in today's video I just wanted to show
you a very cool locksmithing device that
I made approximately 15 years ago I was
just going through a box of tools that I
had packed up for many years and I found
one of these there's actually another
one that I have and the only difference
is the radius on this turn right here
it's a larger radius so it goes around
to there that's the only difference they
operate the exact same way and what this
is used for is to unlock the latch on a
business or commercial door lock it only
works on certain types of doors the
doors where you have one that's fixed
and then the other door closes against
the fixed door usually there's a little
tiny space between the two doors where
the bolt slides in to the fixed door if
you don't understand what I'm describing
it looks like what you see right over
here these are the type of doors
it works on to make this tool I used 8
inch OD copper tubing this is the kind
of materials that you're going to find
at a hobby store and in the hobby store
on that rack usually you'll see the
brand name K and s metals so I purchase
an eighth inch OD a piece of brass right
here and that appears to be around a
sixteenth of an inch thick over here is
a eighth inch square brass tube inside
this tube right here is a smaller copper
tube which goes from the end all the way
to this point here before the turn from
this point here where the copper tube
ends the smaller one all the way around
that turn out the front right here what
you can see this solder that is a
braided steel cable it's galvanized once
that braided steel cable pass through
this eighth inch square brass tubing
what I did is I flared out the ends and
I soldered it to this piece using acid
core solder
over here is a short section of copper
of the same diameter eighth inch what I
did on each end is I cut like a little V
notch so it could be wedged onto this
pipe rather than have it just cut flush
because then it won't be hanging over
the tubing I did that on both ends using
a dremel with a cut-off wheel and then I
soldered it to the copper pipe to make
this end right over here all I did was
take a straight section of that square
tube
cut a v-notch 90 degrees 90 degrees not
going all the way through and then this
end here was bent all the way up and
this end here was also bent all the way
up once that was done I soldered this
whole V joint to make it strong drill
the hole three thirty-seconds of an inch
slid the cable through bent it over like
that and then I soldered it now if we
look at the other end over here you have
this black knurled knob it's made out of
plastic this one has a brass insert I
forgot where I found this I think it was
in trash so I utilized it for this it
does have threads so I took a brass bolt
I threaded it in and before threading it
into the knurled knob I drilled a hole
in the center of that bolt so I could
slide in the smaller diameter copper
tube once I slid it in I soldered it
once that was soldered on to the bolt
what I did is I threaded it into this
knurled knob using Loctite now as I said
earlier the steel cable does not go from
here all the way around if you did that
they would end up being way too much
torsion when you go to turn this knob it
would not react as good as it reacts see
I turn it a little bit and move if this
was a braided cable all the way through
I'd be able to turn this a lot more
before this would start to move so the
copper tube does go to here and then the
braided cable goes inside
the copper tube where it's soldered
using acid core flux I then slide the
cable in first to the tubing and I push
the smaller copper tube all the way in
leave a little bit of clearance on the
end and then on this end the cable will
be sticking all the way out I would have
to trim it so there's just a little bit
of play here bend it over and then
solder it onto this piece over here you
definitely need this because this is
what you hold when you go to work
without having that you're also not
going to know the direction of this
piece where it's rotating so this points
in line with the same plane as this part
that rotates so when you stick it
between the door what you're going to do
is you're going to aim this towards the
keyhole on the side you're standing on
and then you're going to pull backwards
like this once you get into position
then you just start rotating now when
you rotate this there is some torsion
like I said earlier you could turn this
and this won't turn but when you put
more tension this is becoming very very
hard to hold back there's an incredible
amount of pressure on that and the more
you tighten it like this it gets much
harder to hold back so there's no
problem having enough force to rotate
the latch now I'm not going to be
demonstrating at a business but I am
going to show you using my own deadbolt
exactly how this works and then once you
see how it works you'll have a very good
understanding of how easily this will
open the door when it's slid between
rotate it over and then you turn this
knob now some locks will have a plate if
the keyhole is here there'll be a plate
right on the jamb where the door closes
so you can't be picking the deadbolt or
playing around with it this will get
above that and then drop down now the
larger one that I had was designed to go
like I said earlier further if you have
a larger radius if there's a plate next
to that lock you'll be able to
much further down behind the plate now
I'm going to demonstrate on the deadbolt
okay this would be the inside of the
business right here with the latch you
would have another door right next to
this
that's stationary it's bolted at the top
and bolted at the bottom and this door
here locks into the stationary door even
if there's a plate in front of the bolt
to prevent tampering you could still get
in from underneath that plate or above
that plate let's make the door like it's
locked slide the tool in the space
between the doors and then you would
rotate like this but you would slide up
first
go all the way over and then you're in
position make sure this tab right here
points at the center of the deadbolt on
the other side of the door you put it
like that
so right now it's not pointing the bolt
you turn it towards the deadbolt right
there and then you just pull it and it
will line up even if you're not in the
right spot and it's like this or like
that
you just keep turning it with this
pointing towards the keyhole it will
eventually line up once you're in
position then I could hold this piece
back here and I could just go like this
and you see how easy that closes I could
turn it the other way
throw the bolt back push it back this
way and then of course the door will be
open so I won't have to worry about
lining this up in case it's like that to
get it through the door it's a very very
useful tool and it does work excellent