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Safe Talk, with Altashot.

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Altashot

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Posts: 424

Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:32 pm

Location: Western Canada

Post Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:35 pm

Safe Talk, with Altashot.

Got a call from a lady to open her parent's safe. Nothing out of the ordinary, sad, but nothing new. Both her parents died and the family needed to get in the safe to see what was in there...She told me she would be interested in selling it to me too after it was opened. So I went and checked it out.
It was a cute little JJ in fairly good condition. I knew from the serial number on the handle, which started with 88 that it was manufactured, according to the book, between 1936 and 1941 so, S and G comb with a roller bolt. We discussed price and agreed that I would deduct $50.00 from the invoice to keep the safe. Done deal. That cute little JJ was now mine!

I sat there and spun the dial. It was very firm, like, having to make a fist to turn it. It's a small safe, about 350 lbs. I knew it wouldn't be too hard to flip on it's back and up again, so I laid it on it's back and sprayed lube between the dial and it's ring while working the dial to help the lube penetrate. It got a bit looser but was still too rough to manipulate so I put more lube and used the toilet plunger trick on it and it got good enough to give it a try.

Flipped up right, especially important here because the fence lever is not spring loaded, only gravity driven, I started my normal routine...I could feel 4 contact points but I knew only the middle two mattered. The thing is that these points kept shifting by almost 3 numbers left or right...I deduced that the spline key was loose, the drive cam was no longer "one" with the dial...So...I made a peep hole in it...

http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/Altashot/slideshow/JJ%20Taylor

I'll post the repair and refurbish later... When I get to it...Because right now, I'm trying to finish another one...

Oh! I almost forgot!...The loot!...4 pennies.

M.
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Riyame

Keeper of the Bests / Supreme Overlord of Small Format Interchangeable Picking Nightmares

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Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:16 am

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Post Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:41 pm

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

Very nice.... If you are ever in my area and want to double your money... ;) :lol:
PhoneMan: I always knew I'd say something stupid and it would be someone's sig
macgng: i am an equal opportunity pervert
macgng: aww fuck thats goin in someone sig :-(

If life gives you melons, you might be dyslexic.
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fgarci03

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Post Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:26 am

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

THAT-IS-SO-COOL!

Thanks for sharing! Nice safe man!
Go ahead, keep plugging away, picking on me! You will end up on bypass or with rigor mortise.
- GWiens2001
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Oldfast

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OldddffAASSTT the Spin Master Extraordinaire and American Lock Slayer
OldddffAASSTT the Spin Master Extraordinaire and American Lock Slayer

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Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:16 am

Location: Michigan

Post Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:43 am

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

Particularly interesting to me was how you freed up the dial. I'd read about lubing between
the dial & ring, but often wondered how you'd get it to penentrate much beyound the surface.
A plunger! Brilliant, lol. Simple yet effective. May I ask which lubricant you prefer for this?

I assume it's possible to manipulate with a loose spline, but FAR to time-consuming & troublesome?
I have a dial that loosened up like this, but decided not to fix it. Thought I'd experiment some time.

The title of this thread also excites me.... as it implies there's more to come!!!
Thanks SO much for sharing M. I find what you do truly interesting and
I'm grateful to get some peeks at some of your battles.
" Enjoy the journey AS MUCH as the destination."
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ARF-GEF

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Post Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:10 am

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

What a nice little safe! A pity it was only 4 pennies inside.
To infinity... and beyond!
=== WARNING DANGER OF TYPOS!===
Arfspeak: calnin cladycomes: you allow her key in themodning
Equals in plain English: cleaning lady comes: you allow her key in the morning
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Altashot

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Posts: 424

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Location: Western Canada

Post Thu Aug 01, 2013 10:58 pm

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

The plunger thing was not my idea and it was my first time trying it, so, I don't have conclusive results from my experience yet.
It may have helped but I didn't see lube sprayed on the back cover...
For lube, I'll use any lubricant to get the thing to move but,
I prefer light penetrating lubricants, like (in no particular order of anything) Tri Flow, any LPS, WD 40...It has to also flush out crud. I can use an entire can sometimes...That is where the plunger idea came into play...

With a loose spline key, there are some diagnostics and left/right tests to determine where the center of the gate is, like "whack left or right" to force a drive to absolute stop and then measure the amount of shift and apply it tho the L-R-L sequence...Every once in a while I "whack" the dial in the drive to bind the spline and delicately turn the dial and hope that it'll "stick" during counter rotation...

