some lubricant and a few days cooling off. If all else fails, looks like I'm (carefully) drilling straight through.

[Robotnik]

So...pins are out.

Remember when I mentioned this lock had apparently been re-keyed before? When if was reassembled, someone used threaded brass rod instead of the original pins. What a nightmare to remove; drilled nearly through one, and after a LOT of punching, was able to grab it with pliers and wrench out what remained. That's when I realized the pins were threaded down their entire length.

I just drilled the other one out. Much easier that way.