Homebrew "lockpick" slides under door and turns handle
"Dean," a Carnegie Mellon freshman who is tired of his dorm-mates getting locked out of their rooms has developed a door-unlocking tool that consists of a length of copper wire that "slides under the door, flips up and grabs hold of the handle on the inside so that you can pull it down" -- inspired by a classic MIT pranker's tool. He details it here.Link, Backup Link (via Make)The best part about using copper wire is that it rolls up easily. You can keep it in your pocket! I also bought some 1/4" wide 20 threads per inch bolts (which fit right into a standard camera tripod hole) while I was at Home Depot. I figured the tool would be more useful, and look less suspicious as a tripod. This shape of bend prevents the bolt from moving when the camera is attached. It is a very strong bend because it wraps perfectly around the head of the bolt. I added a little duct tape to cover the scratches made from my pliers.
Where not otherwise specified, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States and other countries.