Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:13 am
Modified pick (the ones sold as a pair)
You might have seen the disc detainer picks which are sold as a pair before. I got these from Alan a while ago and to be frank they turned out to be absolute crap (no offense al 
), so I promised myself that some day I'd make them better. Since I've been going crazy with disc detainer stuff lately, today was that day 
This is what the picks looked like when I received them (the other was identical but with a T-shaped tip):
The tool is supposed to be rear tension, so it goes all the way into the back of the lock and you've got marks along the outer sleeve to show which disc you're on. It'd actually be pretty nifty if the outer tube wasn't so thick; there's no way to even modify it to fit because it's just too big.
So in reality, you're left just filing the tip of the outer tube to fit into the front disc - and then you've got the entire thing wobbling around outside the lock. If it fit inside the lock properly it'd still be fiddly, as evidenced by the proper rear tension tool I got recently, but this thing is just ridiculous. So, let's look at what I did to make it better...
First up, I took it all apart. Simple enough, just had to take out the grubscrew, although I needed pliers as it was very tight:
Then I took the part you see at the bottom, and shortened it. All I had to do was stick it in a small pair of mole grips, and file around the first groove with a triangular file until it gave way. I also shortened the wire and tidied everything up with some light filing; after just a few minutes I was left with this:
If you look closely at the part on the bottom left, you can see that I've filed a small flat into either side, so it slips nice and tight into the first disc. After some testing, it turns out the L-shaped tip of the wire is total crap so I cut down the wire from the other tool and used that in the final product instead.
Speaking of which, here she is... still not spectacular, but it's miles better than the original. If you have one of these lying around, I highly recommend butchering it. Let me know what you think
), so I promised myself that some day I'd make them better. Since I've been going crazy with disc detainer stuff lately, today was that day This is what the picks looked like when I received them (the other was identical but with a T-shaped tip):
The tool is supposed to be rear tension, so it goes all the way into the back of the lock and you've got marks along the outer sleeve to show which disc you're on. It'd actually be pretty nifty if the outer tube wasn't so thick; there's no way to even modify it to fit because it's just too big.
So in reality, you're left just filing the tip of the outer tube to fit into the front disc - and then you've got the entire thing wobbling around outside the lock. If it fit inside the lock properly it'd still be fiddly, as evidenced by the proper rear tension tool I got recently, but this thing is just ridiculous. So, let's look at what I did to make it better...
First up, I took it all apart. Simple enough, just had to take out the grubscrew, although I needed pliers as it was very tight:
Then I took the part you see at the bottom, and shortened it. All I had to do was stick it in a small pair of mole grips, and file around the first groove with a triangular file until it gave way. I also shortened the wire and tidied everything up with some light filing; after just a few minutes I was left with this:
If you look closely at the part on the bottom left, you can see that I've filed a small flat into either side, so it slips nice and tight into the first disc. After some testing, it turns out the L-shaped tip of the wire is total crap so I cut down the wire from the other tool and used that in the final product instead.
Speaking of which, here she is... still not spectacular, but it's miles better than the original. If you have one of these lying around, I highly recommend butchering it. Let me know what you think
