Medeco pins: Rotated correctly yet?

by **GateTwelve** » 3 Mar 2005 0:21

Well, my medeco biaxial came today. And following this site's previous advice, I have removed and sorted all the pins except one. To be cocky, I am the one pin master! Anything more than that, and I am the lamest sight to see. I can get the first pin only because I am getting the correct ratation purely out of luck. I poke at the pin with extreme tension until the plug rotates. There has to be a better method.

Should I be picking all the pins vertically, then work on the sidebar, as I am now? Should I rather completely defeat one pin at a time (from back to front). If I use higher tension, will the pins have any different feel when rotated correctly? Will the sidebar drop in easier with lighter tension?
Crap...I feel like a newb all over again.

by **TOWCH** » 3 Mar 2005 0:49

I believe it's shear line, then sidebar.

by **GateTwelve** » 3 Mar 2005 1:54

That seemed most logical to me, but then the real question is: when do I know that the pins are correctly rotated. Well...other than the lock opening.

by **stick** » 3 Mar 2005 2:26

From what I've heard on the forum, you develop a feel for it, and that's pretty much it.

by **GateTwelve** » 3 Mar 2005 16:42

That's just....great. *sighs*

by **Romstar** » 3 Mar 2005 17:48

They "catch".

Just like picking up and down. Once you have the pins all at the shear line, one of them will be the first to catch on the sidebar. There is just a slightly different feeling from when it catches on the fake notch, and when it catches on the real notch.

So, you have to gently move them back and forth until you find the one that seems to "catch" on the sidebar ridges. Once you have found this one, move it back and forth feeling for the difference between the fake and real notches.

Once you have set this pin, make a note of it, because you may end up bumping it out of place. Then, look for the pin that seems to catch next and repeat the proceedure.

The more you do this, the easier it gets. The drawback is that Medeco uses a flat sidebar, and the pressure on it is very, very weak. So if you are heavy handed, you can miss it altogether. Go slowly and gently and you should begin to start feeling it.

Romstar

by **GateTwelve** » 3 Mar 2005 18:07

The drawback is that Medeco uses a flat sidebar, and the pressure on it is very, very weak.

I had tried that at first, except those pins fall back down sooo easily, it's almost like I need to keep extreme tension on it, or they reset.

by **Romstar** » 3 Mar 2005 18:14

No, I mean that the tension on the sidebar is very weak. It isn't pushing that much into the plug.

So, you have to find the first pin that interacts with the sidebar.

Romstar

by **Wolf2486** » 4 Mar 2005 15:35

I've tried this method and it is successful so far; however, Romstar, how do you get the sidebar out of the false notch. Wants it hits the false notch It won't turn anymore. Unfortunately this picking technique is wearing down my medeco pins do to the force I need. Am I doing something wrong, or is there a way to push the key pin out of its false notch. Thank You.

by **GateTwelve** » 4 Mar 2005 16:35

Woot! I can reliably get two pins now. God, my fingers hurt from all the force I have to put on the tension wrench. I think I'm going to make my own wrench out of a baseball glove for this lock. Thanks for all yer info, Romstar

by **Romstar** » 4 Mar 2005 17:37

You have a nasty lock. It shouldn't be taking that much tension.

See if you can get hold of another one for comparison.

Romstar

by **GateTwelve** » 5 Mar 2005 12:29

I dunno what it is about that first mushroom pin, but if I'm not using extreme tension (enough to make the tension wrench cut into meh finger) it will fall back down. I have to push up the first pin - whilst using no tension - to a perfect level (not too high, not too low), then tension the hell out ot it to get it set. Even when I use the key, I have to rotate it with extreme force to turn it.

by **quickpicks** » 5 Mar 2005 15:36

I have 3 Medeco cylinders all keyed alike, but they all behave differently.
I think when all the pins are at the shear line, the plug will rotate very slightly. The upper pins in most of my Medeco locks go shroom, normal, shroom, normal, etc. I could be wrong.

by **GateTwelve** » 9 Mar 2005 16:50

Seeming as this lock was so hard to open, even using the key, in my free time for the past few days, I've just sat there rotating the key in the lock. I'm hoping I'll wear down the pins to the point where the lock is a LOT easier to open even with the key. So far I've had great results. The plug rotates infinitely easier, and I can now pick four of the six pins.

I've found that by the time I've picked vertically, almost all of the pins have already rotated nto the sidebar. And to expound on what Romstar said for my origninal question: once they are set there into the sidebar, they will stop rotating, and you can feel the pick just sliding off the angles of the bottom pins, rather than the pin rotating with the pick's movement. *sighs* I suppose it's on to five pins, now.

by **stick** » 9 Mar 2005 20:06

I remember someone saying something about how the pins will generally stay at the correct rotation after a key is removed, making it somewhat easier to pick.

Medeco pins: Rotated correctly yet?

Medeco pins: Rotated correctly yet?

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