ANSWERS : Living

Okay, all you clever Instructables members! I have got the queen of all questions: How to you prevent someone from a picking a combo lock on a locker? One person would constantly pick my lock and hide my lock or just to aggravate me. Please, how do you prevent this? Thank You! I have to have a good answer by at least Wednesday or Thursday or maybe Friday. Thank You so much!

Comments

[canucksgirl]

LOL... I hope you do find a good answer by then.

My son is like Houdini. I put an outside door knob lock onto one room in our house and he was in there in less than 5 minutes. I'm not so sure they make anti-pick locks. (And this door knob wasn't cheap... it claimed it was not easy to break into, or something like that)...

[TN777]

Ohmigoodness! I would watch him if I were you...... any way, I just want some tips on what I could do to my current lock, or locker to keep them from breaking back into my locker. Maybe booby trap it if needed. LOL!

[canucksgirl]

I forgot to ask... Is the lock built into your locker (and they give you the combo), or can you supply your own lock?

[TN777]

I have to supply the lock by buying one from the school for five dollars. The lock is a "special" lock. It has a keyhole in the back, the school has the key! Also, this person claimed they had "the mother combonation" and that he could get in. And he would get in!

[RedneckEngineer]

Ahhh what you are forced into buying is a series type of lock with the keyhole in the back. If he his picking the lock that way you just need to make the back key hole unuseable. A drop of superglue in the hole will work fine. You still have a school lock and if they need to get in it they can just cut it off. Don't let them know what you did to it, it's a defective lock as far as your concerned. Either way you will have to get another one if this guy messes it up or they cut it off. If they cut it off I'd have them replace it though.

[canucksgirl]

In that case, I would have a polite conversation with your Principal and tell him that your locker is repeatedly broken into and they need to help fix the problem since they don't allow you any other option than to buy and use their combination locks...

[TN777]

I have to buy one from the school. For 5 bucks. When I can get one from Walmart for 2 bucks.......... But it isn't a built in lock.

[canucksgirl]

If you can get another lock, I would suggest something LIKE THIS.

Its a combination lock, that also comes with a special key to allow you to change the combination, so if you need to, you can change the combo once a week (in case someone is seeing your combination and getting in that way).

[canucksgirl]

No... lol... I challenged him to try and break into it because he said he could....

Well lets just say I lost the bet.

[onrust]

Never challenge! This lock has its own little pick to open it.

[CatTrampoline]

In this situation, I'd have to agree with the folks suggesting a talk with the principal. Even if you keep nothing in your locker, this other guy can plant forbidden items and get you suspended or expelled. It is only a matter of time before this occurs to him.

In other situations where you can provide your own lock, the ones where you can change the combination every few days seem to work pretty well. Some are sturdier than others.

[mpilchfamily]

I wouldn't calling it picking the lock since its a combo lock. But combo locks are some of these easiest locks to crack. You'll want to get a key lock. I know schools like to have only combo locks and they want to know the combo to the lock so they can search your locker at any time. But you can talk to the school officials about the issues and give them a copy of the lock's key.

[TN777]

I can't get a key lock, I will just get yelled at, told to take it of, and if I don't take it off I guess they will CUT it off. So, when you get down to it, that's just impossible.

[mpilchfamily]

OK so you have to use the schools lock. Which means there is a key hole in the back of it and they have the master key to it. So there really is nothing you can do. Don't keep much in the locker and find out who is breaking into it and report them.

[rickharris]

Buy a lock that has a yale type key. As in the photo below.

Cut off with a saw the last 1/3 of the key and push it into the lock

Then only your other 2/3rds will open the lock.

[TN777]

I can't buy a lock from a store, they will make you take it off, if you don't I guess they tell you that they will cut it off. I am just looking for a way to keep someone out of your average, school locker.

[Jayefuu]

I can't tell if that was sarcasm or not Rick? A saw has kerf, it'll mess up the alignment of the bits on the key that push the pins....

[rickharris]

No it actually works - Although the saw removes a small amount you compensate for this by slightly wriggling the key - i.e. pulling it out slightly

In actual fact there is little difference the tolerance of the average yal lock is quite big.

[onrust]

Locks are generally made for honest people. Other than purchasing expensive locks with mushrooming tumblers, I'd say lighting and cameras are your best option.

[onrust]

here is a quick example of a "mushrooming" tumbler

[RedneckEngineer]

I work in a prison and really there is no way to totally prevent someone from getting in a lock. Given time and the right tools or experance any lock can be gotten into. With that said you can make it harder for them depending on how they are getting in.

If they are useing the "pop can" type of pick you can do like we do on the lockers at work. Cut a 1/2 inch piece of copper pipe the size of the lock arm to be slipped over the barrel of the opening side. This copper sleeve prevents someone from getting the angle needed to push the pop can pick into the lock. It's simple and cheap but effective.

Now if they are getting in with the combo then you need to change the lock and be more carefull when getting in, so no one else can see or get your combo.

A lock will only keep an honest person out.