Tinker Friday is the day I pick a random product on Instagram. I disassemble it, examine it and make a stop motion story with its parts. Every week the result is completely different and unexpected. We rarely see what's inside a product and I think that's why we so easily throw the one whole thing away.

Here I share how it all comes about!

This week I chose a lock because I got bored from opening ewaste, electronics is not something I comprehend, I like to see how all pieces come together, but examining PCBs is not something I enjoy at all. And a lock is an extremely interesting “puzzle” product.

I have another one of these locks, I think we changed the door locks sometime ago and we never got rid of it. I was kind of skeptical that I would be able to pick the lock, but I went for it anyway, I thought worst scenario, I’d go to a locksmith and let the pro do his job!

Disclaimer: Please don't go picking on other people's door locks! 

Buuut, new skill unlocked! Pun intended.

After watching a couple of youtube videos and fiddling with the lock for an hour, I did! Although now I am really concerned about its security issues, I hope that these locks get collected by locksmiths and rekeyed, because it can be reused and not thrown away.

Here is the video I watched to learn how to pick a lock with a hairpin, there are also different types of locks but they all have the same concept.

I picked the lock after an hour and when I turned it 360 degrees it snapped shut again! So I had to do it again and then didn’t know what to do next, the cylinder still didn’t come out. It takes me a longer time to figure out things because I don’t know the proper terms to search for, or I am not familiar with some words in English. So after a bit of research I found out that this lock is called Euro Profile lock and it has two clips that hold the cylinder inside.

I remember watching this years ago on the Australian inventors show, a locksmith designed a new lock that would instantly rekey the lock without removing it from the door. It’s the only segment of the whole show that I remember. I wonder why such product is not universally used by now! Or if this concept ever came to life!

What would you like to read in the Tinker Mail? Comment and let me know down below what sort of things you'd like me to share about my Tinker activities!

That's it for this week! Stay tuned for this week's Tinker Product and follow along on Instagram (if you aren't already) Don't forget to subscribe to The Tinker Mail!