Getting Worse?!?!

[digital_blue]

Yeah, really! vec, have you been sleeping through all those posts? You or I are probably not going to "break" our door locks, but a brand new n00b is just asking for trouble. The most common one, of course, is the "stuck at 180 degrees" issue, which may be easily fixed, but that doesn't help the poor sod who thinks he's messed up his lock and can't get the key in and can't lock his door now, or maybe even worse, he's thrown the bolt out before he started picking and now he can't even close his door. (I love that, btw). So, the simple answer is, until you know what you're doing, don't pick locks you rely on.

Since we're on this topic I will relate a story I thought I'd never share here. It could have been really bad and really embarassing. When I first bought my SO picks I ordered one of the combo sets from LPS.com that included a pick gun and auto jigglers. I had the jigglers for about a month and had not used them at all. One day I decided I'd give them a go. I was totally unprepared and unknowledgable about automotive, but that didn't stop this cocksure young lad from strutting out to the garage. I didn't want to muck around hunched over the passenger door... noooo.. that wouldn't be comfortable at all. So, I sat my butt down behind the wheel and decided to have a go at my ignition, all the while thinking of how amazingly cool it would be if I were to start my car with my jigglers. Yeah, then I'd be pretty cool. I selected a jiggler that most looked like my key and popped it in the lock and started doing what I thought should probably work. Well, after a minute or two it hadn't worked so I decided to give up for the moment. It was then, as I tried to pull the jiggler from the ignition, that I discovered that I had the jiggler stuck in the lock and it would not come out. I didn't even panic at this point. I pulled out one of my picks thinking all I'd have to do was lift up the wafers and I'd be able to slide the puppy out. Um.. no. I messed with that thing for the next 5 or 6 minutes solid and could not, for the life of me, get it out of the lock. I was afraid to apply too much pressure for fear of damaging the delicate wafers, but nothing I could do would free it. Since the jiggler was still on the ring with the other jigglers all I could do was stare at this sight of these auto jigglers dangling from my ignition and think about how I was going to explain this to the locksmith I was inevitably going to have to call. My cheaks began to flush as I thought of the embarassment I was going to have to endure as I tried to explain my folly to someone who actually knew what they were talking about. <gulp>. I was just about to give up when all of a sudden, after some more random poking about with my pick it let loose and the jiggler slid out. I sighed a HUGE sigh of relief and quickly tried my key to ensure I hadn't messed anything up. It's still working to this day and that was the last time those jigglers entered the keyway of a lock that was "in use". I was dumb and almost made a total fool out of myself. Of course, now I've told you all so you can feel free to point and laugh if you feel compelled, or you can just smirk and know that everybody does really stupid things, and we are probably more apt to do them when we are the least knowledgable and the most excited.

So the moral of this little (not so little?) story is... don't pick locks you rely on. If you don't know what you're doing you might mess something up... really!

My dirty little secret is out. I feel so much better.

db

[Greatbob]

I broke a door lock once, I didnt want to buy an extra "plug" with the outer part ( I forgot its name) so I took one of my extra doorknobs and tore out the twisty wire, and then when all of the loving parts were done, I took a wrench/vice, hooked it to a part of it, and whacked it on the ground over and over until the plug flew out

[vector40]

Uh... I kinda meant... accidentally.

[master in training]

i've not broken a lock, but you hear of people on here turning a lock and it not just relocking at 180, but you get a handful of driver pins pop out at you and all the springs fall into the holes just far enough to hold the plug without being able to be pushed back, so the person gets a screwdriver, turns and...well, no more lock!

i know with kaba locks if you turn them a bit they like to do this trick, thats why im being careful about picking mine.

[jjrythem]

ok i got some EZ Set lock heh dont no much about it but here are some pics..



If you need more info ill try to find it....

[MrB]

OK. If you want to take it apart, here is what you do.

If you look at the side where the knob is joined to the rest of the lock, there will probably be a small hole. It almost looks like it is visible in your photo on the right hand side. With the knob unlocked, you have to turn the knob almost all the way to the right against the spring return, and then push a small screwdriver into that hole. There's a kind of spring there that you have to depress. While depressing the spring, you have to pull outwards firmly on the knob to pull it away from the lock body. There's a bit of a knack to it and it may take a few attempts to succeed. It may be easier with three hands too, unless you can hold the lock in a vice or something.

After you detach the knob from the lock, I think the lock cylinder should simply fall out out of the knob. It may be held in place with a clip or something, I'm not sure.

When you have the cylinder free, you can think about removing some of the pins from it. To do that, you really need a plug follower and some patience. Don't do the next step until you are comfortable with what is going to happen.

Comfortable? OK, let's proceed. On the back of the cylinder should be a knurled brass ring with a little spring-loaded pin in the end that stops it unscrewing. If you push down the pin (the plastic tube from a BIC pen is good for this) you can unscrew the brass ring and remove it with any other pieces it is holding. Don't lose the little pin and spring that may fall out at this point. Now, put your hands, the cylinder, and a key inside a large clear plastic bag. Carefully push the key into the cylinder, turn it about a quarter turn and smoothly pull it out. If you have done it right, the plug will come out with the key, and pins and springs will go flying everywhere (hence the plastic bag to catch the bits).

If you get this far, the next step is to put it back together with fewer pins in. There are other posts that explain how to do that, so I will break off here and post some links to them later when I have a bit more time. Or you could do some searching and reading in the mean time.

Good luck!

[vector40]

*squints at the key*

Is that six pins? Seven?

[MrB]

I think that's just blurryness. Those locks usually have five pins and use a Kwikset key blank.

[jjrythem]

heh got a problem i took it apart so now i only have the knob but i cant get the cylinder out of that... lol

[jjrythem]

ive looked t it and i dont see any way of getting it out :/ lol

[MrB]

I'm sorry, I really don't know how to do it. From looking at your photo, the cylinder should come out the back of the knob somehow. It doesn't look like it can come out the front (which is what happens with Kwikset knobs).

If you put a thumb on the face of the cylinder where the key goes and push firmly, it doesn't spring out the back? There are no retaining screws or clips you can see anywhere?

Unless someone knows exactly how this particular knob works, I can only suggest you post a picture of the back and front of the knob. Make the picture as sharp and clear as you can; the last picture was a bit too fuzzy to see much detail.

[vector40]

Key-in-knobs can be weird :/ They're not as standardized in construction as padlocks.

[Mad Mick]

Looks very similar to an unmarked lock I got given some time ago. This thing came apart by picking to a certain position, then using the pokey-hole that MrB offers. The knob came off, then the plug/shell came out the back of the knob.

[MrB]

Given it's a real cheap lock, it probably doesn't need a special control key to get the cylinder out. Try putting the key in and turning it, and see if that frees the cylinder somehow.

[jjrythem]

lol i got it to come out lol i got a pen n pushed it from the front and it was a pain to get it out cause there was some thing sticking out of it. Now what do i do? i didnt get what i have to do for this part