Think first

AAAAAAAAA

I just spent one and a half hour to drill out a lock. A customer was calling me, he lost the key for his outside door to his garage, that I rent to him. What we are going to do about it... so I called key service they said it's going to be 250€ at least and not before tomorrow.

So I asked the customer, if he locked the door and he said yes. Alarm system armed too. It's a premium ABUS lock, cost around 200€ each, unpickable. Okay so I went into the shop and got a fresh charged Makita cordless drill and a set of high quality HSS-G drill bits. Went in with a 5mm pilot below the core so I can choose the perfect drill bit to take of just the edge of the core too.

That was the plan.

The 5mm went in like it's butter and I saw brass and little coils coming out. Then I went in with a 8mm bit. I counted the pins groves on another key and so I drilled, took my time and let the bit do the work. Now...

1st pin... 2nd... 3rd... 4th....almost there, suddenly the drill yanks upward inside the hole, lodges the tip into a hollow space suddenly and snaps. Right inside the hole, about a good inch deep into the hole. They are hardened. And the drill bit now is stuck between the core and the lock housing. I can see, that I killed all 5 pins and the lock could rotate in theory, if there wasn't that little piece of drill bit stuck in between!!!

#####!!! On the floor, sharp metal flakes and brass, I knee around in. Customer behind me watching and hearing me cuss. My daughter counting up hilarious ideas how to get off the door (but not the lock lol) meanwhile. Perfect mess. So the plan was, to drill below the bit so I can drive in a screw driver and give it a nudge downwards to finally rotate the core and get in.

Around 40 minutes later, I had the drill bit out. It rotated slightly but because it ate into the material, I could not just screw it out. Remember the ### was around an inch inside a mangled up 8mm hole. So I finally have it out, the core is in two halfes, just hanging on the back. When I stick in the screw driver to rotate it, the gap widens and it blocks inside the housing###.

I lost my nerves and went at it with my biggest and longest 14mm titanium drill bit, flakes eject as the drill eats into the housing, rips it up (more about that later). Core is gone and I stare at the little thing that levers on the door mechanism. But I can not rotate it. Something is off, I now see the other core from behind. And I see that the little thing that is pushed in to engage the lever when the key is pushed in, is engaged. Somewhere along the road I looked at ABUS lock schematics and now slowly I grasp the horror of the whole situation.

These are special locks, one feature is that it can not be actuated from the outside, when the key is slotted on the inside, side. There has to be a mechanism to do this and I was looking at it. Tried another fifteen to twenty minutes to cheat the system and damaged in more. Suddenly a brass ring falls into view, half mangled up by the bit. The mechanism falls apart and everything just cogs. Went in with the shop vac and a little hose fitted with tape to extract it bit by bit. I don't know what I did but suddenly I could engage the ring and it did not even take 180° to actuate the lever to retract and give the door free.

Guess where the key was?
Stuck inside the lock, on the inside. DUH. I just did not try it because it's a knob and not a handle and forgot it has knobs to turn.

Why did it open without rotating the key fully?
Because it was not locked, a turn of the knob would have been enough.

ARRRRG and I waisted one and a half hour, killed a drill bit, dulled a few and destroyed a 200€-ish lock. I could facepalm myself into infinity, my daughter just laughed. And I laughed at her when she suggested if we already tried opening it.

rant over.
the ### it is.

I forgot!!! Now, I want to wrap it up and remove the lock. There is a screw for that. SCREW it. The drill bit snapped because it hit that screw. That won't turn because the windings are damaged. That took pliers in hopes it would not break. But I got that out. Okay so to remove the lock, one key needs to be inside. I mangled up the outside, the casing broke and bend outward. So the lock would not fit through the hole in the door back out. The key needs to be in, remember? And it needs to be turned a bit. Because of that, I could not just push the lock outward, I had to pull it to myself.
And of course that blocked too!!!!

Hit it with the pliers and scratched my door doing that. Got it out finally. It'S sitting here on the table. ABUS I hate you for making such a good product. How's that for a difference in customer feedback?

The OP title is in my opinion over-rated.
Things can really get interesting, fun even, when you don’t.

BTW………NICE RANT!!!!

a reply to: TDDAgain

Idea for next time….

Got a 12 gauge and a few slugs?

a reply to: TDDAgain



.

a reply to: TDDAgain

All praise to you brother, I'da hit the whole gizmo with a sledge inside of ten minutes.

