Maverick lock

I had this Maverick lock in my collection for a long time. At a Toool meeting, I was playing around and decided to try and open it. Martin then suggested he make it into a cutaway version, which he did. I’ve made a short video to demonstrate how it works.

One Response to “Maverick lock”

  1. Michael says:

    Knowing the layout of the Maverick it sounds like a jig with four positionable magnets could be made and then systematically try different combinations of those positions. With a total of six positions in each of four slots that’s 6^4 possibilities but the actual key you had seems to suggest that the reality is more like 2^4 perhaps. (It’s possible that only the second unit has the possibility of being “on the diagonal”, if you will.) So trying 16 different possibilities could be all that’s necessary.

    Another approach to pick this lock might include a single strong rare Earth magnet which you might use in the style of a classic lock picker: you would focus on each position until you find the related hole in the metal which corresponds with it, then move to the next position all the while hoping to keep the first one pin trapped in its hole. For example, you might attach a rubber band or bungee cord to the shackle to bias it and this may help to trap each pin as it enters the hole. As long as you work from left to right (as seen in your video) I think this approach may work.

    A different approach might be to use four electromagnetic oscillators. Note that I said “oscillator” rather than merely a DC electromagnet. By using a rectified AC current you could vibrate a magnetic force so that the pins vibrate in a particular orientation, perhaps achieving a bumpkey-like success.