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Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:23 pm
by LocksportSouth
Oh! I noticed that but totally forgot to post it by the time that I got around to doing the review. Yeah, one of the more *special* translations!

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:34 pm
by GWiens2001
LocksportSouth wrote:Oh! I noticed that but totally forgot to post it by the time that I got around to doing the review. Yeah, one of the more *special* translations!


Wondered if it is not a mistranslation. Perhaps a dick type lock is intended for male chastity belts.

Gordon

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:42 pm
by LocksportSouth
GWiens2001 wrote:
LocksportSouth wrote:Oh! I noticed that but totally forgot to post it by the time that I got around to doing the review. Yeah, one of the more *special* translations!


Wondered if it is not a mistranslation. Perhaps a dick type lock is intended for male chastity belts.

Gordon


Considering the size and weight of the thing I sincerely hope not!! :mrgreen:

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 1:35 pm
by DroppedTensionWrench
Nice Rotalok! I am currently looking into a replacement cylinder also. Did yours come with an extension to mate with the actuator? Oddly the internals of mine has 2 positions for a core to be fitted. They are awesome quality locks.

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 9:34 pm
by LocksportSouth
DroppedTensionWrench wrote:Nice Rotalok! I am currently looking into a replacement cylinder also. Did yours come with an extension to mate with the actuator? Oddly the internals of mine has 2 positions for a core to be fitted. They are awesome quality locks.


Thanks! Mine did not come with such an extension tube, and I know the kind of body that you mean - with two heights and a kind of Euro shaped hole in the bottom plate going in two directions, where the inside of the bottom plate and the bottom of the lock are black rather than silver, right? I've discovered at least these two kinds of Rotalok. Sadly I'm having a lot of issues finding a cylinder which will fit in mine as they all seem to require the front and/or back and/or actuator part of the cylinder to be filed down in order to fit, which obviously is an issue for high security cylinders. At least, that's a problem with mine, but I don't believe that it'll be such an issue on yours :).

If you're interested (and want to see some shots of other Rotaloks too), well, I can't really link to other forums but google "Rotalok troubles", I have a thread on LP101 and a UK specific site, UKLS, both of which have a lot of info on. Long story short; I still haven't really solved this issue unfortunately. However I believe that your version of the lock will not have as many issues. I love the lock body but it's a pain to get cylinders for, in my version at least, haha.

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 8:38 am
by DroppedTensionWrench
I will check out your thread. Im looking into 30mm Euro cylinders and an adapter piece and fitting so I will let you know what I discover about fitting one properly. I don't think there is any definitive information source on what exactly works so I think it's time to start it. It would be horrible for anyone to bugger up a costly cylinder trying to fit it.

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 9:46 am
by Papa Gleb
Duuuude that Rotalok is beast! I only seen BB with one before. You gotta stop posting, thats it from now on dont ever post again unless you have a source for these amazing lock or unless you mailed one out to me already :)

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 5:21 am
by LocksportSouth
DTW - Thanks! Let me know what you figure out - if I manage to find something for this one I'll update but it may take a while as I'm currently moving house so don't have a lot of time to work on locks right now - I agree too, I hate the idea of grinding down an EVVA MCS or DOM Diamant or something, if that's even possible.

Papa Gleb - They're really hard to find! I dunno why they are so rare - the flip side of course is that info is practically non-existant sadly. Esp. As it's used in Govt and Prisons so the mfgr keeps their lips sealed on tech specs etc it seems. The official site as basically nothing (found it it's a company called Pickersgill-Kaye).
Oh, and I've got a doozy of an update that needs making on this thread, just need to find time to sit down with some lighting and camera - might need to wait until after I'd moved though! Apologies in advance :mrgreen:

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 8:44 am
by Korver15
Papa Gleb wrote:Duuuude that Rotalok is beast! I only seen BB with one before. You gotta stop posting, thats it from now on dont ever post again unless you have a source for these amazing lock or unless you mailed one out to me already :)


Disregard what gleb said. Post picks of rukos :D

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 8:45 am
by LocksportSouth
Hey all!

