On Tue, 2 Jun 2009 03:58:27 -0700 (PDT), Justin wrote:
Hello,
After locking myself out of my apartment yesterday, I managed to make
the problem worse by fiddling with a piece of plastic in the lock
which broke off and ended up being shoved pretty far into the back of
the key hole. I tried using some needles to get it out, but no dice.
Anyone have a reasonably cheap solution? Would injecting acetone
damage the mechanism in any way?

Acetone works on plastic by temporarilly melting it. When the plastic
resolidifies, you'd have a mess a hudnred times worse.

You should have been able to use a pin to pull it out.

Call the apartment supervisor, admit that you're an idiot, and let them
solve the problem.