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I am stumped!
So I just moved into my dorms for college. On the first night, we had a meeting with the RA for my building. He of course has master keys for all of the rooms... except one. He said that one suite that nobody is in (suite e) has a special type of lock that even he wasn't given keys for. He called it a spinning lock.
So the two of us (the RA and I) were talking and the fact that I pick locks came up. He is a cool guy and he challenged me to pick the "spinning lock".
I agreed.
The lock looks just like any other lock. It is a doorhandle lock (not a deadbolt). It isn't a removable core lock. It picks just like any other lock. I was able to get the plug to turn in a matter of seconds. The reason I say "get the plug to turn" is because that is ALL that happened. The handle was still locked and the latch didn't retract. I have tried picking it in the opposite direction to no avail. I even tried the rubberband trick on the tention wrench to jump the shearline on a lock picked in the wrong direction...

What am I missing guys? Does anyone have any clue what a spinning lock is? I thought it was BS but now I'm stumped...

~Aaron

If your lock is turning like 5 degrees or less then it has security pins.

It would be helpful to know what kind of keyway it is or what brand the lock is.

i am thinking that the clip on the back of the cylinder came off... maybe... if i am imagining it right... is it free spinning 160 degrees?


oh and also, depending on the lock brand, you may be able just to pull the entire cylinder out...

basically all of the locks in the dorms are Falcon locks. The lock to my suite is a falcon and my (falcon) key fits the mystery lock. The only marking on the locks is an "h" on the plug. I assume this is just the keyway though.
The plug turns a full 90* so it isn't due to security pins.
I'm thinking that Josh is right. I think the clip behind the cylinder is broken. The plug turns 90* to the right but nothing is engaged.

Thanks for the help so far.
If anybody has any other ideas, let us know.
~Aaron

I just remembered, the suite has two doors. We tried picking both of them and had the same results. So now I'm kinda skeptical.

How likely is it that the clip is broken on both locks?

ok try this, when the lock turns to the right, try pulling out...

this damn thing is really starting to piss me off...

Josh and romstar: both of those were great ideas. I hadn't tried them and I got excited because I thought you guys had solved it...

Unfortunately, Niether worked

Thats exactly the kind of feedback I want though.
Try to come up with things that I havent thought of yet.

Thanks guys,
~Aaron

haha which college is this?


but yeah hmm have you tried just sticking a hook through the back of it and just feeling around? maybe you will be able to tell if it is somehow detached...

I'm at cuesta college in San Luis Obispo. It's the JC down there. It has a really good transfer rate into Cal Poly SLO.

I'll mess around with it a bit more tomorrow. It really feels like the clip is broken. all of the symptoms point to that. I just can't believe that both locks would be broken the same way... Or that the dorms would leave it like that...

Thx for the help,
If you guys have ANY more ideas, hit me with em...
I don't care how crazy they are, I'm willing to try anything (non-destructive that is )
~Aaron


PS. No sledgehammers...

Ok, so we've isolated that it's a pin-tumbler cylinder.

The first thing that interests me is that it only turns 90 degrees.
This would indicate there is something on the rear of the cylinder.

Is this a key-in-knob or key-in-lever set?
Is it a handle plate with the cylinder above the handle?
Can you shim the door?
Can you bend a piece of wire under the door to engage the handle from the inside?
Does the internal handle have a turn snib or a push button?
Does your key fit into the profile? If so, what markings are on your key?

-Key in knob
-I'm not sure what you mean by handle plate with cylinder above handle...
-my knife is too thick to shim this door. The doors on the rooms have that anti shim feature anyways. They have the two part door latch thing. One half fits into the hole in the doorframe. There is another smaller part that is depressed on the doorframe (it doesn't fit in the hole) and locks the larger part so that it cannot be shimmed.
-there would be nothing to latch onto with the wire, it is a knob.
-the internal handle has a turn snib.
-My key fits the lock but all it says is "do not duplicate" on one side, and "33" on the other.

Handle plate.

The anti-shimming system you're talking about is refered to as Deadlatching. The two parts are the Latch\tongue and the Deadlatch (little one that is depressed when the door is closed)


Ok, so a 90 degree turn is common for an internal turn snib, the cap is still attached to the cylinder and is operating the lock fine.
All I can think of is that the lock may be damaged and require a more "creative" method of entry.

The one thing that irks me is as you said, two doors exactly the same. The end cap is the only thing that would stop the cylinder turning at 90.

Have you got experiance removing knobs? Try taking it off and seeing if you can manually turn the snib from the outside.

ahh, thanks for the image.
It is not a handle plate, Just the knob w/plug.

Thankyou for clearing up the terminology for me too. It was killing me trying to get that to make sense without knowing the names of the parts.

I think the locks are damaged.
On my lock, when I turn the key, it turns 90 degrees and draws back the tongue. It seems like on the mystery locks the key would turn but nothing would happen. I think the mechanisms that retract the tongues (please correct my terminology) are broken.

My RA was told about these spinning locks. Maybe the person who told him just knew they were broken and called them spinning locks... the key would "spin" but nothing would happen.

I will know in a few weeks. The dorms I'm at are shared dorms between the JC and the state college. When the state college kids move in in sept I'll be able to check it out more thouroughly. Or maybe we will see the locks replaced before then. either way I'll let you know.

I'm the meantime... any other crazy ideas?

~Aaron

edit: I don't know how I would remove it. The locks all have screws on the inside of the doors but that really doesn't help me here. I don't have any experience pulling plugs either...
One of my suitemates is a rock climber. The mystery suite is one the top floor... maybe I could have him repel into the window from the roof

is this a sfic core (I-core)

umm if I had to take a wild guess pick it and turn it clockwise and then pick it counter clockwise and if that doesn't work do that backwards

or try pulling the plug outward

hope those help