If you have a locked door, then a solid criminal with ambition will be able to get through it in 60 seconds or less. Each lock that you have on that door buys you about an extra minute of time.
Unless you have a Medeco lock, that is. Medeco locks have some unique innovations that give them an added level of pick resistance. If you need to secure an entryway, here is why the Medeco lock is the choice of many who provide locksmith services in Chicago.
Medeco Plugs Have a Sidebar Slot Milled Into Its Side
In any standard lock, the key that is inserted into the plug will interact with the tumblers. A correct key will put the tumblers into the correct position so the lock can turn. An incorrect key puts some tumblers too high or too low, causing the lock to not turn. A skilled lock picker can duplicate the tumbler position from a correct key placement, allowing the lock to turn without having a key present.
The Medeco plug design is different. Like with all standard locks, the tumblers need to properly line up on the cylinder at the shearline. The difference is that each tumbler also has a sidebar slot milled into its side. The tumbler slots must line up with the sidebar protruding from the plug’s side. Only when all of the sidebar slots line up will it collapse and allow the rotation of the lock to occur.
Each tumbler also contains a locator tab. This stops the tumbler from rotating 180 degrees, which prevents a lockout from occurring.
How Do the Tumblers Rotate in a Medeco Lock?
In order for the tumblers to rotate properly, Medeco keys are cut a little differently than keys that are used in traditional type of locks. You will have three angles on a Medeco key: left, right, and center. These angled cuts then rotate the tumblers, allowing the sidebar slots to line up with the legs that are included with the cylinder design.
Since 2005, Medeco locks have also contained a slider. The slider is pushed in by the milling that occurs on a Medeco key. This means the cylinder remains locked unless the correct key is used to depress the slider within the lock itself.
What does this mean for lock pickers? In order to successfully open a Medeco lock, the slider would need to be depressed in any lock manufactured since 2005. Then the tumblers, usually 6, but sometimes 5 on some locks, need to be lined up at the shearline. These tumblers would then need to be individually rotated so that each sidebar slot lines up with the legs that are on the lock.
Even professional locksmiths will drill out a Medeco lock to bypass it instead of trying to pick it.
To prevent a drill out, Medeco uses hard plate inserts to protect the cylinder, which even makes this task difficult.
The patented locks manufactured by Medeco are one of the most secure options that are available today. If you decided to change your locks and to improve your home security, instead of installing multiple locks to slow down a potential intruder, consider having your preferred Chicago locksmith install a Medeco lock instead.