Mechanical code door locks

[Harry Bloomfield]

These....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hoppe-Ar...t=1&noa=0&pg=5411&_trksid=p5411.c100167.m2940

I have just had one delivered, the slip of paper with code, doesn't unlock it and the paper code doesn't match how it is set up with a code.

It uses red marked tumblers and blue marked tumbler, positioning of which, set the unlock code - but the instructions don't make clear which is which between red and blue tumblers.

I would have thought red was a lock code, blue unlock - but as said, assuming neither unlocks it.

 

[rsgaz]

The red blobs are the code on those ones.

edit: you are pressing C after a failed attempt I take it?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

edit: you are pressing C after a failed attempt I take it?

Yes, well before I try a new code.

The code on the slip of paper says enter it as C0349Z - which didn't work

I checked where the reds were and that was 890Z then X on the other column - So I tried C890ZX and that didn't work, so I tried the blue ones instead.

C has no colour marking.

Do the numbers have to be pressed in any particular sequence, or should random work?

There is also a U shaped black plastic part, which I'm unable to work out the purpose of.

 

[rsgaz]

Do the numbers have to be pressed in any particular sequence, or should random work?

Any order is fine. More than one at a time is also fine.

Once you've got it working, you don't need to press C each time, just the code. It's only needed after a wrong input.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Any order is fine. More than one at a time is also fine.

Once you've got it working, you don't need to press C each time, just the code. It's only needed after a wrong input.

Where does the little U shaped black plastic part belong?

 

[rsgaz]

U shaped black plastic part

Not sure what you mean, have you got a picture?

The free tweezers to help you change the code maybe?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Not sure what you mean, have you got a picture?

The free tweezers to help you change the code maybe?

Not the tweezers, they are much longer and metal.

I'll try and post a photo...

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Struggling to post a photo..

Item 13 in the parts list, they call it 'Plastic clip'. Its a bar about 3/8" long with two pegs out the side at either end, forming U shape

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Bit of progress - I set it to reds in just 8+9+0 and just once managed to open it. It just doesn't feel right pressing the buttons, I would expect them when pressed to click and latch the tumblers pressed. There is no click at all, they just press in and spring out.

 

[rsgaz]

You wouldn't really want the code buttons to feel or sound different to the unset buttons.

Change the code every few years. With really old ones that have always had the same code, you can figure out the code by feel by pressing...
1 C 2 C 3 C 4 C etc. They feel looser and less springy after thousands of presses.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thanks, I have dug a bit deeper and it is a faulty lock. The C is supposed to release all of the latches, but none of the buttons are latching. Back to the seller for a refund I think..

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The seller has made a full paypal refund and didn't want the faulty item back, so worth pulling it apart to see what was wrong with it and worth fixing.

As I found above, any buttons pressed should click and latch once, but were not. C (cancel button) didn't seem to do anything much, but was supposed to release any latched buttons.

They are full of ping f***its, lots of springs, lots of catches, lots of small screws - care needs to be taken when opening one up. I had to strip the lock down completely, before I found the cause of the C button not seeming to do anything and the other buttons not latching. Down the very middle of the lock is a latch/cancel bar, moved by the C button, with a small return spring at one end. Either side of the bar and attached to it are a series of tiny flat spring strip springs. One of these had been bent over, obviously during assembly of the lock and was jamming the release mechanism bar in the released position - so no buttons would latch. How did it ever pass quality control?

All buttons now work and latch, the C button produces a very pronounced click when latched buttons are released.

I still don't know the purpose of that small, black, plastic part?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I still don't know the purpose of that small, black, plastic part?

Reading a few online instructions for this lock, it seems this plastic part is intended as a blank for when you don't want the hold-back facility. I spent ages studying the paper instructions supplied with the lock - the only mention was the item shown in the list of packed parts, identified as item 13, nothing else.