High(er) Security

The Twin 6000 locks, like many high security locks, uses 2 separate shear lines.  One “standard” shear line, and a sidebar.  The standard shear line is fairly normal, 6 pin stacks all have to raised to the proper height to allow rotation of the plug.  The twin however has a small variation, while most companies use security pins to make the picking process more difficult, ASSA uses a combination of security pins and something that has become known as “counter-milling“.  The counter-milling makes picking this lock extremely hard, even without the sidebar as a second obstacle.  The small groove that is cut into the plug catches the small lip on the security pins, and prevents further vertical movement.  The only way around them once they are caught is to release tension and try again, very light tension must be used to get around the counter-milling.  The third chamber from the front is the only chamber that doesn’t have this counter-milling, so generally while picking it is a good idea to try and set that pin last, as you don’t need to worry about the counter milling catching.  The sidebar in this lock is very interesting because all the pins are the same.  The actual sidebar is what holds the sidebar “code”, meaning to change the sidebar code you need to replace the sidebar, not the pins.  The sidebars are generally assigned to different regions, meaning that if you buy a lock from a locksmith, all the other locks in that region will have the same sidebar code.  The pins in the sidebar have 4 false gates in them, and one true gate, which is always in the middle of the pin.  When they are raised to their proper heights by the bitting on the side of the key, the sidebar can retract, and providing the “regular” bitting is correct, the lock with open, else the lock will not.  Since the key for the lock is very wide, the keyway is also quite large making fitting tools into the lock quite easy, however it is still a very difficult lock to pick open.  Soon I will be attempting to bump open the lock, as well has trying a sidebar bypass method sometime next week.  The bypass involves cutting the top bitting of and using just the bottom part to set the sidebar code, and then picking it like a regular pin-tumbler lock.  I will be taking video of both methods, and posting them here in the near future.

The EVVA 3KS is a high security lock,  it uses a simple mechanism but has very high pick resistance.  The lock uses a slider system, using 12 sliders, 6 on each side.  The key is reversible, and has 3 curves on each side as well as a ‘profile‘ on the top and bottom.  2 of these curves are identical and the third is different, this is because on one side of the lock the sliders have 2 ‘posts’ sticking out of them, and the other sides sliders have 1 ‘post’ on it.  On the sliders with the 2 posts, the posts are shorter than the other sliders, this way the single post sliders wont go into the double post sliders curve.   The plug looks very unique, it has 12 slots for the sliders as well as slots for the sidebars.  The way this lock operates is quite simple, the key is inserted and the posts on the sliders follow the curves on the key.  The back of each slider has 2 small notches in it that the sidebar can fall into, once the slider is properly positioned.  When the correct key is inserted, all the notches line up and the sidebars fall into them and the lock opens.  You may notice that a couple of the sliders stick out of the plug a little, the housing is milled so that the sliders can stick out of the plug a little, and the lock will still be able to function properly.  When an incorrect key is inserted, the notches don’t line up and the sidebar can not fall down, and thus the lock does not open.  The profile markings on the top of the keys interact with a passive bar on the top of the lock.  When the correct key is used, the profile bar falls into the markings on the key, and the lock will not be impeded by it.  However, if you grind down the marking on the top of the key, then the profile bar is not a problem because there is nothing there to get in the way of the bar.  When dissassembling the lock it is best to insert the key and then slowly pull it out, DO NOT force the cylinder out because you will ruin the milling in the housing as well as possibly break a slider.  The key image with the colored curves was taken by n2oah, I tried for quite some time to make a similar one that looked decent, but I just couldn’t.

If you are unfamiliar with the workings of an Abloy lock, allow me to briefly explain it to you.  The  lock uses a key that looks similar to this, depending on the profile.  It also uses disks, the deeper the cut on they key, the less the disk rotates.  The disks have small slots on them, as well as false grooves to make picking more difficult, these slots when improperly aligned hold a small locking bar up in a groove in the lock housing, and when they are properly aligned the bar falls into the slots, and the cylinder can rotate.  The last disk in the pack is what actually turns the lock, it turns a full 90 degrees when the key is inserted, because of this, it is usually used to apply tension when picking the lock.  This Abloy Profile cam cylinder contains 11 disks, and 11 spacers and uses the older type of locking bar(the newer ones are shaped in an L to prevent pulling attacks).  It has several “anti-pick” disks, that have a hemisphere cut out of them, to make it harder to manipulate the disk with some type of tool.  It also has an odd profile that looks a lot like a D, but has a small protrusion in the upper right hand corner.  Note: If you own a lock like this, and would like to disassemble it all you have to do is remove a small clip at the rear of the lock.