Crest Spinbrush converted to electric Pick

[dry132]

(A repost from another thread, but sort of new so I put it out here)

I just got finished modifying a $6 crest spinbrush, and it is quite an excellent, if ugly, electric pick.

The mods were pretty extensive, but not too hard to do. You just need a dremel with a cutoff wheel, a soldering iron, and some basic common sense to get it done.

The mods basically consisted of:

1.) cut the case open with a dremel cutoff wheel, being careful not to cut too deep or you'll hit the gears or motor.
2.) Remove the gear train and motor. Flip the motor over to expose the copper contacts and put it back in the same slot after removing all the metal 1.5v AA contacts that used to be spread around. Wipe off any of that conductive gel crap on the motor before putting it back in, too.
3.) Tear out the brush's switch, replace with a radioshack DPST switch or whatever is handy. You might be able to re-use the switch that is already in there, but i didn't bother to try since I had a sure-thing right on hand in my nerd-box full of parts.
4.) Solder the switch to the motor, and tear out all the battery holders. Solder a 9v adapter socket onto the motor and switch so as to make a complete circuit when the switch is closed. For extended duty use, include a 220 ohm current limiting resistor in series, but for short uses this is not really necessary.
5.) Cut off the back half of the "shell" about halfway from the "tip" of the brush to the battery compartment (just behind the motor - leave enough to hold down the motor securely, but not much more) and fit everything back together, running the 9v clip out the new U-shaped area where the batterys used to be. On reassembly, get rid of the toothbrush head and all the plastic around the tip, all the way down to the metal tip with a notch in it. I got rid of the rubberized water seal too. Be sure to reinstall the thrust bearings and gear train correctly or the thing won't vibrate properly.
6.) Fit a homemade pick on the end. The metal part on the toothbrush is stainless steel and can be welded if you happen to have a welder laying around. I used 2-part epoxy and a plumbing-snake pick, and it seems to work quite well. Probably will drop a weld bead on it next time I go to the shop.
7.) Put in a battery and test it out. At 9v the motor draws about 600 mA, which is too much for extended duty usage as the motor is only rated for 300mA, but is not a problem for lock-pick type intermittent usage. The vibrations are quite strong, though I have never used a "real" electric pick so I don't have much to compare it to. Much stronger than my electric razor or even the hair clippers I have. It *really* vibrates with a 9v in there.

Parts list:
1 crest spinbrush ($6 in the USA,)
1 9v battery clip ($0.25)
1 electric-style pick (free if you make your own picks and have the materials handy)
1 switch of some sort ($1)
1 9v battery ($2)

Total cost: ~$10

There is no "good" way to take the brush apart, it is sealed and glued to be water-resistant, and you pretty much have to just dremel through the seam with a cutoff wheel. It's not hard, and the plastic is easy to cut through. Don't cut any deeper than you have to, and for goodness sake be sure to take out the batteries before you start cutting. Be really careful around the neck of the brush, as the thrust bearing there is very close to the surface and if damaged will impede the functioning of the pick. For reassembly, I just used a bit of electrical tape to hold it back together.

Really not a bad project, and cheap enough for anybody to try.

Good luck, and I'm really glad I just discovered these awesome forums.

[silent]

pics?

[dry132]

I pulled out my digital camera and took these. For nicer thumbnailed pics, and a short poor-quality avi video of the thing vibrating, look here:
http://www.nerdulator.net/crest/

Ignore the date on these pics, it seems I've forgotten to update it last time I put new batteries in my camera.

[DeadlyHunter]

looks interesting, how does it work?

[CynicalGabe]

Excellent mod. How much success have you had with it?

[dry132]

I had some serious problems getting the Pick secured to the vibrating shaft, but finally did the job with some JB-weld. Now I've spent the weekend testing it on my various locks with the straight pick attached, and the results are in.

Moderate success opening 4-pin padlocks or Kwiksets
Good success (very fast) opening 3-pin or file cabinet type locks
Poor success opening house locks (5-pin yale)

It does eventually open the Yale locks, but the vibration seems to be too much in and out as opposed to up and down. I think a new pick tip, like a long S or C pick would work much better for transfering vibrations to the tumblers than the current straight pick which was tested.

I did file a few small indentations into the top of the straight pick, and it improved the opening speed noticeably. Still averages about 30 seconds for a 4-pin lock, with much manual pushing and prodding too.

Conclusion: with the straight pick attached, it is not much (if any) better than hand picking. Fabricating a new pick will hopefully make it go faster.

Does anybody know what sort of picks commercial auto-lockpicks use? And what mode of vibration do they tend to use the most? (in and out or up and down)

[mcm757207]

So this goes left and right as well as up and down? is there a way to mod to move only up and down?

[ImADAmI]

After looking at the way that the crest spin brush that I have vibrates I found that the main way it vibrates would be perpendicular to the pins when it is inserted into the lock; in and out. This might set some of the pins but just about all of the energy is moving the pick in and out of the keyhole, not moving the pins up and down. The basic idea of a pick gun would to not have any in-out motion and all up-down motion.
I'm trying to think of an easy way to hack the setup you have now to make it move up and down easier but the only way that i can think of is to have very small precisely made gears or cogs transfer the in-out to the up-down, both of which make this hack very expensive and not easy to do. In the head of the spinbrush their is a piece of plastic that acts like a gear and turns the motion into-left right istead of the in-out. that is what turns the circular part of it.
The idea of cutting notches into the pick seems like it should work, seems like it would be sort of an automatic rake then.
~Adam

[dry132]

One pretty easy way to convert it to up and down motion (as opposed to in and out) would be to simply mount the pick perpendicular to the vibrating shaft. It wouldn't look like a regular pick gun, but it would probably work pretty well.

I fixed up a long c-rake which works okay with the spinbrush, but like you said it was an automatic rake more than anything. I'm going to try attaching perpendicular later today, will post results.

[xodishox]

[quote="dry132"]
I just got finished modifying a $6 crest spinbrush, and it is quite an excellent, if ugly, electric pick.
[quote]

thats not ugly, infact it kindda looks sxc lol, a question: anyone in aus know were to find a crest spinbrush? expected price roughly AU$10

good work, nicest homemade electric pick ive seen

how the sound and feedback?

[dry132]

I tried out the alternate mounting of the pick on the gun, and it didn't seem to work very well. It vibrated a *lot* in the right directions, but it was quite difficult to hold the toothbrush properly to get it inserted in the lock, and even more difficult to wiggle it around in there.

So the culmination of this project seems to be a fairly good electric rake, but not a good electric picker in the conventional sense.

[johnnyapple]

I actually did this with the standard AA batteries and have had numerous easy successes with five pin locks and have gotten into my apartment numerous times in less than ten seconds... maybe the 9v is to much power?