Post Thu May 04, 2017 2:44 am

Removing Safe Lock Play and Slop

Hello everyone. I'm tarboxb and I am a new "spinner." I just wanted to share a couple things I have figured out work well to remove slop and play in safe locks to not only improve reliability and life but also make manipulation easier. This is sort of a combination of various things I have read here as well as my own spin and opinions. First of all, I have two safe locks currently, a used LaGard 3330 from 1999 and a brand new S&G 6730-100 from a week ago. Both locks had slop between the drive cam and spindle. The spline keys were both installed correctly and tightly but there was still some side to side and rotational play between these components. I decided the problem was two fold, first the class of fit between the spindle threads and drive cam threads was simply too loose and secondly, the spline key was also too loose. I fixed 100% of this slop by wrapping the end of the spindle with a couple wraps of Teflon tape to tighten up the threads and bending the end of the spline key just a touch with pliers and securely tapping it in place. Unfortunately I still had a lot of end play in the dial. I personally used metal feeler gauges in .001 increments until I found the optimal thickness to shim my lock body out from the mount with to remove nearly all end play while still maintaining smooth operation. My dial doesn't make random noises now, it spins freely and the contact points, particularly the right are now significantly clearer and easier to feel. I highly suggest you have a look at the slop in your lock and try these tricks to get it tight!