For economy and efficiency's sake, it comes to a point where drilling is the best choice. The family of the deceased is here, awaiting the opening, wandering if, what they all have been looking for is in there, whether it be a Will, a family heirloom, A WW1 pistol, something that would "close" the estate...Whatever... They need in, and the safe is "mine" after the deed is done, so they don't really care how it gets done...

Then to everyone's disappointment, including me, and tears and disbelief and "holly fu*ks" and so on...Only 4 pennies are found...It sucked...One of the sons, or son in law, I don't know... Even help me "roll" the safe into my van, with the door off, of course...

No matter how satisfing or rewarding or ego boosting or sweet it is to crack a safe, some undertones, at times, can still make the job feel sour...

Talk at you later...

M.
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Altashot

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Posts: 424

Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:32 pm

Location: Western Canada

Post Mon Aug 19, 2013 10:49 pm

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

This one is a Chubb-Mosler and Taylor. Directly read from the serial number, it was made in 1970. According to the book, it weighs 3195 pounds. It takes a lot of force to lift that one on the pallet jack. The pallet jack doesn't like it either, It moans and cracks upon lifting and the tiniest pebble on the concrete floor brings it to a stop. It takes all of my 200 pounds to get it moving and a trip near the floor sump, where the floor drainage slope is at it's greatest, got a little scary. The pallet jack twisted and the front right fork wheel came off the ground. I'm just glad the momentum got it passed the drain without tipping over and taking the pallet jack with it...Anything around it would have got hurt...

It was just a simple "service, clean, lube" but it needed parts: a handle and it's spindle. I found both, but the spindle was too long. A little tooling spin on the lathe fixed that. The handle had what I though was dried-out yellowed transparent tape on it...After cleaning, I soon realized that the yellowed tape was in fact brass...where the nickle plating had come off...Damn... The safe was once half-in, half-out of a wall. The front was in the office and had been painted blue, and the back was in a storage room and was left original dark grey. It was dry walled in and had a lot of "mud"on it to show that. It needed a paint job badly. Deep gouges on the top and sides needed filling too, so I mixed up a batch of Bondo. I must add that I hate Bondo (not the Brand, just the nature of that type of filler). It stinks up the shop and I hate to be rushed to apply it because it hardens so damn fast. I hate the sanding and and I hate the dust. I even hate that it's pink...And I'm colorblind...That being said, I painted the safe to look like it is supposed to look like, but my colour rendition failed me a little here as I was told that my greys are not quite what Chubb used, a little too light. Oh well, I like it. You may have noticed that I refer to the safe as a"Chubb" and not a "Chubb-Mosler and Taylor" That is because this safe "screams" Chubb, it looks nothing like a JJ Taylor or a Mosler, I guess that by 1970, Chubb's design prevailed and the other 2 really cease to exist...

http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/Altashot/slideshow/CMT

M.
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Oldfast

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OldddffAASSTT the Spin Master Extraordinaire and American Lock Slayer
OldddffAASSTT the Spin Master Extraordinaire and American Lock Slayer

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Location: Michigan

Post Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:12 pm

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

Wow... you put some love into that thing. It looks great!

Interesting for me to see the boltwork as well. Probably a common sight for you....
but this is the first time I've seen the doors' boltwork actually connected to the locks' bolt.

p.s. Colorblind, eh? Out of curiosity; here on this forum, if I were to use certain colors for my text...
will you not be able to read it? Or are you able to see/read it, but you just don't see it in color?
" Enjoy the journey AS MUCH as the destination."
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Altashot

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Posts: 424

Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:32 pm

Location: Western Canada

Post Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:10 pm

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

Thanks Oldfast!
I do put love and pride in my work, always. To me there are no other ways. I have become known for the quality of my work, and my public esteem, is based on that. So are my prices...

Being colorblind doesn't really affect my day to day life, in fact ,I didn't even know until I was 7. My grade 2 teacher gave us the Ishihara Colour Vision test. Everyone in my class said they saw 27 and I was the only "idiot" that saw 42. The teacher then said: "Oh! It looks like M. is colorblind". A few more test later, it was confirmed. When I got home that day, I said: "Mom!, Mom!...I'm colorblind!". She said: "I know, your uncle and your grandfather are too." (Of course she knew, she knew the possibilities of a colorblind boy and she taught me my ABC's, my body parts, days of the week and colours...)
I was always jealous of my friends and their big boxes of pencil crayons...I only had a 12 pack...Even then, at the end of the year, only 4 or 5 were sharpened...If you were to write in red or navy blue, for example, on this black background, I wouldn't even notice it and if I did, I wouldn't be able to read it, unless I tilted my laptop so I can view the screen at a steep angle. I also use a program on my computer that changes some colours to be more colorblind friendly, it is not perfect but it helps.
Other than that I have 20/20 vision and I do see a lot of colours, about 40, and I can't imagine that you can see waaaaay more than that...40 ought to be enough for anybody...

