Buying an Electric Pick

[Exodus5000]

This is how I use my Electropick, it's nothing fancy but since I was asked...

1.) I first insert my wrench and apply standard pressure. I heard that using a lighter than usual amount of tension was better but in my experience I found that standard tension is best.
2.) I then insert my pick upside down and slowly pushing it in until it touches the back of the lock, then I pull it it back just a little so i'm not hitting the crap on the back. I kind of angle the pick so that it is hitting the pins from a slight angle, this is so that i'm not hitting any of the wards - I find it's too difficult to work it directly under the pins on some locks.
3.) I found that if I then tilt the pick ever so slightly so that the handle is slightly lower than the tip of the pick it opens most locks much quicker. 4.) Then I just give it a few quick bursts.

I'd play with the throw, i'm too scared to measure where mine is because I don't want to mess it up, but it's somewhere in the middle, not on the lightest settings like some suggest.

Hope that helps you guys out, let me know how it goes for you.

[Ezer]

I'd play with the throw, i'm too scared to measure where mine is because I don't want to mess it up, but it's somewhere in the middle, not on the lightest settings like some suggest.

So yours came on a setting that worked? That's just wrong.

[vector40]

Yeah, really.

I'm honestly starting to wonder if there's something wrong with mine.

Either that or something wrong with me.

Hmm...

[BUNGYSTRAP]

Hi guys, i've had my HPC for some time now and thought I would share my experiences.
The tension wrenches that come with the pick are good because they are light. This is because the pins need to be vibrated farely easily. We have all seen the desk top toys with the row of suspended ball bearings on wires. If you pull one back and release then one shoots out the other end. Two back and two shoot out and so on. This is the same sort of thing happening inside the lock with the pins, only by bouncing they will vibrate about the shear line. With light tension that can be rocked back and forth the pins find their natural balance. Once about the shear line the lock usually moves open with little or no effort. The setting on the pick can be on maximum but operates more comfortably governed down slightly, so somewhere from screw fully out and then adjust back in to make comfortable. The one most important thing I have found is the noise of the pick operating is your best guide. Concentrate on the noise as and when the pick works and adjust to replecate that noise. Happy buzzing

[Shrub]

If you want to keep your setting but still play a bit with the throw just mark a line on the top of the knob from centre to 12 oclock for example, that way you will only have 1-2 places it can be before it will be obvious its in the wrong place,

The optimum setting for most locks on most picks is around the 1/2 way - 3/4 mark,

Turning the pick upside down is the same as turning the setting up, you will get a much harder 'hit' than if used the right way up, you should turn it upside down when you have a problem lock or if the batterys are running down otherwise adjust the pick to use it the right way up,

Having the setting to high could damage the lock, always start on a lower setting and work your way up to a higher setting, never start at the max and turn it down.

[vector40]

The trouble with marking the dial is that there are TWO of them -- the dial itself and the locking nut, and the actual tension depends on where both of them are.

[Shrub]

If the dial locking nut alters the setting then the thread on the locking nut is far too sloppy or the plastic body of the pick is flexing,

I see your point, try wrapping a little ptfe tape on the thread and you should find that when you tighten up the lock nut the setting will not change either that or you are over tightening it

What is happening is that as you tighten the loc nut the adjuster knob is moving,