Drill baby drill....

1. Try some other keys.... you never know?
2. Try to pick the lock
3. Drill.... takes about 30 seconds

Yup , break out the drill and make sure you use a good drill bit thy won't break off

And make sure to put something down for shavings.

As long as they are single bit keys, picking is not that hard and a good way to milk down a beer or two. )

start by trying another key, sometimes they are keyed a like.

if not, yep, get the drill!

The worst part of drilling is cleaning up the metal shavings - especially in the inside of the cab.

No, there are multiple lock manufactures each with numbered keys. You'll need to drill it out and replace with new. Sometimes a screwdriver hammered into the lock will break it to turn, else use a drill. Use a rag under the door as there will be metal shavings. The common coin door lock size is 7/8" either double bitted (teeth on both sides of the key) or single bitted, either will work, although double bitted is a little easier for key insert.
You also might consider replacing all the locks with those that are keyed alike. I've done so on my collection and one key fits all.
Hope this helps.
Terry

look on the lock see if theres a number and that's the code mine are all 1382s

Drill it out and catch the shavings with a magnet .

The first thing I do is with a new game is replace the lock with a keyed alike lock and if I sell a game I take the lock back out

Good luck

If you end up drilling it out and do need to replace it a new one is less than five dollars anyway and will only take two minutes to install.

Just drill it out. I prefer to drill the pins, it makes less mess than drilling out the screw in the back, but either way will work.

I drill first, if I break a bit in the lock (which has happened :/ ) then with two flat head screwdrivers I carefully open up the door where the lock is, surprisingly, I have done this with no additional damage.

I had luck using the file on the back of a nail clipper. There is a hook feature on the end of the file that allows to work the lock bits. Some times it works within seconds, other times it took a few try's. Not 100% reliable, but does work.

Once you get the lock open Muppet_Man you can change all your locks to keyed-alike .. OR .. you could change them all to keyless locks .

I've got keyless ones on all my pins and they are great . No more looking for a key / keys .

Go to youtube and look at lock picking. A child can do it!

http://mad-amusements.com/product.php?id_product=1072

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Arcade-Pinball-Machine-Keyless-Thumb-cabinet-Door-Lock-NO-MORE-LOST-KEYS-/120966986219?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2a31b9eb

I had terrible luck drilling....

All my machines are keyed alike, but I just started replacing them with;

http://www.arcadeadventures.com/keyless-thumb-lock/

I like these because I can still put my key fob on them.

I notice that there are 2 different sizes available for those keyless locks (5/8" and 7/8"). Which one would work for later model pinball machines?

Drill, drill, drill. Very easy to do. But yes it makes a mess, nothing a shop vac can't handle though.

Sell it for half off.

Seriously though, I have drilled out several. Just take your time.

Remove the door hinges, pull from the coin return, and bend the latch until you can remove the entire door.
Remove the lock and replace everything. Drilling is messy and dosen't always work well.

The 7/8" ones for pinball doors .

Huh??? You lost me here.

I have the keyless locks installed, but they don't seem to work that well for me:

- if I tighten the keyless lock's screw inside the coin door too tight, it won't turn at all
- if I let the screw to be a bit loose, it will become more loose during time and I am afraid
that at some point the lock won't turn at all anymore and instead the latch inside the pin
will remain in the "locked" position. If that would occur, those keyless locks seem like
a PITA to drill!

Any best practises with the keyless locks to share?

After you drill out the lock, take a crescent wrench to the door close to where the door and frame meet near the lock. Slightly bend the sheet metal until the door is able to close, and not open on its own. You will not need a lock at all after doing this.

Remove the hinge pin from the coin door. Use a small jewelers screw driver and a hammer to tap the pin out until you can use a pair of pliers to pull it the rest of the way out. once you have done that use the coin return slots as grips to pull apart the hinge "fingers". once you have them apart there should be a gap between the coin door and the door frame. get your fingers in there and pull the door towards you and to the right, this will bend the lock latch allowing you to remove the door fully. once you have the door off remove the entire lock from the door and replace it with a new lock that you have the key for, or leave it off, you can shim it with a match book to keep it closed.
I've done this on my No Fear, and TZ and it doesn't take too much time or effort really.

If you've got time, sure why not try to pick a lock? The internet is full of useful burglary information lol.
http://www.wikihow.com/Pick-a-Lock

I can't imagine that not damaging the door as there is only 3mm of gap to even get to the hinge pin, and the molding over and below it would be demolished. I guess it may work for some but a 4 dollar lock I don't mind ruining.

This might be a problem though, if you sold your pin and the new owner would want to install "real locks"...

There is another method that is cleaner and usually quicker than drilling. Take a good size standard screwdriver, preferably with a square shaft, insert the blade in the lock and bang it in to get a good grip with a hammer, obviously not so hard that you damage the door. Then attach a pair of vise grips to the shaft of the screwdriver and turn, most locks will let go very easily, but I have had some take a few tries.

There is more info on drilling a lock on this thread:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tips-for-drilling-out-a-lock

I hear you, but if you take your time the only thing that gets damaged is the lock latch, since you are only using your hands and not a pry bar there is not much chance of damaging anything important on the frame or door.
Anyway have fun picking the lock, it may take longer, but it does sound like more fun.

I picked up a High Speed today and of course the guy couldn't find the key to the coin door. I tried the screw driver method and had no success. I busted out the drill and was in 10 seconds later.

Ok, so when you drill what is your goal? Again, only because I have had such shitty luck drilling, literally hours without being able to get the tumbler to turn....

Goal is to drill through the lock to get the screw off that holds the cam on.

I start with a small drill (1/8"), and start it in the key hole near the outside, angling it in toward the center.

Then I follow that up with a 1/4" and go all the way.

Really, once you've done it once, it takes less than 3 minutes....

Nope. That game is dead now. Time to knock a few thousand dollars off the price and sell.

I do it differently than tamoore.

I personally try to drill out the pins in the lock, by running a small bit through the shear line.

I use roughly the same procedure as in this video. It's less destructive, and doesn't dump a bunch of shavings in your cabinet.

http://vimeo.com/32757572

Cool, thanks for the tips, hopefully I don't waste a ton of time next time....

I lost the keys to my Twilight Zone.

Ordered a set of lock picks, and picked it in under 5 minutes. First time I ever tried to pick a lock, it was painfully easy. It costs about $35 for a decent set, so probably only worth it if you want to mess around with the pick set on other locks.

This is the set I bought:
http://www.southord.com/Lock-Picking-Tools/Lock-Pick-Set-Slim-Line-Fifteen-Piece-1500.html

Then just watched some YouTube videos like this one: