Shimming 6 Pin American Padlock | Mr. Locksmith Video

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How to Shim a Padlock: Padlocks with spring operated latches can be shimmed using an external object in the latch mechanism of the padlock. Almost all the padlocks can be shimmed, if you know the right way to do it. Although padlock makers claim that their locks do not let invasion occur, but today we will tell you how to master shimming of a padlock, even the ones who claim to provide the best mechanism. You no longer have to worry about losing keys. Although there are a lot of shims available in the market, you can easily make one for yourself by cutting a small piece of aluminum can, or simply the soft drink can.

Things You Must Know to Shim a Lock

Before you try shimming a padlock, you need to understand few things about the padlocks and their mechanisms, to be able to shim them.

Padlocks consist of springs, which insert a downward pressure on the pins. When you enter a key into the lock, the springs are pushed upwards and the lock opens.

These springs are in direct contact with the driver pins, which need to be raised to open the padlock.

The part of the lock you place the key into is called the plug.

The pins which come in contact with the directly are the key pins.

There is a dividing line between the plug and the surrounding cylinder named as a shear line. When you enter a key, the driver pins are raised to this shear line and the lock opens.

Let’s Shim a 6 Pin Padlock

A 6 pin padlock is probably the toughest to shim. You have to pass through 6 tough barriers to shim it. Today we are talking about shimming a 6 pin American padlock, which you can call the worst when it comes to shimming.

It has mushroom pins on the top, and slightly different driver pins, which cause bumpy resistance and make it difficult to shim it.

Take a shim and insert it from the back, opposite to the latch. You will have to exert some pressure to make the shim through.

Start pushing it as far you can. The shim will hang up in the mushroom pins several times. Pull the shim slightly backwards and then enter the shim again with a little more force.

Repeat the process of pushing the shim and making it through the dumpy resistance till you cross the last pin. Once you shim all the pins, rotate the shim and boom. There you go, your padlock is shimmed.