3D Printed Plastic Bump Key

Read more: http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/08/28/3d-printed-skeleton-key-software-open-pin-tumbler-lock/

Video Transcript: It’s been proven that 3D printing can be used to create 3D printed key duplicates, but a more universal key generator had yet to be developed. Two skillful lock-pickers, however, have created a way to 3D print their own skeleton key to almost any pin tumbler lock.

Jos Weyers and Christian Holler have taken a method invented in the 1920s and updated it with 21st Century technology. They have done this by 3D printing a “bump” key, that can pick almost any variety of pin tumbler lock with little effort. The bump key looks ordinary, but, by inserting it into a keyhole and bumping it with a hammer, the key pushes the pins inside of a lock upwards, forcing it open with each tap.

Bumping open a lock requires some important information in order to generate the skeleton key. To fabricate theirs, Weyers and Holler wrote a piece of software called Photobump. To make a bump key for a specific lock with Photobump, users need a photo of the lock’s keyhole, as well as the keyhole’s depth.

Holler will be presenting the technique at LockCon in the Netherlands next month, but as an educational demonstration. Instead of releasing Photobump to the public, Holler is working with police in Germany to research the possible forensic evidence deposited by a 3D printed bump key.

Before regarding 3D printed bump keys as merely an “interesting exercise,” Weyers thinks that lock manufacturers should make their locks bump resistant, using electronics or unprintable components.