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Picking Torque
This
exercise will teach you the range of torque you will need to
apply to a lock. It demonstrates the
interaction between
torque and
pressure which was described in
chapter 5.
The
minimum torque you will use is just
enough to overcome the
fiction of rotating the
plug in the
hull. Use your
torque wrench to rotate the
plug until it stops. Notice how much
torque is needed to move the
plug before the pins
bind. This force can be quite
high for locks that have been left out in the
rain. The minimum
torque for
padlocks includes the force of a spring that is attached between the plug and the
shackle bolt.
To get a
feel for the
maximum value of
torque, use the flat side of the pick to push all the pins down, and try applying enough torque to make the pins stay down after the
pick is
removed. If your
torque wrench has a
twist in it, you may not be able to hold down more than a few pins.
If you use too much torque and too much
pressure you can get into a situation like the one you just created. The key pins are pushed too far into the
hull and the
torque is sufficient to
hold them there.
The range of picking
torque can be found by
gradually increasing the
torque while
scrubbing the pins with the pick. Some of the pins will become harder to push down. Gradually
increase the torque until some of the pins
set. These pins will
loose their
springiness. Keeping the torque
fixed, use the pick to scrub the pins
a few times to see if other pins will set.
The most common
mistake of
beginners is to use too much torque. Use this
exercise to find the minimum torque required to
pick the lock.