So – first off, apologies for my absence as of late. Lots of life stuff going on. That said, I’ve still been receiving locks and have been taking photos where I can, and I have a bunch of new updates. I’ll start with the “smaller” locks and work up from there, roughly speaking :).

So, without further ado – let’s start with some Master lockout padlocks:

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These are interesting locks – plastic bodies but usually fairly high security cores. If you’ve not heard of them, they’re designed to lock things such as switches and valves in factories and industrial areas where turning a “thing” off or on could cause damage to equipment or injury to staff. Usually more than one lock is attached at once, and you can get special hasps that will take several padlocks – the idea being that several people need to be present to authorise the activation / deactivation of the switch or whatever.

The reason for the plastic bodies (aside from avoiding sparks in explosive environments) is that the locks can be broken off by force in an emergence – the intention of these locks is not to secure a “thing” per se, so much as it is to discourage an employee from absent-mindedly turning something off/on by accident, or through laziness, and endangering (something or someone). The high security cylinders, so I hear it, are to prevent employees from picking the locks when bored, or from removing someone else’s lock to cause blame games. Interesting locks indeed!

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I bought three of these because there was a “buy one, get two free” offer wherever I bought it... eBay I think? Lucky that I did, as you’ll soon see. Each lock comes in its own box with a key and lockout sticker pack in several languages.

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The keyway – looks like a fairly standard affair:

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On one side of the locks a number is stamped. I assume this is to prevent people from breaking a lock off and replacing it with their own one:

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Unlocked:

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Since I have three of these things, I decided to crack one open and see what lies inside:

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Pretty simple stuff – the body, two ball bearings for locking, the actuator, the cylinder and the shackle. Most of the complexity comes from the design of the plastic inside the body, which keeps all the parts in place and stops them moving around too much.

The shackle:

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Cylinder:

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Cylinder from the back. Note that the pins inside are coloured – you can see the one at the back is green:

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Colourful pins!

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Key pins removed. All standard:

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Interestingly the key says “Do not duplicate” – obviously to stop employees from having their own keys cut to give to others or take with them if they ever get fired or whatever. I assume the key profile isn’t restricted though, so I’m not sure how successful this would be, but it’s a nice touch all the same.

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All the pins removed:

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Holy moly! A Master lock with security pins, I must be dreaming :D. 6 pins as well! 5 spools and one serrated... Nice!

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Colourful pins in the plug:

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And that about does it for the first post. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading – look forward to more posts soon!

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 8:46 am
by LocksportSouth
Korver15 wrote:
Papa Gleb wrote:Duuuude that Rotalok is beast! I only seen BB with one before. You gotta stop posting, thats it from now on dont ever post again unless you have a source for these amazing lock or unless you mailed one out to me already :)


Disregard what gleb said. Post picks of rukos :D


All in good time, my padawan ;)

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:50 am
by LocksportSouth
I heard about these in an “ebay finds” kind of post somewhere, and just had to pick up a couple:

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These padlocks are from the company “AWARE” and are stamped with the AWARE logo, the word, and also the slogan “TOP SECURITY LOCKS”. I’m guessing that these are fairly “cheapie” Chinese locks however they do have an interesting keyway, which we’ll get to. You can see that they each come with three keys, which appears to be a dimple key at first glance, and indeed, they do use a dimple mechanism.

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Closer up, you can see that they keys aren’t quite normal Dimples. Now we look at the keyway:

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I’ve titled these “Smiley” locks (I think that term was used elsewhere as well) since they keyway looks kinda like a smiley face. The dimple pins protrude downwards in the centre slot, and the left and right notches are pretty much just there to centre the key and allow for tension.

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The lock is operated by inserting the key and “turning” the actual key around rather than just rotating it. It’s hard to explain but it’s a very different feel to just turning a key. Pushing the key in allows the dimple pins to clear the shear line, and then the centre plug (you can just about see where the brass centre plus separates from a brass outer ring of the cylinder) can rotate within the cylinder.

