4 ms·

Sorry to say, but what you are thinking is actually just wrong. Drop your mental model and adopt mine. You apply very light pressure to the wrench, which turns

by emhart 13y ago

Sorry to say, but what you are thinking is actually just wrong. Drop your mental model and adopt mine. You apply very light pressure to the wrench, which turns the plug, which collides with the weirdest pin out. There are circumstances in which you may bind multiple pins. If the lock is made to absurdly high standards (and I mean lock manufacturer playing a prank on lockpickers level of high standards) or if you apply your tension too heavily. Watch this video to see what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNKvPS1ac6E&list=SP66CD42F86F3A1F85&index=14 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNKvPS1ac6E&list=SP66CD42F86F... The first several pins in the lock, as I am searching for the binding pin, are under no pressure whatsoever and can move freely between the upper and lower pin chambers. Also - noticed you are at Quora, I actually write about lockpicking in film and television over there from time to time: http://tvpicking.quora.com http://tvpicking.quora.com

codezero 13y ago
Thanks, to be clear, I wasn't assuming I was right, but was making assumptions, thanks a lot for replying to my comments, you've been very helpful :)
- emhart 13y ago
  No problem :) They are really beautiful, complex systems, and as amazing as it is to understand and then manipulate them, I passionately believe that the real genius is holding them all together in your head before they've ever existed in the first place. Lock engineers have incredibly sharp minds.
  - codezero 13y ago
    The video you shared gave me a much better idea of what's happening I'm sure it's still not close to what really is going on, but thanks for that. Unrelated, are there any locks which use full length pins that are hollow and encapsulate the spring? It seems like a big source of the misalignment that allows setting is from the pin itself being able to move off its axis where it attaches to the spring.
    - emhart 13y ago
      Great question! Yes, there are a few locks that have hollow pins that the springs rest in. Typically they do that for space constraints, though, rather than to improve alignment. There's a great example whos name is escaping me at the moment...its a South American company. Anyway, they have a lock with two rows of pins, one normally aligned and the other coming in from the side. However, there isn't as much room horizontally (you'll notice most plugs are located toward the bottom of the housing, yet centered horizontally) so they use the encapsulating pins to make up for the lost space. That's one of the most interesting challenges in lock engineering, actually. There are a handful of standard formats for locks around the world, and whatever you build needs to fit within those agreed-upon (and very compact) formats, or you won't enjoy wide adoption of your concept.

by emhart 13y ago

codezero 13y ago

Thanks, to be clear, I wasn't assuming I was right, but was making assumptions, thanks a lot for replying to my comments, you've been very helpful :)

emhart 13y ago
No problem :) They are really beautiful, complex systems, and as amazing as it is to understand and then manipulate them, I passionately believe that the real genius is holding them all together in your head before they've ever existed in the first place. Lock engineers have incredibly sharp minds.
- codezero 13y ago
  The video you shared gave me a much better idea of what's happening I'm sure it's still not close to what really is going on, but thanks for that. Unrelated, are there any locks which use full length pins that are hollow and encapsulate the spring? It seems like a big source of the misalignment that allows setting is from the pin itself being able to move off its axis where it attaches to the spring.
  - emhart 13y ago
    Great question! Yes, there are a few locks that have hollow pins that the springs rest in. Typically they do that for space constraints, though, rather than to improve alignment. There's a great example whos name is escaping me at the moment...its a South American company. Anyway, they have a lock with two rows of pins, one normally aligned and the other coming in from the side. However, there isn't as much room horizontally (you'll notice most plugs are located toward the bottom of the housing, yet centered horizontally) so they use the encapsulating pins to make up for the lost space. That's one of the most interesting challenges in lock engineering, actually. There are a handful of standard formats for locks around the world, and whatever you build needs to fit within those agreed-upon (and very compact) formats, or you won't enjoy wide adoption of your concept.