So after the drama of the day (long story short: I had no housekey, The house door was locked) I needed to call out a locksmith to let me in. I was hoping to see some sort of awesome display of mechanical genius, or at least some cool tools, but instead the locksmith showed up and tried the following technique: "cram a piece of plastic down the edge of the door and just push the latch in by brute force".
Unfortunately that failed and he sat back for a second and declared that we was going to have to drill the lock. This pissed me off greatly, I was told over the phone that this was an "Experienced lock mechanic". Experienced in taking the easy way out, perhaps. Even I can pick one of those locks when I have the right tools. This guy just wanted to drill the lock, charge a hefty amount for replacing it, and then be on his merry way. That said, I didn't have the correct tools for the job, and my only way into my house was to let him kill the lock.
Now this is the interesting bit! I understand how locks work and from watching the locksmith drill the lock I can now explain exactly how drilling a lock works!
This is a standard lock (click picture for readable version):
The left hand image shows a lock, bisected and sideways. The right hand image shows the same lock face on. There are a number of pins of different height that need to be lined up so that the lock can turn This is demonstrated here:
When the key is in the lock, all the pins line up and the plug can rotate to unlock the door.
Now, to drill a lock you basically need to destroy the entire pin mechanism and do anything you can to get the plug rotating without the driver pins holding it in line. From the diagrams above, it should be clear that there is a simple way to do this. Just mash a giant hole through the lock. Here is a diagram showing where to drill:
On the left is the lock, on the right I have marked the drill location. You just need to ensure that the drill is cutting straight through the pins on the lock, then you can use a pair of sharp-nose pliers to shift all the debris out of the way and a screwdriver to rotate the plug easily.
Hey presto. Lock open. Zero skill, little effort. Lots of money.
Unfortunately that failed and he sat back for a second and declared that we was going to have to drill the lock. This pissed me off greatly, I was told over the phone that this was an "Experienced lock mechanic". Experienced in taking the easy way out, perhaps. Even I can pick one of those locks when I have the right tools. This guy just wanted to drill the lock, charge a hefty amount for replacing it, and then be on his merry way. That said, I didn't have the correct tools for the job, and my only way into my house was to let him kill the lock.
Now this is the interesting bit! I understand how locks work and from watching the locksmith drill the lock I can now explain exactly how drilling a lock works!
This is a standard lock (click picture for readable version):
The left hand image shows a lock, bisected and sideways. The right hand image shows the same lock face on. There are a number of pins of different height that need to be lined up so that the lock can turn This is demonstrated here:
When the key is in the lock, all the pins line up and the plug can rotate to unlock the door.
Now, to drill a lock you basically need to destroy the entire pin mechanism and do anything you can to get the plug rotating without the driver pins holding it in line. From the diagrams above, it should be clear that there is a simple way to do this. Just mash a giant hole through the lock. Here is a diagram showing where to drill:
On the left is the lock, on the right I have marked the drill location. You just need to ensure that the drill is cutting straight through the pins on the lock, then you can use a pair of sharp-nose pliers to shift all the debris out of the way and a screwdriver to rotate the plug easily.
Hey presto. Lock open. Zero skill, little effort. Lots of money.