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Close up of the key. You can see that the bitting (five pins, maybe 4 or 5 depths) is on the centre protrusion, and that the other two just exist to keep the key in place.

The back of the key, meanwhile, is smooth:

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Close up of the front:

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The keyway. You can see the pin in that centre section. Also a drain hole to the left:

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Key in lock:

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Unlocked:

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From the side – notice the second “drain hole” closer to the bottom of the lock? It’s been jammed up with some kind of metal rod or BB. I assume that the cylinder is screwed in from the side, and then this thing is jammed in there to stop it being removed.

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And that’s it for that set! An interesting specimen :).

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 1:13 pm
by LocksportSouth
Something I’ve not really seen before – magnetic locks. Yes, there are locks with magnets in them (such as the Avocet ABS that uses a magnet on one of its pin positions, or the indomitable EVVA MCS) but those still use a keyway in a traditional sense. But a lock with no keyway at all?

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Meet the IFAM. This is a very interesting lock – it has no visible external keyway whatsoever:

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However you may have noticed that on one of the sides, there’s a long rounded rectangular divot in the metal? That’s the key.. For the key!

Here’s the key:

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If you hold it up to the light, you can just about see, on the back, that there are four small round magnets inside. Observing the front here, the IFAM logo seems to be a sticker of sorts, holding the “cup” closed.

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There’s the back. Notice that you can just about make out the magnets.

So, how do you unlock the lock? Well, simply slot the key, rounded side into the rounded part of the hole, onto the side of the lock:

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And give it a good yank on the handle to pull it open:

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The shackle hole isn’t too deep:

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It’s an interesting concept for sure – however as the lock itself isn’t very strong (the main front and back sheets seem to be plastic) and it’s quite fiddly to operate, I’m not sure how much use it will find. It’s advertised as a solution for people who find it hard to use a regular lock, however I found this one quite fiddly too, having to hold the key in place (it doesn’t “stick” magnetically, you have to hold it in place) whilst pulling up on the shackle which itself is quite stiff – so they may have missed the mark on that one.

Either way, it’s certainly a cool concept lock for the collection!

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 2:53 pm
by LocksportSouth
A little while back I was lucky to catch this Abloy 231 on eBay – yep, you read that correctly, 231. These 200 series locks can be pretty hard to find now – this one was clearly used in some kind of commercial or military purpose due to the numbers stamped into it:

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I’m not sure what they mean, other than 2002 presumably being the year. The lock itself is a little rusty and beat up – we’ll get to that in a bit. You’ll notice that it has the classic Abloy high profile key – I believe that’s the case for all 200 series locks.

Close-up of the front:

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The key, a bit rusty:

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The side with the cylinder screw access:

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The bottom, a bit rusty and grimy:

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Key back:

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Unlocked:

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I did try to unscrew the set screw to remove the cylinder, however I couldn’t get any hex keys to fit. Believing it to be an issue of the screw getting rusted up (the hex keys were pretty crunchy inside) I left it soaking in a pot of Gunk for a few days and then gave it a clean off / inside the keyway and screw access hole as best I could. After careful observation it seems that there’s either a BB jammed into the screw itself or some other obstruction such as a bit of rivet or solder – it seems that someone didn’t want whoever had the key to this thing opening up the insides! I don’t want to open it destructively so I sprayed it through with Tri-flow to keep it working after being de-greased, and buffed it up a bit. It’s a nice lock, overall!

Post clean pics:

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You can just about see the faint sparkle of *something* jamming up the set screw here:

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I’ve not seen any other 200 series locks around, but it’s a nice addition to the Abloy padlocks collection!

Re: LocksportSouth's Stash

PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 3:59 pm
by Riyame
With the magnetic locks one of those front covers will pop out so you can see the internals.

And with the Abloy I wonder if that is the NATO arrow mark next to the date. I have seen it on Chubb Manifoil as well as Mersey safe locks.