Floor Safe with S&G 6700
Edit: let me know if these images are too big or too small the formatting is out of control on my pc.
Not to be defeated and discouraged by my lack of success with a couple safes at the clients location, I figured I better have a legitimate try at cracking this floor safe which I had the pleasure of bringing home and cleaning up. Here are the after shots, about an hour and a half with a toothbrush and degreaser after getting it home.
Ahhhh...so satisfying to clean up the locks. I wonder how long this poor girl was neglected and lonely. At least she is back to herself now.
Nice clean spinning dial. Unfortunately still had some sticky points around contact that I couldn't get rid of, but nothing that would stop operation ( or manipulation [devil horns] ).
So I tried the methods mentioned in the OldFast Testament and originally brought up by Mark Bates (who I did some reading on).
Again, I'm not going into depth here, but Wheel 3 usually reads first is the idea.
So I graph wheel 3.
So I start at 0 on wheel 3 and start rolling up. I hit a variety of low spots here, but nothing with a distinct gate signature except 40 and 60. I amplify both those areas and find that one is legit and one was just a sticky spot. Also I have gone back to graphing both contacts since I've had less than stellar effects when I was cutting corners on the Taylor safe I have been working. But that's a different story. The scratched out areas are when I went back to amplify and found my error.
Ok, so I have a number. Since I'm only turning w3 then I know that number is on w3. Also look at the graph. I can tell this wheel is oval from the graph and another wheel is intersecting at 15 and 70. This doesn't help me right now, but say I didn't find a number, I can rotate w1 and w2 to a different angle and re read wheel 3 to find something, since in that case the oval parts of other wheels could be blocking wheel 3 low spots.
Anyway, I really find hi lo testing to be hit and miss, so wheel isolation is the way to go for me for now.
All right, so this graph takes the longest time with this manipulation strategy since there is two number dialing every time I check. So, I dial 2.5 numbers at a time and see where to amplify using this method. I could save time on this method by checking at a higher interval , but it's a gamble.
I started at 40 , and I immediately found a low between 20-30, which I amped and was pleased to see a defined area around 23.5. i decided to go with it and moved on to wheel 1.
First I check 10 20 30 etc. on wheel 1, then 15 25 35 etc. and the lock REALLY wanted to open in the 50-80 range. Soooo.... I go back and check every 2 incs on wheel 1 between 50 and 80, dialing my other 2 known numbers. And it never opened.
Ok fair enough, 23.5 is not number 1. I return to the graph of w2 and keep going around, and I get some strange readings then BAM the old S&G grand canyon strikes again. Amplify it and see that it in fact is deeper than what was at 23.5. So what was at 23.5? To be honest at the time I had no idea and didn't think about it too much. I'm starting to get faster at dialing so I was just plowing ahead with what I had to go on.
All right, let's test the new low area on 2 with w1 around. Again, from what I see about the numbers in this combo so far I bet a superset will work. I check the tens, no dice, but it was really sticky around on the first half of the dial. so I try 15 then 25.
OPEN: 25 - 76 - 40 Super, I can actually do this. I was getting discouraged after having my ass kicked all over the scrapyard by that Taylor.
So, what do I like about this method?
1) I like wheel isolation, since I despise Hi Lo tests and their suspicious nature, even though I appreciate now what I was probably doing wrong with them (fly widths / rotation conversion).
2) I liked this method on this PARTICULAR lock because it let me see the shape of the wheels and how they might trick me in the future.
3) When I think I have 2 numbers and I go around the last wheel and the nose starts to drag.... well let's just say it's exciting for me.
What do I NOT like about this method?
1) The graphing of wheel 2 can take a long time, and for this lock if the wheel position had posed a problem I could have spent a half hour on this graph with no appreciable results.
2) If I investigate lows as they come on graphing wheel 2, then I can blow an extra 20 minutes spinning wheel 1 around inconclusively based on a false number. (Just like it happened in this case)
I have to say, other than my FIRST manipulation opening, this one taught me more than any other opening. This is because my understanding of the wheel pack is better, I'm getting faster at dialing test combos efficiently, and my last practice on the American with S&G taught me a LOT about graphing wheel 2. In particular I learned how to graph wheel 2 efficiently, and also how easy it is to return to a low spot for amplifying as you go.
Ok, how could I have found this combo more efficiently:
Well, those spots where I tried the incorrect number order that made the nose "drag" really strongly on the lock and it felt like it was going to open, that should be an obvious hint to me that the numbers are right but the order is wrong. Now, that being said I wasn't taking any readings on w1 when I was checking it, so I didn't actually narrow down a number that I could have used, but when I went back to w2 to continue checking it I could have gone right to 25 (22.5 corrected for fly width) and opened it up with one combo. Looking at that graph it's pretty obvious where the gates are.
I could have: Graphed wheel 2 entirely before continuing.
I could have: Graphed wheel 1 and wheel 2 together. In this example I got lucky that wheel 1 was taller than wheel 2 in wheel 1's gate area. Otherwise I wouldn't have seen that gate, which actually would have saved time.......
More charts to come regarding other safes I'm working.
All input is welcome as always, and thanks to everyone who has contributed so far.
Special thanks to OldFast for his fine work and golden nuggets of info that keep turning light bulbs on for me.
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