Padlock Shims

[Uisgdlyast]

does that way of finding the combination for a masterlock work? with the last number thing and all, because if you really wanted to use the lock you would get the combination instead of just trying to open it real fast.

Also kids at my school, if its not a masterlock, will just kick down with their heel to open a lock.. if thats your goal that is.

[p8ntbller]

Ugh I tried that spring steel from vhs and it seems to be too thick I tried a tin can too and it is also too think, so far soda can aluminum is all I have that fits but it is too weak. Im trying this on a standard master combo lock too.

[Menion]

Try the dust cover offa an old floppy, not shure if it is thinner than vhs tape parts but is stronger than a soda can.

[p8ntbller]

Man I cannot shim the combo masterlocks, I think I bent it right and all but no matter how hard I push it will just stop at a certain point and it doesn't open the shackle. Maybe I should just buy a pack of shims to learn what designs and things work best.

[raimundo]

I have opened them with the Vhs stainless strip, if you hammered it to a curvature, (with a screwdriver shaft to shape the curve) possibly you should make the point a bit narrower, and its not just a push down and it opens, you push it in, pull the shackle up while holding the shim in, the push both in again, the shim should go deeper, keep it in deep and pull up again on the shackle, then again push in both together, and pull only the shackle up while holding the shim in, this shim is a long piece, and you can bend over the handle part to help you hold it, the curved part of the shim blade should be toward the locking dog, the other edge need not be curved at all and can but cut to a straight edged to reduce the amount of metal being shoved into the gap. as you look at the dial, the leg of the shackle that has the locking dog is on the left. the other leg cannot be shimmed. About the thickness of the metal, that becomes less important as its width is reduced, there is not enough room to wrap metal of this thickness halfway around the shackle leg, but there is enough room to push in a less wide piece.

[KSoDBartman]

I work at a federal prison. We've had a spate of locker break-ins and rumor has it there are several inmates around who know how to shim these things. Does anyone have an image of a shim (not a diagram) so I know what to look for when I'm doing searches? I may well have come across one in someone's locker and thought nothing of it and left it for them to keep using.

(You'd think our "leadership" would clue us in on this sort of thing, but you'd think wrong if you did...)

Thanks!

[Chucklz]

[raimundo]

looks like chucklz makes 'em out of floppy disc gates

[monkeE]

wow, ethereal is pretty opinionated....

In the larger picture, shimming is good to add to your repertoire, as it adds a little more mechanic insight into things. I would suggest for people that are willing, to buy a cheap lock, not only shim it, but understand why the shimming works. This principle works on many cheap button door locks, and even some expensive ones if the carpeneter/smithy didn't install the door correctly. It can save you a lot of time on the field if you stumble across a job like this...


monkeE

[raimundo]

To properly sell a security job, you have to understand the bypasses and try to eliminate them. Once I repaired a kicked in door in a corridor, with a large aluminum plate behind the face of the lock, and a few years later, I heard that the door was kicked in again, but this time the lock held and the door held, but the door frame was kicked in with the door in it. there was a deep hole in the sheetrock corridor opposite the door where the force had been backbraced.

[poopmasterflex]

Tried using a piece of tape measure?