How to sort pin kit pins

[Peter Martin]

Sorry - I have to revisit this old thread.
Say, for instance, there exists a 003 kit that is entirely jumbled up, what's the best way to sort the pins?
Initially by color?
By eye?
one-by-one using a digital/dial caliper?
Asking for a friend.

Pete
Sioux Falls, SD

[Squelchtone]

You can start your own thread for this question, I removed it from that 2015 thread.

By color, then by size, or buy one of these sorting jigs for $35 bucks plus crazy DHL shipping cost of $28.63 and wait a few weeks for it to arrive from Germany:

https://shop.multipick.com/en/lockpicki ... ing-device

There's also this one for Schlage pins for $11.16 from CLK Supplies
https://www.clksupplies.com/products/schlage-pin-gauge

They have them for Kwikset, Weiser, Yale, and Sargent as well: https://www.clksupplies.com/search?type ... in*+gauge*

[billdeserthills]

If you have good eyes, you can sort by color

[demux]

Ouch. Not sure what your setup is, but pretty much all my pin kits have quantities measured in the thousands. Trying to sort those out with either of those tools looks slow and painful. If they ever got dumped out or mixed up, I think my response would be: cry, curse, replace.

[Peter Martin]

Thanks all for the responses...
It seems a waste to throw them out, or not try to sort them.
I understand that the best option might be to stick them in a jar, and sort them on a rainy day, and buy new pins in the meantime.
I suspect there's probably no way to do this without some measure of insanity on the horizon.
Pete

[billdeserthills]

My Dad dropped his.005 kit once and made me clean it up, wasn't too bad

[GWiens2001]

Ouch. Not sure what your setup is, but pretty much all my pin kits have quantities measured in the thousands. Trying to sort those out with either of those tools looks slow and painful. If they ever got dumped out or mixed up, I think my response would be: cry, curse, replace.

+1

The time it would take to sort them out would be more expensive than buying a new kit. Until the kit is sorted out, it is for the most part unusable. How much paying work would you be losing while you get the kit sorted out? Thousands of pins would take many hours to sort. You would need to buy another kit in order to keep working while the dropped/mixed kit was sorted out. Once done, it would become a backup kit.

That said, if you are a hobbyist and time is not an issue, I'd say sort by color then by size. That nifty sorting device Squelchtone linked would be a pretty sweet tool to use, especially for a small number of pins from a factory pin kit where all the pins are the same color. I have several of the manufacturer specific sorting "cards" like the second one Squelchtone linked. He linked a Schlage, but there are a number of them available, including SFIC A2 sizing cards.

Gordon

[stratmando]

Wondered myself. Was thinking, put 6(allows checking 6 instead of 5 pins at a time) in a Schlage core. Then use a Set of 6 pin depth Keys, Insert depth/space keys til flush?

[billdeserthills]

It's not that bad, if you're eyes are good and the pins are colored

[Raymond]

Use a piece of a vinyl floor runner. Orient the grooves toward you. Begin putting the pins into the grooves horizontally, separated by color, and approximately separating by general size. Occasionally use a flat surface like a ruler to slide the bottom of all that line of pins to even them out. The ones that are most noticeable in length can be moved to their correct area. After you have grouped a bunch, measure with a micrometer and load the pin box.

This is very frustrating. But, as said, only do it if you have more time than money and not enough work to worry about.