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Drilling a lock. It's easy they say...


DrJamesDaddy

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After reading, and reading, and reading about drilling out locks I decide "hey, piece of cake, I got this".

 

 

Not so much. After spending 1 hour in my garage and snapping 6 drill bits. One remains somewhere in the lock mess I have made.

 

This all started with a deal I picked up. $40.00 for an Allstar 6 column sticker vending machine, bulk display stand included! No key as the guy I bought if from is a "flipper" and he had bought 4 of them, sadly without any keys.

 

So now my friends I am willing to take any advice you may offer. I have more bits. Bigger, stronger! My goals are simple. Destroy this lock no matter what (well, no matter what as long as the machine is not destroyed in the process).

 

Now I must rest...

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I'm not sure what kind of machine this is on what yours looks like. But I bought a bunch of machines and all the locks needed to be drilled! Does it look like this?da807e4db9cd9ce1ab3597f4bd7c7d7e.jpg

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But the locks were a pain in the golpher. Some were much easier than others. I drilled about 12 out got lucky on 3 (they just twisted out), and still have about 4 to go. Snapped about 4 drill bits. I ended up going to Home Depot and getting special drill for heavy steel. But there is one mac daddy drill bit out there that I almost purchased. It's designed for barrel type locks. I can not remember the name of the drill for the life of me, a local locksmith told me about it. I remember I found it for 35 dollars online. Couldn't find it at any hardware store. If I remember the name I will let you know. The locksmith quoted me about 185 for all 18ish locks. Said he could have them drilled out in about an hour.

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Just drilled out a 5 way rack in about 30 minutes. Bought a new corded drill at Home Depot to handle the job, much better than my battery powered drill. Also wasn't bad collecting $202 from inside :)

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Don't know to be honest. They are some old school ones that my grandpa gave me years ago. I've definitely snapped bits, you just need to use one thick enough to not snap.

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I have an even better way than drilling locks. As someone who knows a bit about lockpicking, tubular locks should be easy to take off of a machine without drilling. When the locks are tubular (round) you will need a special tool to pick them. The good thing is that once you get the tool and you get the correct key code set, assuming that the locks are keyed the same, the pick should open all of them. In addition, you should be able to take the pick when it's set with the correct key code to get a key made for the locks so you don't have to spend a ton of money on new locks on the machines. Here's a set of picks I found on a quick Amazon search, no idea if they're any good. http://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Tubular-Tools-7-00MM-7-5MM/dp/B014RBIBC6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459819855&sr=8-1&keywords=tubular+lock+pick

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I have the pretty much exact same set. It does open some of the locks I encounter, but there are quite a few I can't seem to get with it. Still a nice tool to have since I'm constantly buying used machines without the keys.

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Well the lock is free. I do have to replace the collar and the shaft but its a small price to pay. I played with the mechs a bit and seem to need a little cleaning or something. A couple jammed up on a few practice runs. I'll figure that out later. Just happy to be inside.

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I have a bunch of ace2 tube locks (1800 lypc etc) that 3 locksmiths cant pick but i found a special drill for the tube locks that drill only down to the pins so they fall out.

takes about 30 seconds

well worth the $40 for the drillbit when you have a bunch to do

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Drilling locks is SUPER easy, if you get the correct bit. 

 

If it's one of those locks that spins, get a left handed drill bit and drill backwards.  Lots of times the bit will "catch" and actually just act like a key and spin off the lock.  If it's not one of those locks, go to a specialty tool store (no home depot, no lowes, go to a power tool place) and get their best drill bit.  Mine usually run $8 to $13 a piece depending on the size I get, and will drill half a dozen bulk vending locks before wearing out.


Oh...and get a good quality hammer drill...works way better.  And if it takes longer then 30 seconds, you've not gotten a good enough drill bit.  You can drill hardened steel pinned locks nowadays in under 1 minute with the bits they have out now.

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