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.
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?
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.
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: @🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
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.
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.
@🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) I think I understand what you're saying about the purple one, but I'm havng difficulty holding the lock, the tension bar, and the pick with only two hands. 🙃
@🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) Oh, I will figure this out. I'm down the rabbit hole now. I'm considering possibly filing one of my lesser used tension bars down to try to get it to fit better.
@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
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!
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.
Jonathan Lamothe
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?
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • •Jonathan Lamothe
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: @🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
reshared this
🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) and screwlisp reshared this.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • •🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
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.
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • •@🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) Gah, I have a tension bar that's almost big enough to do the red option.
Almost. 🫠
🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • • •Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • •🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • •🎃 Nico, Warlock of Memes
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • •Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • •lopta
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Bitslingers-R-Us likes this.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to lopta • •🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •security through mediocrity 😋
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 😂
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • •