Is it true....?

[Anarchy Angel]

Is it true you can put freon into a lock and brake it, what about nitris or LP 

ty

[mr_doc]

Is it true you can put freon into a lock and brake it, what about nitris or LP 

ty

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-67282.html

I've seen several postings here recently stating that a thief could easily shatter the cylinder of any lock using a can of freon. I go to wondering if this is true or just an urban legend. It just happens that I had an old Masterlock No. 1 padlock (the ubiquitous 'standard' laminarted steel lock) and a spare can of R134a coolant laying around so I decided to conduct an experiment for the benefit of the bikeforums readership.

Although R134a is the standard coolant used in automobiles today. It costs a couple bucks per 12 oz can at walmart and is probably the coolant most easily accessible by a thief. Although the old R12 is still available from ebay, it costs approximately $20 per can and is unlikely to be used by a thief for stealing a bike. R134a does not cool as well as R12 in an air conditioner so I would not expect it to freeze a lock quite as well as R12. nonetheless, that's what is available and will be referred to as freon for this discussion.

The idea behind breaking a lock with freon is to direct a stream of liquid freon into the keyhoe of the lock. The theory is that the evaporating freon will rapidly cool the cylinder so cold that the metal becomes brittle. A hard blow with a hammer will cause the cylinder to shatter and allow the shackle to release.

Before anyone attempts to duplicate this experiment, I should remind them to be very cautious when handling any freon-like product. Freon gets extremely cold when it changes from liquid to gas and the vapor can freeze you skin and cause frostbite. Frostbite is serious and can result in amputations, blindness, and surely other nasty conditions. You must wear proper safety equipement and know what you are doing. This doesn't imply that I knew what I was doing, so don't use my description as an example of the proper way to handle this stuff.

What I did was clamp the shackle of the lock in a pair of vice grips which I held using a cloth lined rubber glove. I connected a standard automobile recharge hose to the can of freon. Holding the lock with the keyhole straight up, I opened the valve on the can and held the can upside down so the liquid freon would flow through the hose. I held the end of the hose against the lock cylinder and allowed the entire can to drain out onto the lock.

While the can was draining, I was able to observe liquid running on the lock and into the cylinder. I could also see frost form on the outer surface of the lock.

When the can was empty, I quickly took a hammer and delivered several hard blows to the keyway area of the lock attempting to shatter the cylinder.

The results.

After repeated blows, including some with the lock held against the driveway, there was no evidence of any shattering or damage of any kind to the cylinder of the lock. The outside of the lock did exhibit some minor damage. The plastic 'bumper' arond the base of the lock broke off after several blows. One of the steel laminations comprising the body showed a slight outward bowing, and the rivets on the bottom of the lock were flattened by the impacts of the hammer.

The lock did not open. I attempted to turn the cylinder with a screwdriver without success.

Conclusion. The use of freon to defeat a lock is not a viable technique. My test was against a single lock. Other locks may or may not be susceptible to this attack. However, the lock I used was a low end lock and would likely be most susceptible to attack.

I recommend thieves continue to invest your money in bolt cutters and car jacks.

[Anarchy Angel]

TYVM mr doc, how ever i would try another method. What if i whent after the pins rather then the out side if the lock. R12 might not cool to the point of braking the out side of the lock but it might get the job done for the little tiny pins, what do you think?

[I-baLL]

Uh, why would bike thieves go through the trouble of doing all this when they can just shim the lock with a piece of metal from a soda can?

[Anarchy Angel]

Uh, why would bike thieves go through the trouble of doing all this when they can just shim the lock with a piece of metal from a soda can?

My own mediocre attempt at humor has been highly amusing to myself. i guess to feel more 007 about it, but yes its not a very practical application for taking bikes.

[Sidepocket]

Uh, why would bike thieves go through the trouble of doing all this when they can just shim the lock with a piece of metal from a soda can?

I was about to say, anyone who has played Splinter Cell knows that while noisy you can just jam a shiv into the thing and it breaks the lock. Bingo. Access.

My way of doing it though is backstabbing but lock picking is cool too. 

[Mr.Cactus]

I recently made a set of shims out of coke cans, they work great

[Tachyon]

I've tried six times now and can't get it right...maybe I should wait a while after drinking all the beer to make them.

[I-baLL]

Uh, why would bike thieves go through the trouble of doing all this when they can just shim the lock with a piece of metal from a soda can?

I was about to say, anyone who has played Splinter Cell knows that while noisy you can just jam a shiv into the thing and it breaks the lock. Bingo. Access.

My way of doing it though is backstabbing but lock picking is cool too. 

Heh, you're thinking of prison style shivs. I'm talking about flat, folded pieces of aluminium that you slide into the edge of the lick where the bar goes into the lock and is held in place by a ball. This is called a shim.

Here's a great video explaining it:

http://www.instructables.com/id/E3RGSYZ641EQHOASFH/

No, this won't open every padlock but it'll open most.

[Woofcat]

It won't open any decent padlock. Also after shimming hit main stream a lot of lock companies have changed their design.

[Tachyon]

I've tried several different shims on various padlocks and have never succeeded.

[trevelyn]

shimming works great on those combination locks with the four spinning wheels.

liek this:



It seems easy by watching it in a youtube video Tachyon, but it still does take practice. Don't try every lock you see with a shim, you will just get discouraged.  Theres no skiddy way to open locks, it really does take skill, which comes from practice.

[bitbox]

i doubt that its true thats a waste of chemical + money.  i would rather whip out a tension wrench and my hook and just steal whatever the target is...

[trevelyn]

youre right we just fake the videos, we all know the combinations ahead of time.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lock+shimming

[Woofcat]

Agree it works on a lot of common locks, but anything worth the risk of taking (if the user has common sense) is behind a decent lock.