Plug spinner

Plug Spinner

A plug spinner is a pin-tumbler lockpicking tool used to rotate a plug that has been picked in the wrong direction. This is a common problem for locksmiths and physical penetration testers. Plug spinners work by rotating the plug so rapidly that the spring-biased driver pins do not have enough time to return to the plug's pin chambers and block the shear line.

Variants

Gun Style

Gun style plug spinners visually resemble a pick gun, but apply torque rather than a snapping action. Their principal of operation involves putting the spinner into the keyway, squeezing a trigger and the plug turns to the opposite direction to which it was picked.

Manual

Most manual plug spinners use a tension wrench with a spring wrapped around it. One end of the spring attached to the tension wrench and the other with a small handle. The tension wrench is rotated in the opposite direction to the plug needing to be rotated while holding the small handle connected to the end of the spring in place. The end of the tension tool is placed into the keyway and the other end of it is let go, causing the spring to rotate the tension tool. Various tutorials exist that demonstrate making a plug spinner.

See also

• Lockpicking
• Locksmithing

This article is a stub. You can help Lockwiki by expanding it.