Kromer combination locks

[MartinHewitt]

Haven't found a proper place and thought it would be a good idea to open a single thread for their combination locks instead of multiple.

At the moment I am trying to manipulate a Kromer 3011. It has three wheels and no anti-manipulation mechanism. This particular lock was made in 1993. Its size is that of the current S&G vault locks and is a descendant of a clone made by Kromer of the S&G 6550. Their locks can be quite easy to manipulate or the can be quite evil. There's not much middle ground. That lock here seems to be of the evil sort. After 5 hours and 10 graphs I have nothing! The variation of a graph is up to 1/4th of a number. I have attached a Vernier scale and try to do 1/32th. It is not easy to get the CP that precisely. Switched from RCP to LCP because it is a bit easier there.

[madsamurai]

I haven't yet had opportunity to get my hands on any Kromer locks... don't see them for sale much here in the US. Would like to learn more about them, and get one or two for my collection. Those graphs don't give much away at all, you've got your work cut out for you with that one.

[Visitor]

Laser and mirrors will make your numbers easier to read.
Are these the ones you have to push in when dialled correctly?

[MartinHewitt]

Lasers will improve graphs only if the dial can be positioned as precisely.

This one is a standard lock. You probably mean that with the distance disc. See photo.

[Visitor]

Possibly, I'm not overly familiar with them to be honest, i don't see any here. I remeber doing one where I think the knob had to be pushed. It was a good few years ago now and can't find my pics.

[MartinHewitt]

Opened that "Garny" padlock today. Lever is in the typical style of MagicModule Kromer locks and the size is also the same. So it seems Kromer reused standard lock parts to build a padlock. I opened it, because the padlock has an major issue. Turning left is fine, turning right will seize up because the fly of W3 is creeping from the area it should be. The cause is a really wobbly wheel pack. It must have been that wobbly when new. Maybe the wheels spun easier when new and the problem did not occur.

[femurat]

You literally opened the padlock!

It's nice to have a true combination padlock. I mean, it's a portable safe lock so you can manipulate when you're not at home.

Cheers

[edocdab]

Are you able to fix that wobble and make it operate smooth again without using donor locks?

[MartinHewitt]

I'll try to put a ring behind the wheel pack to stabilize it.

[MartinHewitt]

The last four graphs of the Kromer 3011.

1) brown, W2: The locations with the dots seemed to have been the low spots. The are around 16 had the most defined walls, so I took it as a candidate, even so it was very wide.
2) green, W3: Nothing.
3) lavender, W1: Low spots around 30 and 59. 59 hat a not great walls, but at least a bit, and I beat 30 dead already, so I took 59 as current best choice.
4) green, W3: Open.

[madsamurai]

Congrats!

[MartinHewitt]

I haven't shown this here before, so it's time. It is a 3055 with a magnetic anti-manipulation mechanism patented in 1973.

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/ ... E2320816A1

[Conny_the_Swede]

I'm having trouble finding information on a lock we have, this is one of the few places that even mention Kromer locks that I have found. These things seem rare or I'm just not searching correctly.

We are a non-profit association for kids, we let them shoot air rifles and .22 for sport. And we have two safety lockers that were made in Sweden in 1978. The locks are mechanical code locks marked 'K' Kromer DBP.

These things have no tamper mechanism and the deadzone seem to be just a blank section on the dial between the number 100 and 0. Without extensive testing it would seem we can go pretty much +-2 on the dial for each number.

The inside of the lock has a mechanism that pushes the fence for setting a new code when the changekey is used, so no change index is used. We couldn't find the original changekey so we made one of our own, these things were silly expensive if even possible to get a hold of. One security firm here claimed to have a changekey but didn't want to sell it.

Any idea on what this lock is or where to search for information?

Someone with experience of what they could be worth for a collector? Since we are contemplating changing all our old mechanical locks for modern 6 digit ones.

Attaching a few pictures.

Thanks
Conny

[MartinHewitt]

Hi Conny, This is a Kromer 3031. If you want to swap them, do check first if a modern lock fits. They are looking like they are standard size, but their older locks are slightly of.

[Cheesehead]

I haven't shown this here before, so it's time. It is a 3055 with a magnetic anti-manipulation mechanism patented in 1973.

Struggling a little with understanding the mechanism, what is the purpose of the two marks lining up on the back? And is the magnet in the nose part of the fence?