This rage when you are just fed up with it but you know you can't stop.

originally posted by: TDDAgain
This rage when you are just fed up with it but you know you can't stop.

It's like being 1:15 into a bad 1:30 long movie.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Yeah but you don't know how the movie is going to last. ....Until Terry the Terrible oxy-acetylene torch get's a chance to shine.

Noticed... You just got my 333rdst post.

The key to your mind is always on the inside.

Everyone starts by messing with the outside.

a reply to: nerbot

I will remember that one for the time I am standing behind someone in the same situation. It will be presented with a calm voice, followed by "Have you tried turning the knob?"

You have my admiration for sticking thru to the bitter end.

Sometimes however it's worth it to hire a professional and let him/her have all the fun.

originally posted by: PiratesCut
The OP title is in my opinion over-rated.
Things can really get interesting, fun even, when you don’t.

BTW………NICE RANT!!!!

a reply to: TDDAgain

I did not think a lot about the title

a reply to: olaru12
I agree. But in this case the customer would have missed his timeline completely. As the car behind the door was not accessible, this way he could load it up on the trailer today and travel tonight, not wait until tomorrow unknown time. We do not have a lot of lock services here. Lock would have been destroyed in any case.

I agree about hiring professional, when possible, though.

Lol not sure if the lock guy would have tried to just turn the knob either first

How come you don't keep a spare key to the garages you rent out? I used to have a building with a few apartments in them. I would put new locks or rekey the locks if tenants changed and I would always have a spare key. I had to leave the girls into their two apartments about four times, they locked their keys inside.

I bought good locksets and at that time it cost about three bucks to rekey them.

I also had my shop keyed so that my house key would fit those locks but the extra keys I gave to employees would not fit my lock at home. I basically had a master key, they had a specific key. I could have had up to five different locks with individual keys to one master key.

a reply to: rickymouse
The customer get's all spare keys, he was the first one that moved into it and so he got all the key's. The next customer would sure install his own to make sure no working key copies are existing. I don't have to access the space, as it is rented out. He also could change locks any time to his own, I would not mind and be the same effect, no spare key. I just took a same key model and counted the groves on that non fitting key to get an idea about depth and how many pins it has.

Z-key locks or master key locks (not the manufact.) as you describe them are weak by design. That is why I do not use them on doors that lead to expensive cars that are not mine

The physics determine that you have a lower amount of possible pin combinations because there needs to be additional divider pins for central key to work. What makes it easier to set them with a pick and spanner because it is not possible to use hammer head pins on those.

I know a tiny bit about locks, my unc had a training lock, 6 pins and you could see the side. With different pins that will interfere in finding the clean surface cut points to clamp each pin one by one. Like thinner in the middle. The normal 3 pin cheapo locks can be opened with the rear of the spanner simple.

I can not pick a 6 pin lock but I know how it works in theory.

How is it whenever you do something boneheaded there ALWAYS seems to be a witness?
Like clockwork.

Had purchased a huge room sized area rug.
Spent a couple of hours with it on a dolly trying to get it up the front steps. Not happening, the packaging probably had lead shielding in it. Finally gave up, wheeled it back around to the garage an drug it into the basement.
Eventually one of the adult children would swing by & I'd hit them up for help.

My daughter got here looked at it for like 3 seconds an calmly asked me why didn't you wheel around to the back door? You know...the door with no steps?

Great Lock story!
Feeling your pain.

a reply to: TDDAgain

I just spent one and a half hour to drill out a lock.

I read this first line and already knew the ending .

That's frustrating mate sorry.

originally posted by: TDDAgain
a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Yeah but you don't know how the movie is going to last. ....Until Terry the Terrible oxy-acetylene torch get's a chance to shine.

Noticed... You just got my 333rdst post.

I was about to ask why you didn't just hit it with the tried and true OAT lol

Landlord response: "You lost it you must replace it".

If he burned his food whilst cooking in the property would you come round and cook him a new meal?

a reply to: TDDAgain

wouldn't simply breaking a window to get in have cost less to fix? I know I can get replacement window panes for around $80 here.

a reply to: AutomateThis1v2

Fire alarm system would go off during that process I figured, besides the door would have been damaged doing that. It would have been my last resort though, if the lock would have been destroyed to a point it would not open at all. Terry would have done the job in a way or a nother but not without lot's of collateral damage.

Nice to see you around