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Just picked up a $3 "secure" lock from the dollar store. Let's see how long it takes me to get it open. I love how the diagram on the back shows six pins but I can tell by just looking at the key that it's four.


#locksport

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in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

Not gonna lie, this lock is giving more difficulty than I expected. The shape of the key hole is making it difficult for me to get consistent torque, and everything in the lock feels mushy, making it hard to get a feel for what's going on inside.

So far, in my absolute newbie opinion, this $3 lock is outperforming my $10 Master lock. Who'd have guessed?

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

Broke down and tried the key, just to be sure I hadn't damaged the inside of the lock like I did my last dollar store lock. It works but feels mushy even opening it with the key. Despite my difficulties defeating it so far, it certainly doesn't feel like a quality lock.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

The biggest problem I'm having with this new lock is that my tension bar keeps slipping like so:


When it does this, it doesn't leave enough room for the pick to move around freely. I've tried a using a wider tension bar, but while it doesn't slip, it also crowds out the pick just on its own.

This is what the key hole looks unobstructed:


Any suggestions on how I should proceed?
CC: @πŸ…°πŸ…»πŸ…ΈπŸ…²πŸ…΄ (πŸŒˆπŸ¦„)

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

I'm starting to think that the solution is a narrower tension bar. I just don't have one is all, and with the Canada Post strike, I'm gonna have some trouble getting one.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

given that keyway, there are three options for good places to tension it.

In order of choice (in my opinion):

Red: a snug fit here should leave the right side and pins free to work with. A turning tool that is too small will slip into a diagonal position as in your photo.

Purple: a prybar turning tool, or short-ended one can be applied here. Just be careful about accidentally binding pin 1 with the turning tool. This leaves the whole bottom of the keyway open to come up from underneath with your pick.

Green: (only because this isn't a split core), you can fit a small turning tool into the bottom corner here. Just be sure you're "turning" the core with your tool, not "dragging" it (since the force will be far off center). This isn't usually a great place to tension, but on small locks with non-split cores, it can leave the whole keyway open for working.

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

@alice you can tension from the top and use the pick at the bottom if you use a pick with a wee bit of a curve to account for the lower positioning. Most of those picks are called hooks I think
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

Just went back to picking my Master lock briefly for a change of pace (and to rebuild some confidence). A thing I hadn't noticed until just now is how small the keyway is on the new lock. I put my pick back in the old one and there's so much room for activities!
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

It doesn't look like that much of a difference but it really is. I think that "mushy" feeling I was feeling was the resistance from my pick scraping ever so slightly on the sides of the keyway.
in reply to lopta

@lopta I guess it depends on what you mean by "better". I'm having an easier one picking the one on the left.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

security through mediocrity πŸ˜‹

Sometimes shitty locks punch way above their weight because they suck too bad to know any better.

It's like the Dunning-Kruger effect for locks πŸ˜‚

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