Ok guys. My primary objective recently has been nothing but getting this pass-a-long on the move again.
For those of you waiting on the list... thank you for the additional days... and I hope what I've added to
package reflects the extended time. My hope is to shorten the learning curve for the next person(s) in line.
Lots to talk about. First off, here's a look at what the package currently contains so you know what to expect.
THE BOOK: This is an actual course, copyrighted in the mid 1950's. Yeah, lol, I'd classify this as an 'oldie-but-goodie'.
The course was intended to be taken through the mail. The student would receive packages and/or assignments to be completed and sent back to the school. The course has 34 lessons in total and deals with
S&G,
Dibold, and
Yale (
geared roller fence). Towards the end they also cover manipulation and general info on a couple styles that are rare, but still in use:
Bottom-drop combination locks &
Straight-tailpiece combination locks (
like the one found on my cheap-ass Sentry Safe).
A good portion of the course though, will have you working with an S&G 6700, (
by far one of the most common dials you're apt to come across). In fact, out of the 34 lessons... you'll be spinning an S&G dial for the first 25. They take you through 3 manipulations.... reason being: depending on WHAT WHEEL reads first, your course of action will be different for each. You're guided through these first few manipulations in excruciating detail... but when you're thru, you'll know the appropriate course of action to take depending what wheel your first # ends up being on.
Although it's all new to me & I've nothing to compare to... I'd say this was a wonderful course that gave me the fundamentals of manipulation. As you become familiar with what you're doing and why, you'll realize there are many ways to skin a cat.... and the books teachings are not always the most proficient or logical when it comes to the
direction of rotation & the
placement of the wheels. However, I think it's a '
we must learn to crawl before we can walk' kind of thing. So it's all good.
GRAPHS: The course utilizes 4 different sheets. A graph for mapping your reading in order to help you develop a 'picture' of the wheel(s) and find a 'good indication'. After you've honed in on a number, you may have to find what wheel it is on. You'll then use 1 of 3 different data sheets (
depending on the scenario) that will help you run some tests to determine which wheel your reading is on.
Obviously, ALL the sheets contained in this course had been used & filled in by the original student. After a great deal of copying (& white-out lol), I've reproduced these while preserving the originals (
which are good learning tools as well btw). I'm sending with the course 20 blank copies of each of these four sheets. This way you can get right down to business! Hopefully when one of these stacks run low, the course happens to be with someone that has access to a copier.
THE DIALS: 3 mounted dials...
2 S&G 6700's and
1 cutaway (thanks to Selim!) Also included is an S&G change key with instructions.
The S&G dial (LEFT) I believe, has been with this package since the beginning.
The cutaway (MIDDLE): I cannot stress enough how generous this was of Selim to add this! It's an INVALUABLE
tool when first starting out & it made all the difference in the world for me. Thank you so much again Selim!!!
The S&G dial (RIGHT) originally came to me un-mounted and sat in the box untouched for the 3 weeks. I thought I'd mount it so it'd be of more use to the next guy... little did I know lol. That little son-of-bitch was part of the hold up for getting all this off in the mail guys. Admittedly, lack of knowledge & tools played a part here. I had previously mounted a dial of my own that took some time, but turned out perfect & I was very happy with it. HOWEVER, that was not the case with this one. I seemed to have one problem after another. The reason for telling you about it is 2-fold. 1) Maybe one of you safe techs can give me some insights.... and 2) IF there IS a problem with this dial (which I don't think there is), I want anyone receiving the package to be aware of it. There's nothing worse than trying to learn something new on a faulty piece of equipment! So, here's the problems I encountered:
-First off, the delrin would not seat properly in the dial ring. I think the dial ring may have been pryed off it's previous place which bent the flanges enough so the delrin wasn't flush with the back of the dial ring. Instead, the top half was protruding beyond the back of the ring, while the bottom half sat too far in. This gave the dial quite a wabble as it turned. After some modifying, I alleviated the problem and had the delrin seated flush & even with the back of the dial ring.
-I then noticed some of the wheels were spinning freely at times as I turned the dial. Somehow the change elements in 2 of the 3 wheels had been tripped. Simple fix of engaging the gears in those wheels. All the wheels were now picking each other up correctly and moving solidly.
-3rd... I noticed there was STILL a slight wabble to the dial as it turned. Not nearly to the extent it had been... but still there. Upon closer inspection, I'm certain the spindle is bent, not horribley... but enough :/ There's no way of getting one of these back to true I know, so it is what it is. It still works fine: the dial ring is properly aligned and the dial runs very smoothly all the way around with no 'catch spots'. That's really all I can do.
-And lastly... when all was said and done, it functions properly. Gates are aligned, fence drops in just fine, and the bolt is thrown. HOWEVER, unlike the other locks I have, the bolt can only be thrown once. In other words, you can retract the bolt by turning the dial, but after you throw the bolt back out... the gates are left at a 12 oclock postion, out of alignment with fence. Hmmmm. Any thoughts? Again, I'm inexperienced, but I attribute this to the fact that the lever is not original to this lock. I think it was replaced somewhere along the way.
When I was thru, I had the added bonus of having no idea what the combo was. With wheels freely spinning along the way and shit, I had no idea if 2 of the #'s were right on top of each other, or if the 3rd # was in the forbidden zone, etc. So I thought I'd give it a try just for fun.
After finding nothing definitive when running only wheel 3, I decided to run the entire wheel pack. That's when my notes started.
(
Not that you'll be able to make any since out my chicken sctratch... lol... but I thought I'd include them anyway).
I found 55... ran a few tests... and determined it was on wheel 3.
Next step: run wheel 2 while placing wheel 3 on 55.
So I was ready to run wheel 2 all the way around starting at 98... placed wheel 3 at 55...
and headed for my contact points for readings. OPEN lol. So turns out... 0-98-55
With my confidence flying high, I had my girl put in a new combo. I proceeded to fail miserably! Haha!
But I'm going to chalk this one up to in-experience rather than the dial. I've spent an insane amout of time
mounting the thing to the best of my ability. At the
very least, it should be more useful than it was anyway.
To members on the waiting list: Again, I apologize for the additional week I've taken, I appreciate your patience,
and I can only hope that what I've done will in some way help the next person.
To Mastersmith: I've not yet PM'd you, but I'd just like to thank you publicly once more.
This is something that has intrigued me for many years. Also, it's always a good thing for me to stay busy;
it keeps my mind & body aligned and pointed in a healthy direction. Your generosity Sir, has opened the door
to a whole new & beautiful world... and for that, I thank you.
Everything's headed out Monday when the post office opens. I'll post once more when it's ACTUALLY in the mail.