18g Nail Gun Pins for Lock Keys

Hi All,

I have 3 high quality push key padlocks minus their keys

There is a way to pick these and make a replacement "key" using 6 18g "Finish Nails" (US name?). I have been given some 16g but they are too large. I only need about 2" of them as they come stuck together for the nail gun. I don't really want to buy 1000 of these and throw the rest away.

Wondering if anyone here could perhaps send me about 2" of them if they have any. I am, of course, happy to pay postage etc?

Cheers, Martin

Hello Martin,

I think silver steel should do just as well. Machine it as soft and harden when you have it to the right diameter

Regards

Brian

18 Swg = 1.219mm and 16 Swg = 1.626mm (too big)

Small quantities of nails from the hardware store are available in 1.25mm and 1.4mm diameter. Would some of these work ?

MIG welding wire is available in 18g. Try a local fabrication shop which will probably give you a metre or 2.

Paul

Hi Martin,

There is a video on picking this lock and key manufacturing. Here

If you want to get rid on one of the three locks please let me know

Regards

Paul

Hi, I got the idea from the German chap who made a better video (don't know how to link it!) and he SAID 18g but the ones he used are J30 CNKHA with a large J on the pack. I guess he got the gauge wrong?

Cheers Martin

The pins that these guns use are not usually round more rectangular with the corners taken off so may not go by the standard wire gauge measurements.

The 18g pins that my maestri gun takes are 1.25 x 1.0 and Tee head which looks like what he is using. PM Me your Address

Paul Lousick, just found this online re nail diameters?

Is SWG different?

Cheers, Martin

Ah, but did he say which gauge he's using? I've lost count of how many gauge systems are in common use, let alone the uncommon ones.

George B.

Jason,

PM sent.

They are more rectangular than round which works well for thie application, its a very good video.

Cheers, Martin

Hi Martin,

As far as I know, the wire gauge used in UK and Austraila is SWG. (As listed in this page from Wikipedia)

British Standard Wire Gauge is a set of wire sizes given by BS 3737:1964 (now withdrawn), and is generally abbreviated to SWG. It is also known as: Imperial Wire Gauge or British Standard Gauge. Use of SWG sizes has fallen greatly in popularity, but is still used as a measure of thickness in guitar strings and some electrical wire. Cross sectional area in square millimetres is now the more usual size measurement for wires used in electrical installation cables. The current British Standard for metallic materials such as wire and sheet is BS 6722:1986, which is a solely metric standard.

Read more at **LINK**

Not sure, but like lots of things, different standards are used in USA.

Paul.

If he's a yank then there is AWG.

But as I said the nails are in sticks more like thick staples

If they are really six lever, they must be pretty useless as padlocks if they can be picked by a bit of wire.

The lock which cannot be picked has not yet been made.

That,s how they test them !