Just picked my first dimple lock, whoo! Now, some questions
Anyway, I got over that little hurdle pretty quickly by being extra gentle and paying close attention to the angle of the pick... and before I knew it, pins started setting all over the place and the lock popped open. Only took me a few minutes too!
It's a 7 pinner, and seems quite small compared to dimple locks I've seen in videos before. The plug is the same size as that of a regular euro cylinder. It doesn't have any markings on it, although the keys are branded "Wan & Jia". Here is the lock:
And the key:
And yes, it was as cheap as it looks. I wanted to get something cheap and cheerful as a starter. So, my first question is, what sort of lock could I move on to? Something with spools in it, but nothing too crazy. I'll be leaving the MTL's for a good while yet. I'm considering an R6, but I'd like more options than that as I do most of my lock hunting on ebay.
Now, about the keys. The lock was supplied with A keys and B keys - once the B key is inserted, the A keys will not work anymore. It's a nice way of changing the lock in a pinch without having to actually swap out or repin the cylinder. This is irreversible, however, so I'm wondering how on earth the B key renders the original bitting useless. Can anyone fill me in on how this mechanism works? I'm guessing there is some kind of master pinning in there so both bittings will open the lock, but I have no idea how the A key is rendered useless by the introduction of the B key.
Oh yeah, and last but not least, here it is in all its picked glory:
Did I mention I was excited about picking my first dimple lock? I think I did, but just to be sure... whoo! Ok, I'm done.