M.
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Riyame

Keeper of the Bests / Supreme Overlord of Small Format Interchangeable Picking Nightmares

Posts: 2164

Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:16 am

Location: Canada

Post Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:53 pm

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

Wow, that is a heck of a safe. I personally think it looks quite good with the door being a bit lighter.
PhoneMan: I always knew I'd say something stupid and it would be someone's sig
macgng: i am an equal opportunity pervert
macgng: aww fuck thats goin in someone sig :-(

If life gives you melons, you might be dyslexic.
<<

Altashot

Active Member

Posts: 424

Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:32 pm

Location: Western Canada

Post Sun Aug 25, 2013 1:23 am

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

That "Chubb" is a class 4...Not one you want to mess with if you're not "acquainted".
That re-locker is spring loaded against the tempered glass...And that little white screw, it also hold a spring loaded cross lock...
...Yeah, that's right, a re-locking re-locker...

M.
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Altashot

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Posts: 424

Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:32 pm

Location: Western Canada

Post Wed Aug 28, 2013 9:31 pm

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

An ALS in-floor safe. The merchant called and explained that something happened to the display on the keypad. Is is now cracked and the safe wont open...
Once on site, I found out that someone actually stepped on it the night before. These safes come with a steel cover to prevent such occurence or tripping hazard but they often "go missing". They had their's, but were not using it...Even has tiles grouted to it to blend-in with the floor...

The pin pad seemed to accept the numbers and was confirming that, with the normal beeps and green light, but the handle wouldn't turn...I tried a few things but nothing worked so I decided to drill through the spindle hole, that way, it didn't cause any damage to the door. I removed all the failed equipment and replaced it with a Lagard 3000 keypad and a 4200 comb.

http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/Altashot/slideshow/ALS

M.
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Riyame

Keeper of the Bests / Supreme Overlord of Small Format Interchangeable Picking Nightmares

Posts: 2164

Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:16 am

Location: Canada

Post Thu Aug 29, 2013 12:43 am

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

Nice work. I always thought it would be quite entertaining to watch a locksmith laugh with maniacal glee as he pulls out a drill and watch the customers reaction. :lol:
PhoneMan: I always knew I'd say something stupid and it would be someone's sig
macgng: i am an equal opportunity pervert
macgng: aww fuck thats goin in someone sig :-(

If life gives you melons, you might be dyslexic.
<<

Altashot

Active Member

Posts: 424

Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:32 pm

Location: Western Canada

Post Fri Aug 30, 2013 12:30 am

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

That is exactly what I do :shock:
Like a mad scientist :shock:

Not quite. :razz: Many clients are in awe, but after years of "cracking" (and perhaps maturity plays a role here), I've become more humble and professional about it. There was a time, in my early years ,when I did boast, and on more than one occasion, it got me into a bit of a "pickle"...Being older now, my calm and assertive nature is definitely better than my young cavalier one. It earned me respect in the community and shaped my professionalism, demeanor and composure to exhibit confidence, instead of arrogance.

Inches from my 40's, I am now the man. Much different than the boy was, but much the same...Inside, in my heart, in my veins, in my soul...The locksmith roars...
...Every time I get determined to open "that bit*h", I still get that "s*it eating grin"on my face...Behind my composure, of course...

After work, I still love my Heavy Metal music :hbg: and my beer though :twisted: ...
...Like any other Dude...
Cheers!

M.
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Altashot

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Posts: 424

Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:32 pm

Location: Western Canada

Post Sun Sep 01, 2013 8:00 am

Re: Safe Talk, with Altashot.

This one is a Toler. I estimate it's weight at around 1100 lbs. We picked that one up from a restaurant. It got busted opened by two burglars...Sort of an inside job. An ex employee and his buddy were caught on tape. Between late night deliveries and an early morning cleaning crew, they had 2 hours to get it done...They went in with a large bag and some tools...

It was sitting on blocks in the back of the shop for a few months and I decided it was time to fix it. I only worked on it during down time, when the shop was slow. I like to do that when I find a fun project, I like to have something cool to do, even if I only work on it a 1/2 hour a day, it's different than my usual jobs. This was my first time refurbishing a safe with that kind of damage. All together, 12 hours went into it. I documented the repair with lots of picture and wrote a little story...

http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/Altashot/story/55995

M.
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