Advice sought on opening a 'broken' safe

Could there be a bit of mechanical tension in the system that is preventing the catch from being withdrawn?

Reply to
John
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Have you entered an incorrect code several times?

Reply to
John

I think not. Usually when I connect the standby battery an indicator light comes on. Also the keys when depressed give an audible feedback. Neither happens now - like there was no battery connected. Ger

Reply to
ger

How old is the safe?

Reply to
Sparks

Not sure - I'd say about 10 years. No more. Maybe less. I have emailed them again and asked if they have anyone who knows the internal structure of the safe and, if so, could I call them. No reply yet!!

Is that 'arse' as in - 'how very disappointing' or 'arse' as in 'don't take that crap from them' ??

Ger

Reply to
ger

I suppose expecting the manufacturers to help on a =A390 safe was asking a bit much. Try:-

1) Pressing the 9V battery in hard and/or waggling it around a bit. If this is a PP3, the press-studs often lose their grip. Or you may have a dry joint between the holder and PCB. If so, a soldering iron applied to the battery contacts might remake the joint from outside. If you put an ohmmeter across the battery contacts (try the probes both ways round) you should see a few hundred or thousand ohms, not an open or short circuit. 2) Pressing the buttons hard. If they're the rubber-coated-with- graphite type like some calculators/TV remote controls, the graphite wears thin. But you've got to get the usual signs of life from the electronics first. 3) Forcing the handle round by extending it with a lever -- bit of pipe or pair of wood/metal bars clamped either side. 4) Getting a cold chisel under the safe enough to lift it 1mm off the joist to hacksaw the bolts might be better than levering it the whole way.

Chris

Reply to
chrisj.doran

Cheap and getting cheaper, so it's rare that it's ever worth opening such a safe cleanly.

Phoenix are a bit better than the average: better construction and no crappy "easy access" wafer lock making the whole gadget pointless. However any real "safe" has a rating of =A35k at least, so if you're only looking at =A31k / =A31k5 than it's an indication that corners have been cut.

The uk.d-i-y approach is to cut the corner edges off with an angle grinder and a grinding disk. Then take the whole thing off the wall, re-weld the corners and re-attach it. Many of us are tooled up to do this much, in a couple of hours' time, plus paint drying.

A Phoenix 900 is (AFAIK) drillable in a couple of minutes - by a chap who knows where and how and charges accordingly. No I don't know. This is probably the cheapest overall option, considering the mess and replacement.

One of the =A330-something Yales took me about 15 minutes to open, by manipulating the secondary lock using a real tubular pick (about =A350 to buy, if you buy it). The Happy-Shopper ones with the wafer locks are far less secure.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Older ones don't, they have an external battery connector. Phoenix don't (I think they now do cheapies that might). The assumption is that the "works" doesn't go wrong, but it's always going to be the battery that fails.

For under =A3200, I haven't seen _any_ digital safe where this secondary lock is remotely competent to secure the safe. Several of the cheap digital locks respond to simply crowbarring the cylinder of the secondary lock - it's only in a plastic mount!

Reply to
Andy Dingley

If it's got external hinges just cut them off. If not cut around the panel that holds the "electronics" on and look inside for a coil that operates a small lever mechanism attached to the rear of the lock. Apply 9v direct to the coil. Failing that if that coil is dead then you need to dig deeper and find the latch that retains the lock itself and physically "realign" it.

Easy when u know how ;-)

DAMHIKIJD....OK

Reply to
RW

Thanks Chrisj, Andy, RW, I will work on those suggestions. And report back. It'll be a few days. I'll attack the electrics first and then try drilling!! But where to drill? Ger

Reply to
ger

Fubar Time!

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Safe manufacturers are usually less than happy about telling people how to get in their safes.

I think the Titan range was a pilfer and fire protected safe. If so if it only has the single centre lock and the door is usually fairly easy to crowbar off. The secret is to have a very big crowbar. Drill and cut a slot in the outside skin to allow you a gap to get the crowbar in and then lever from the corners on the lock side.

This skilled technique is shown in vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=22078516

Failing that the best route in is usually through the back - you will find it has a fairly thin skin with an insulating layer between the outer and inner skin (sometimes sand or concrete to make it seem heavy). With luck the inside layer is even thinner and can be drilled and hacksawed to avid the angle grinder sparks damaging the contents. On these cheap safes the door is often thicker than the sides or back.

To get it off the joists either raise a few floorboards and undo from underneath or if it is a chipboard floor get one of those cunning floor hole cutting kits which cuts a replaceable plug out of the floor. There is no point it trying to crowbar it off as you will need to lift the floorboards to repair the damage done by this anyway so its better to lift the floor first and avoid the damage.

You can sometimes cut them free by getting a bandsaw blade, cutting it, and fabricating two wooden handles to make a long saw so you can pass the blade under the safe and with two people either side (a bit like old fashioned lumberjacks) saw the bolts.

Reply to
Peter Parry

Wot that mean?

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Haven't you broken it yet? I've only seen two Fubars, both with the heads snapped off in the same place.

(of course if Fein had made it....)

Reply to
Andy Dingley

How often do you see an externally hinged safe that doesn't have bolts on at least two sides ?

Besides which, it's expensive to restore a destroyed hinge.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

No and I've given it some serious stick. I can't imagine you could break one if you tried, its made like a brick outhouse.

Where had they broken?

It would have cost £300 :-)

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Dont Ask Me How I Know, I Just Know

Reply to
ger

Thanks Peter for all that. Ger.

Reply to
ger

Cheers. None of the anagram sites I looked at recognised it.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

That's cos it's an acronym! :-))

Reply to
Bob Eager

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