.:: Keypicking :: Anything And Everything For Locksmiths, Hobbyist Lock Pickers, Locksport, Lock Picking, lockpicks, cutaways and Security. Simply The Best Lockpicking Forum Around!

So I was a little busy with my latest project, and I didn't want to post anything on it until I was finished. I saw some of the guys building keys and thought that would be a neat project... but I don't have any antique locks, or lever locks. So, I decided to make one. A HUGE one! I give you the BAMF lock! (Big Ass MOFO lock!) oh.... and I made a key for it!

Also, there's so many picking masters on here - I wanted my own signature project! The BAMF lock should be a pretty memorable one!

Started at the start - drew out a shape and cut it out with the plasma cutter:


Ground of the edges:


Traced out and cut second cover piece: tacked together and ground both evenly together.


Shaped the lock body:


Heat and bent the shackle - welded on pin hole piece:


Started on the mechanism - there's a prototype gate and some prototype levers on the bench next to the lock:


Like I mentioned earlier, I don't actually own a lever padlock so I looked at pics on the net, and I have a weird ability to just build stuff in my head and see it work and function. I don't know if that makes me sound crazy, but it's pretty much what makes me good at my job. So here are some other pics of the gate and the levers:







Now that I had the levers figured out I built a key to operate them, I kept it pretty functional and jut put a simple butterfly handle on:









Next, I cleaned up the shackle and cut the groove for the gate:







Put a dust cover over the keyhole in the front cover:





Assembled and finished the lock:








Here's a video showing the scale and the function of the lock before assembly:


Here's a video showing the lock after it has been assembled:


So that's what I've been up to for the last couple weeks - I've been working on it during my lunch and a couple breaks. I figure I have about 4 hours into it!

Hope you enjoyed it! It was pretty fun to build! I imagine I'll find some pretty ridiculous uses for it... like locking up the smallest possible thing with it. Pulling it out of my backpack at the coffee shop and locking up my bike. I'm sure it will make some people do a WTF! double take. LOL!

Take care,
Clay

love it A+

HOLY INSANE CRAZINESS!! That's just too cool. Building something like that
with nothing but pictures to work from would be beyond my little pee-brain. LOL

Very nice work Clay. Thanks for documenting it and sharing!


Please DO post pictures as you find silly uses for it! I'd love to see 'em.

Clay, you've definitely got an aptitude for mechanical devices, that is great work. You've got the right skill-set for designing and building lock decoding tools, you should give it a try.

This is amazing! I agree, please lock your bike with this huge padlock and post here a picture!

Cheers

Fantastic job. If it isn't already, I nominate sticky!

Gordon

Wow, Amazing.



Thinking in pictures, isn't crazy, it's how some people think, if you have a version of Auto Cad running in your mind, the chances are that you are on the Autism/Aspergers Spectrum, I suspect a lot of locksmiths are...but that's a different convo.
Nice Lock, very well done, I absolutely love the name too..


You should make a series of BAMF tools and Locksmithing Equipment, I could see it becoming huge, you got mad skills, keep it up.

You sir, are a master of your craft. Well done.

You could have oriented the fence plate differently by 90 degrees and produced lever tumblers with more radial surface. Each tumbler could by cut at different points along the radius to accommodate the fence pin. This would create more variation of depth cuts to your key. This design is called open gated. Nice big PADLOCK.

Awesome lock! Great pictures and excellent video. You are a master craftsman for sure!

I've seen bigger...

Pretty cool work. I always enjoy seeing metal work. Good job!

Yeah I really didn't do a ton of research... I had an idea and was ready to run with it. I was looking for something that would be pretty simple to super size. There's a lot of vintage lever lock pics on the net. But some are a little too well designed. I don't have a mill unfortunately, so there's some limits to how fancy I can get. I pretty much owe the entire design to Kokomolock's video on the squire 4 lever lock on youtube. Soon as I saw that design I figured it was the winner.

The biggest thing I had to overcome was the pressure on the key post. The key to lock scale is actually way off.. I didn't want a really thick key, so I made the key post 1/4" and the key shaft 3/8". So I ended up keeping the levers longer and closer to the pin to reduce the torsional strain on the key post. There was definitely some prototyping involved, but I came to some happy mediums and made it work. Super sizing It was for shits and giggles, but I definitely wanted it to be fully functional. Who knows A better designed lever lock may be in the future.

Take care,
Clay

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback! Yeah, it was a fun project! I fabricate all kinds of things on a pretty large scale as part of my job, but this was a nice little diversion for me. It's very seldom that I ever feel like doing anything welding related in my free time. I'd rather buy my picks than make them, LOL! The picks I make are actually very utilitarian and not very pretty. I usually make stuff that serves a purpose and does a job. And I have a shop full of equipment at my disposal.

That's why when I see someone on here who makes beautiful picks, or keys at home with nothing but a vise and a couple files some determination... I have a ton of respect for that.

Take care Guys!
Clay

Lol, that is amazing. If you want I can send you a lever lock that I made the front removable on so you can see the inner workings of.