Posts Tagged ‘abloy’

Abloy classic ‘key reader’

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Abloy classic key reader

Above you see a so called ‘key reader’ for the Abloy classic system. If you insert a key and rotate it, you can read the depth of each individual cut as well as read the code number Abloy gave to it’s customer. It is common practice to ‘scramble’ these ‘customer numbers’ so the exact depth of the cuts can not easily be read from the factory code that is sometimes stamped into a key or printed on a ‘code card’. In the case of this classic abloy they used a static code that is pretty simple. All I did was insert a blank and turn it to 00000, 11111, 22222 etc to compile the following list:

disc        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

depth 5  1 9 6 2 3 4 0 7 9 2
depth 4  8 2 4 3 1 2 9 6 5 8
depth 3  5 7 9 4 2 0 5 1 7 6
depth 2  4 1 5 6 7 1 2 9 3 0
depth 1  2 3 8 1 0 3 4 5 2 7
depth 0  6 0 2 7 9 6 8 4 1 1

Of course I tried this reader to check the code on the key I impressioned last week. It is funny to see there is a huge difference between the original key and the impressioned key. I guess the Abloy classic has got some pretty wide tolerances, or the reader can not cope well with the angles on my key.

After the Spanish impressioning course I will try to make impression a key with the help of this new tool…. and if time permits report back here about it …

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Abloy classic and trying the ‘reduced contact area blank’

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

In a couple of weeks Han and I will be giving a two day impressioning course in Spain. It is going to be the second course we organize for the Spanish APECS locksmith organisation in nine months. Last time we gave a very successful course on bumping Spanish locks (a small test proved around 80% of the pin tumbler locks on the Spanish market could be bumped). This time the topic will be impressioning.

successful impressioned key for 6 disc abloy camlock

One of the things I am focusing on lately is ‘advanced impressioning’. This means trying the technique on other locks then the standard pin tumbler locks, or modifying keyblanks to make life more easy or have a higher success range on high security locks.

The lock high on my wish list is the Abloy classic (PDF). As far as I know it is the oldest system that uses discs instead of pins, yet it still is (to me) a remarkably secure lock as it has a very high degree of pick resistance. Of course I had to try if I could use impressioning to open it.

My first attempt was to simply give it a try and see what happens. In this case I just took a classic key, smoothened it and filed down where I saw marks. I soon realized this was not going to work. I had absolutely no idea of the exact position of the discs on the blank and the marks kept wandering from left to right. So my second try was using a marker making some dots on the blank, indexing where the discs should be. Still this did not work well as the marks were sometimes appearing between the dots … and I ran out of blanks too …

I recently bought more blanks and could continued the challenge. My new strategy: reducing the contact area of the key. Using a caliper I noticed the spacing on Abloy classic is two millimeters (at least on the locks I was experimenting with). So I marked the blank and removed the material between the positions. For removing the material I used a fine metal saw, a dremel tool (with a diamond disc) and a very fine ‘blade file’ (knive file?). After some work I ended up with a ‘reduced contact area blank’ that looks like a comb.

abloy classic key modified for impressioning (reduced contact area)

Filing down the remaining teeth of the comb is done with a special file. This file is cut only on the thin side. Using this file will only remove material from the contact area of the file, and not from the side of the blade (like on a normal ‘full contact’ file).

I did not have a whole lot of abloy classic locks and was happy to have one padlock I did not know the key-combination of. I did have the key, but put it in a bag without looking at it. Using the reduced contact area key I got the idea I was on the right track … when the key broke off in the lock (grrr). And I could not get the remaining key out of the lock and was out of test locks….

It is a good thing Han managed to remove the key from the lock, and even though I was on the right track I was too deep on some positions.

Talking with Han, we came to the conclusion to start easy using a simple six disc camlock. As most abloy classic locks have a cut 1 (no material removed) on the first and last disc, there were only four discs to work on. And each of these discs could have a cut between one to six (as you can see on this ‘stairway’ key that is cut 1-2-3-4-5-6). This four disc lock did not provide a challenge and was opened in a couple of minutes (without knowing the code).

After this success I did buy some new nine disc padlocks, yet I still have not managed to open them. Somehow I am doing something wrong … so I would be grateful if people would share their experiences on impressioning disc (and lever?) locks in the comments or using a private message …

Of course I will keep trying and report back if I know what is needed to successfully open the nine disc version …

* Update 22/06 21:00: hyperfocus kicked in and … voila … just opened the nine disc version …
All I did was make the teeth of the key a little more thin, and filed in small steps. I must say I am pretty pleased with this success as I have not found any other info out there on people successfully opening Abloy classic locks this way …

successful impressioning on nine disc Abloy classic lock

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More problems for Abloy Protec? Decoding the pickproof lock?!?

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Having a weblog like this attracts a lot of interesting people. And some people who think they are interesting and just try to feed you with little tidbits of information to ‘tease’ you. Well … I think I have grown pretty immune for that.

One of these people mailed me little over a year ago is interesting though. He claimed to had developed a method of decoding an Abloy protec ‘in around ten minutes, fifteen max’. His real problem was cutting the keys after decoding the lock. During some long talks he explained that decoding a 2, 3 or 4 cut disk was the most easy, without telling me how he did it.

Abloy Protec Decoder

And all of a sudden today there is a video on Youtube, showing the decoding of an Abloy Protec. What you see is some sort of probe tool (made from a keyblank), a scale and a laser pointer to tell you how far the probe can be turned. It seems as if this way you can identify the position of the disc, and the laser pointer will tell you the number of the cut. It is a pity he is holding the lock in his hand and that he is using a cut-away lock that is set to the factory cutaway combination ….

But this sure is a big dent in Abloy’s reputation. First the video of a destructive opening technique and now a video of decoding the ‘pickproof lock’.

I am convinced the person who made this video is very skilled and bright, and I think the video and tool are for real. I would just love to see some more close ups of the tip of the tool and some more info. And that also goes for another strange video that was released on Youtube: Pick Mottura doppia mappa.

If all goes well I will meet the person behind these tools and techniques in a month orso, and hopefully can give you some more details. In the meantime we can all speculate about the tool in the comments ;)

* Update 06-02-2009 (19:15) : the video was removed before it even got 500 hits. It is a good thing I captured it before it went offline …

** Update 08-02-2009: the video became online again on youtube and could been found here.

*** Update 14-02-2009 video was removed from youtube again…

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Posted in English, news, picktools | 35 Comments »

Eating Abloy Protecs for breakfast

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

This is one of these topics that I wanted to write about before, but never managed because of my little break last year.

As you might know Abloy’s Protec cylinder has quite a reputation as being an outstanding lock. For the moment it is very difficult to pick/manipulate (although there are rumors someone developed an opening tool). One other feature is keycontrol: it is quite difficult to have copies made if you do not have the certificate. And in case you need it for a high security installation the housing of the lock can be delivered in an extra strong steel body that is difficult to break and drill. All in all it is a very nice and secure cylinder that many people in the locksport community use on their front door ;)

shortcut to youtube video to bypass Alboy protec

But … as always: if a product becomes ‘too popular’, some clever person will come up with a tool to defeat it. Unfortunately (for us lockpick tool lovers) the clever person came up with a destructive opening technique (instead of a non-destructive method).

But the method of opening the lock is extremely simple and effective (as you can see in this youtube video). In less then a minute the lock is open. Ok, it might not be completely silent, but it sure is fast! … And to make things worse: the tool even seems to work on the hardened version of the lock.

If clever tools show up on youtube, they most of the time can be ordered at Wendt ….

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Posted in English, Uncategorized, news | 24 Comments »