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I had a bunch of my poo poo stolen recently along with my key set. I had a spare for the apartment door so I got in and replaced the lock. But neither I nor the landlady could find a spare for the mailbox key, so I haven't checked the mail in a while. There's no way I'm calling a locksmith for this stupid lock, so I'd appreciate some suggestion on how to pop it open. I'd like to avoid drilling or grinding, if possible, just due to the mess and noise it will cause (plus, I don't have a cordless drill or angle grinder) but other than that I'm good for other suggestions. I don't have any specialized tools but could probably make some. Here's the lock in question, it's on the back of the mailbox (the front has a slot where the mail is dropped through):  There's a little flap covering the opening, but behind it I can see some pins on the right side. A key like this fits in, but it's from something else entirely so it doesn't work, obviously. Is it safe to assume the lock is likely to have only two or three pins?  I think I get the basic principle of this, but some suggestions, perhaps specific to this type of lock, would be very helpful!
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May 9, 2014 18:11
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 03:41 |
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I found that my mailbox key was able to open a couple of my neighbors by accident one day when I went to open the wrong box, they're really not particularly secure but you need a key that is at least mildly similar to it.
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May 9, 2014 18:51
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I'm a hobbyist lockpicker. As Scald said, try first with your landlady's or perhaps a neighbors key as they might work. If there's only one row of pins inside then it should be very easy to pick. You'll need a short hook pick and a tension wrench such as these:  You may also want to get a padlock to practice a bit on first. The cheaper the better. Made in China and cheap? The best. There's a ton of videos on youtube that shows how to pick, but this is the best channel I've found: https://www.youtube.com/user/bosnianbill e: Make sure to tell your landlady that you're picking the lock. It's probably (depending on your state/country) considered breaking and entering to pick anything you don't explicitly own yourself. Lima fucked around with this message at 20:07 on May 9, 2014 |
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May 9, 2014 20:03
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Did you get the keys from your landlady or the post office? All the mailboxes in my apartment complex are actually administered by the post office, who are in charge of the keys. If it's run by the post office picking it isn't the best idea and taking a drill to it or whatever is a terrible idea.
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May 9, 2014 22:50
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12 gauge slug should open it right up.
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May 10, 2014 00:21
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The-Mole posted:12 gauge slug should open it right up. http://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-5632-H...ds=slide+hammer
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May 10, 2014 03:06
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The postman will have a master key to open the whole set of mailboxes. He does this every day when he delivers the mail. When he opens it, your mailbox lock will be accessible from the front and back. From the back there will be a large nut holding the lock onto the mailbox. Use a wrench to loosen the nut and remove it completely, the lock will fall out the front. Your landlord should have replacement locks. If she doesn't, you can either buy a replacement lock (hardware store, amazon.com, etc), or take the lock and get it rekeyed at a locksmith. I'm not sure if the postman will let you leave the mailbox without a lock - you might need to be prepared with a replacement lock when you remove the existing lock.
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May 10, 2014 05:07
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If you don't care about the lock and are OK replacing it get the biggest flathead screwdriver that will fit in the keyhole - make sure it's going all the way into the lock and not just into the cover plate. Put some vise grips on the screwdriver and twist the screwdriver in the direction you turned the key to unlock it. The brass wafers inside the lock will just shear off and the lock will open. You will have to replace it; I'd have a replacement ready to go before starting. If you want a pick get a ball pick for a wafer lock like that. I'd just do the screwdriver though.
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May 10, 2014 16:20
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set the building on fire and theyll have to replace the whole thing
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May 11, 2014 08:26
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Midjack posted:If you don't care about the lock and are OK replacing it get the biggest flathead screwdriver that will fit in the keyhole - make sure it's going all the way into the lock and not just into the cover plate. Put some vise grips on the screwdriver and twist the screwdriver in the direction you turned the key to unlock it. The brass wafers inside the lock will just shear off and the lock will open. You will have to replace it; I'd have a replacement ready to go before starting. This is truly the easiest way to deal with the problem, source replacement lock, force old lock remove and replace. Cheap wafer locks are very easy to find at reasonable prices, a pick and tension tool will likely cost more than the lock. If it doesn't force it's just badly cast Aluminium or Zinc any old HSS drill will make mincemeat of it. But, as a professional locksmith I recommend you call a locksmith.
