Lab Re-pinning Kits? For a newbie...

[Lumpy]

Hey All,

Hope this the the right sub-forum to ask this.

I recently did some E-Bay'ing and managed to grab 18 Schlage mortises and 14 Arrow mortises.

None of them have keys.

I'm planning on picking them and then hopefully re-keying them.

For a beginner which Lab pinning kit would you recommend?

I was looking at the .003 Lab Kit Mini? or should I go for the gusto and get a Lab Kit Pro?.

One has 81 pin sizes and the other has 124.

Any good sources for these in Canada? So far Lock Pick Canada is all I've found.

Thoughts? opinions?

Lumpy

[mastersmith]

You'll be dollars ahead by going with the full size kit. With that many cylinders you will be out of pins in no time. After getting refills you may spend just as much if you start with the mini. The mini doesn't hold many if any one size.

[MBI]

As annoying as eBay is when it comes to their rules on locksmithing supplies, it can be a good place to get LAB pinning kits for a good price. Just don't be in a rush. Check a couple times a week and something will come up.

Depending on what you can find that is a good deal, it might make up your mind for you as to how large a kit to buy. Assuming you can get a good deal on either size (or something comparable) I'd go for the big one. I like to be prepared for unexpected eventualities.

[mdc5150]

Get a small universal kit. You don't need to have all the master pins etc. I think there is a LAB mini-durex universal.

As for .003 or .005 the vast majority of lock manufacturers that use the standard diameter pins use .005 for their depths. If you use a .003 kit you can get very very close but not always precise. If you have a precise cut key then why wouldn't you want a precise pin? I don't know but I've been told that the majority of locksmiths that use .003 want to be able to pin a lock to a key which can have significant wear and thus might be a couple thousands off. This is a bad idea because if there are other people who have a key with the same cuts but not the same wear it could be difficult to make their key work the newly pinned lock which was pinned for a worn key.

I hope I articulated this all ok as I'm pretty sleepy and getting ready to go to bed.

[mister sour]

u want a LAB .003 KIT. its universal and u will be able to use it on many locks for years to come.

[Kezo]

I have this thing, http://www.lockpickersmall.com/lpk003.html It's called the Metal LAB Universal Pro Pin Kit- .003. I've had it since 2004 and I've never had to get a refill kit for it so far, because it has a shit load of different size pins. Then again, I don't use this thing for work.

If you plan on doing some massive amounts of rekeying, I would try to get something similar to that size. If not, a couple of mini durex kits like mdchurchill mentioned will do fine.

[DIY Dave]

CLK supplies sells a universal 003 kit for only $130 http://www.clksupplies.com/shop/universal-003-pinning-kit-p-109.html
They also have a lot of other smaller pinning kits http://www.clksupplies.com/shop/pinning-rekeying-kits-c-21.html

[darkhorse]

As I'm not into rekeying this might sound daft but once you've picked those locks cant you just make new keys to suit the original pins and then you wont need any extra pins?

[jeffmoss26]

I got lucky and scored a Schlage rekeying kit from a hardware store that was closingfor 40 bucks...then a few months after I bought the LAB mini .003 kit from HL Flake. They have served me quite well

[pin_pusher]

when i started to stray away from 'just' picking, i bought myself one of those small plastic containers with kwikset and schlage pins from ebay, and it helped me explore for pretty cheap...also, i was able to set up some masterkey systems in my neighborhood with these. lateron you'll be able to stumble across a really good deal; i got a really nice lab pinning set for a sinfully cheap price. i figure forty bux for a starter pin set is good for practice.

[Lumpy]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to keep my eyes open for a good deal.

I like to tinker and learn new things. I'll probably end up with a
larger .003 Lab universal kit.

Now to find a new cutting wheel for my "classic" Curtis 2000 Key cutter. lol

[the lockpickkid]

Get a small universal kit. You don't need to have all the master pins etc. I think there is a LAB mini-durex universal.

As for .003 or .005 the vast majority of lock manufacturers that use the standard diameter pins use .005 for their depths. If you use a .003 kit you can get very very close but not always precise. If you have a precise cut key then why wouldn't you want a precise pin? I don't know but I've been told that the majority of locksmiths that use .003 want to be able to pin a lock to a key which can have significant wear and thus might be a couple thousands off. This is a bad idea because if there are other people who have a key with the same cuts but not the same wear it could be difficult to make their key work the newly pinned lock which was pinned for a worn key.

I hope I articulated this all ok as I'm pretty sleepy and getting ready to go to bed.

I only use .003 pins in my shop, never had any problems, I duplicate lots of keys and code cut as well and all my locks are smooth operating. I use mini-durex kits because there easy to throw in the truck to go on jobs with, I just buy pin refills and I am suited just fine with them.