Lock opened, pin below shearline

[femurat]

Hello all, so I have about 15 locks I practice on daily. A few masters, americans, yale, etc. Well I always start easiest to hardest. There was one master no. 3 I couldn't open so I went to the rest. Came back and noticed I was getting a crazy deep set on it, but I could still see that pin #1 was not set, so the 2nd time this happened I went on a whim and increased tension, and the core kept slowly turning until it popped open without pin 1 being set. Is it safe to say this lock is at the end of its days. Also my main question, how is this even possible?

[GWiens2001]

Hello all, so I have about 15 locks I practice on daily. A few masters, americans, yale, etc. Well I always start easiest to hardest. There was one master no. 3 I couldn't open so I went to the rest. Came back and noticed I was getting a crazy deep set on it, but I could still see that pin #1 was not set, so the 2nd time this happened I went on a whim and increased tension, and the core kept slowly turning until it popped open without pin 1 being set. Is it safe to say this lock is at the end of its days. Also my main question, how is this even possible?

Two possible ways. First, if the pin is full length, it needs to be all the way down. Lift it, and it will be over-lifted. Second, if the key pin and driver pin combined are less than the height to the sheer line, then the driver pin does not block the sheer line, so it turns. If the height is correct, the spring will not be damaged. If the height is wrong, the spring will be damaged.

Gordon

[spudwinkle]

First things first, on a master lock no. 3 there is no false set, what you had was an open.
Now then was pin one still springy?? Or was it set and the key pin just dropped down??
If it was springy it did not need to be set if it just dropped down it was set.


don

[jimu57]

Is it missing a driver and spring in that pin chamber?

[Joshua904]

Maybe it was the top pin you were seeing and it turned hard because you were sheering the spring?

[Nightingangel]

If it was springy it did not need to be set if it just dropped down it was set.


don

It felt completely binded.

[kwoswalt99-]

If it was springy it did not need to be set if it just dropped down it was set.


don

It felt completely binded.

That could happen when you stretch out a spring.

[Latestplague[]]

That is exactly what happened. I know because that recently happened to me on a master #3. if I set all the pins the lock would open smoothly. But I could also open it without setting the 1st pin. It would go into a slight false set then a little more tension it feels like it pops over a hill because the driver pins are beveled. it is a little harder to turn because its dragging on the spring. You can probably still pick all 4 pins and get it open correctly though. I took the one I had apart and made a driver pin for the 1st stack. I should have took a pic of it, but basically its shaped like the end of a dart. I cut a pin from a piece of steel gauge. I cut it longer than the original driver I then filed the extra length down evenly all around so the spring would fit over the top of he pin but not the bottom. Im not good at describing stuff, its basically like having a driver pin with another one on top of it but 1/2 its size(all one piece though). But it wouldn't be worth doing something like I did unless you just were curious about the master locks internals.