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May 11, 2014 12:57
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^^ If a pick and a tension tool are expensive, imagine what a locksmith costs  I'm pretty sure the post office doesn't manage the keys, but the building admins might. Also might try the neighbors since the locks are all the same. If the picking attempt with homemade tool fails, taking a screwdriver to it and replacing the lock sounds pretty doable.
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May 11, 2014 17:07
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He might not even have to find a screwdriver, he has a key that fits in the lock already, bumping that should do it. edit: seeing as this is basically a next day necro since I didn't look at the time stamps, did you get in ok op? Wind up calling a smith?
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May 12, 2014 03:14
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If you are renting the place then have your landlady drill the lock and replace it and give you a new set. If she insists it is the post office's property (this is not always the case) call your local postmaster to confirm. If they say it isn't owned by them, then insist your landlady drill and replace. Unless you really want to pick your mailbox lock every single time you want to get the mail. *Edit: tl;dr It isn't your financial responsibility to replace the lock.
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May 12, 2014 11:20
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Raldikuk posted:If you are renting the place then have your landlady drill the lock and replace it and give you a new set. If she insists it is the post office's property (this is not always the case) call your local postmaster to confirm. If they say it isn't owned by them, then insist your landlady drill and replace. Unless you really want to pick your mailbox lock every single time you want to get the mail. It's the landlord's responsibility to replace the lock if it rusts out due to rain, or when the tenants change over.
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May 12, 2014 19:55
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Yeah that's my fuckup so I'm dealing with it. Had a call with the landlady (she doesn't live here) and apparently she found a small key that might be to this mailbox. Or to the padlock on the storage area that I completely forgot about. That would be nice too. So I think I'll delay my attempts at least until after we can meet.
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May 13, 2014 18:21
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Alright, so I met up with the landlady and she gave me some keys that she found. One of them was for the storage area padlock, the others were old entrance keys or something. Thanks to the tips here and some additional research, I made this tension wrench and rake out of paperclips:  Since I got the keys to the padlock, I unlocked it and used it for practice. Despite being a lovely lock by all accounts, I failed miserably at picking or shimming it. Still undeterred however, I went down to try it on the mailbox lock and popped it open after about 15 seconds for furious raking. Obviously I wasn't going to repeat that every time I wanted to get the mail, but I couldn't leave it unlocked either as it was too obviously open due to the keyhole orientation and the door sticking out slightly ajar. So here it is from the back:  The largish plate towards its front was pushing it firmly against the door metal but was easily removed with a multitool. Still I couldn't just rotate it 90° as it was keyed to only fit in one way with the little bump on the left side of the cylinder there.  So the little dark plate on its back also had to come off, which allowed me to rotate the latch (?) instead, thus making it look locked when it in fact wasn't. Add some blue-tack type of thing to hold the door closed and that was it. Total cost: 2 paperclips, a bit of sticky goo. I'll pick up a compatible lock at a hardware store later but for now this was enough to get the ancient junk mail out. Thanks again everyone for your help.
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May 25, 2014 17:36
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mobby_6kl posted:
That largish plate is called a finger clip and is used very commonly to affix locks to flat plates such as car door skins, letterboxes, filing cabinets and lockers. The dark plate is called an E clip, which is a pretty standard fixing clip used to fix parts to a spindle. Until you find a lock that fits the hole to make it not look so bad you can remove all the wafers and springs from the barrel and simply use anything capable of applying torsion to the barrel to open it.
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Jun 1, 2014 13:41
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Thanks for the correct part names! I think I'm going to do exactly what you suggest, as I checked a few nearby hardware stores and none had a lock that would fit the mailbox. I'm sure I could track down an appropriate one eventually, but 
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Jun 1, 2014 16:37
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 03:41 |
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Congrats on getting the box opened, sometimes the cheapest tool is the best one.
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Jun 21, 2014 21:38
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