Looking to get a cordless angle grinder to cut open a couple padlocks on a storage unit I have. My question is .. will standard metal slitting discks do the job or does it need something with diamond bits in the disk?
Standard slitting disks will work, as any scrote will know :-(
Thinner ones will cut faster, but also wear out faster (and also be more vulnerable to side loads). I have a pack of very thin ones that were on offer in Lidl. While they are labelled for use on stainless steel, they will do carbon steel as well.
standard discs,but I would pick the locks and rekey them,if they were good locks
I used standard brown metal cutting disks bought from Wilko used in a specially bought cheapo portable drill to cut through the "hardened" shackle on a Citadel bike lock.
The mechanism had seized with the bike locked to a railing in a supermarket car park.
It took around half an hour spraying with water but nobody turned a hair . So the only variables are how long it will take and the number of discs.
Better discs maybe quicker cut.
bb
one thin slitting disk in an AG, and 30 secs probably. (the rotational speed is typically 10x higher than a battery drill)
Bolt cutters are quicker. (No, I don?t break into places etc. Schools always have them, pupils are forever reporting they?ve lost their locker keys. )
You should be able to hire a pair for a few hours. The storage unit company may even have a set.
Depends entirely on the size/strength of the shackle! As part of my hobby of removing love locks, I?ve discovered that the size of bolt cutter needed rises very quickly with shackle size.
Tim
Cut though the railing and save time?
Years ago I turned up at a building on Oxford St London on a Sunday to find that I'd been given newly-cut keys that didn't work. The job was urgent and I'd travelled 170 miles to get to it. No-one responsible in the American news channel I was working for would answer the phone. In desperation I erected a ladder on the pavement, surrounded by a throng of shoppers, and got in through a a lavatory window. Several police cars went past and took not the slightest notice.
Bill
Bolt croppers struggle with really good quality padlocks.
Bill
you only need diamond IME on concrete stone or ceramic. Corundum works fine on steel
30 seconds includes putting the AG away...? Using something to hold the padlock solidly (mole grips) or wedge the shackle in place help greatly. You don't want the shackle moving when halfway through cutting, the 1mm slitting disks really don't like sideways loads.
Think where sparks will fly and land; they burn into glass and ceramics, and can set things on fire.
Thomas Prufer
Got some Gallium?
LockPickingLawyer [593] Gallium vs. Titalium - Abus Padlock Meets a Gruesome End
Ah, but I expect you had hi-vis and a clipboard.
I had a similar experience with my car alarm. It occasionally went off when I opened the door, even though I'd correctly unlocked the car which should have disarmed the alarm. There was a separate key lock on the alarm unit under the bonnet. One day I was disarming the alarm and a policeman walked past (back in the days when they still walked the beat) and he didn't bat an eyelid. I was not impressed because I could have been a car thief that he'd failed to apprehend. I went across to him and showed him my driving licence to prove who I was, with the hint that he might like to do a PNC check to confirm that I was the "registered keeper" (owner) of the car.
Registered keeper does not equate to owner.
Not always but usually (except in the case of a company or leased car). I should have said "*almost always* the owner".
In fact, no.
Bill
True, but I suspect from a police point of view, anyone who is either the owner or the keeper should be 'allowed' to tamper with a vehicle
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