How to crack a Euro Cylinder

Written By: Sebastian Dorr

Comments: 0

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

No estimate

Introduction

Replacing a euro cylinder lock can be a necessary task for homeowners, whether it's due to it being broken or a lost key. However, removing an old euro cylinder lock without a key may seem like a daunting task, especially if you don't have experience with lock mechanisms.

In this guide, we will provide step-by-step instructions on how to remove an old euro cylinder lock from a door without a key by breaking it, making the replacement process easier and smoother.

Tools

Step 1

Most euro cylinders have a weak spot where the tread for the fixing screw is. You can easily break the lock by fatiguing the metal until it snaps.
There are ways to protect against this, with p. ex. hardened insterts that hold the lock together.
These protections, as opposed to drill protection, are generally only found in high end security locks though.
Professionals use a tool called a Cylinder Cracker for this. The adjustable clamp adaptor which has a profile on the inside will grip the cylinder and break it easily even if it has very little overhead (only ca. 2 mm required for high quality tools) to grab on to.

Step 2

In this case you wouldn't actually have to remove the faceplate because the core sticks out enough to grab on to it, but removing the faceplate makes it easier to grab the core.
If you have a security faceplate that you can't remove and the core doesn't stick out enough to grab on to you can't break the lock with this method and you might need to try other methods like drilling the pins out instead.
Remove the handle and faceplate.
To remove the faceplate, you'll have to remove the handles first. The handle is typically held by a small grub screw somewhere near the base of the handle.
If you can remove the faceplate from your side, you can typically see all the screws that you have to unscrew to remove the faceplate.

Step 3

Grip the cylinder with a pipe wrench.
You may do it vertically, as shown in the picture, or horizontally.
Wiggle the cylinder up, down, left and right until you feel the core come loose with a snap.
You don't need any large movements, so you can keep them to a minimum to not damage the faceplate, if you still have it attached.