Need to Open a safe

[martinw]

Jimmy,

I have a friend in Chicago that opens safes, where are you located?

Jeff...

Dear Jeff,

Great post.

In these troubled financial times, we could all do with friends like yours.

Best wishes,

Martin

[jimalb]

I allready know the vault is empty(darn it), It was the weapons vault for the marine Reserve. It is built as an integrated part of the building, the walls are steal reinforced concreat filled cinderblock and solid concrete cieling best I can tell, the room is about 15' x 30' and there is a vent hole in the wall next to the floor that I was just able to put a telescoptng mirror in and look around.
There is a cage door on the inside of the vault door that will not let me see the inside of the vault door to see if there is a safty latch inside to open the door with. I have tried the standered shipping combnation of 25-50-25 and it did not work for me (the reserve told me they always reset the combination back to the standered combo when they leave a place), but no luck here.

Someone asked - I am in the Texas panhandle

[jdr]

I own a jewelry supply business and once bought 12 TL-30 safes(warehouse had hundreds of safes stored) from a Zale's warehouse in Houston, TX. The safes were rounded up from their retail stores around the Southwest that closed. Many were Mosler. Zales had a device that attached to the safe to figure out the combination. Warehouse guy said three number combinations took about 1-2 days and 4 number combinations from 1 to 2 weeks. They would write the combo with a grease pencil on the safe and move on to the next safe. The device took advantage of the fact that combo numbers would open even if you dialed a 12 instead of a 11 when spinning the dial. Also, the combos are set in a range/group of numbers(ie you don't get to pick 10-10-10 as your combo).
The 0 and 10 pause is used when you finish putting in your combo as it opens.
Find a safe company with this device and hire them. Also, don't let a locksmith drill your safe to open. We had a local locksmith that would open safes using the touch/listen method on some of the safes(just like the movies). I would try calling a few safe or locksmith companies and go from there.

[jimalb]

I have talked to a couple of locksmiths around here and they did noi know of anyone in this area that could open this door for me, and flying someone in is not cost affective for me at this time.
Thanks
Jimmy

If I could figure out the legal groups of combinations I could do a spreedsheet of combo's and could save some time - (11.9 yrs. - should have started this when I moved in 15 yrs ago - maybe would be open by now)

[Eurisko]

I have talked to a couple of locksmiths around here and they did noi know of anyone in this area that could open this door for me, and flying someone in is not cost affective for me at this time.
Thanks
Jimmy

If I could figure out the legal groups of combinations I could do a spreedsheet of combo's and could save some time - (11.9 yrs. - should have started this when I moved in 15 yrs ago - maybe would be open by now)

Jimmy,

I'd give the stepper a try. jdr states that these safes will accept +- 1 in the sequence. That reduces the possible combinations to roughly 1,185,921 (33 to the 4th power for 4 number combinations). Would take about 54 days @ 4 seconds per combination.

For 3 number combinations, there will only be 35,937 (33 to the third power).
40 hours to crack it. Worth a try.

I'd try the 3 number sequence first. You may have to adjust the number of revolutions between numbers. For example, clockwise 2 turns to N1, counter-clockwise 1 turn to N2, then clockwise to N3.

The easiest way to do it would be to write a program in C (or even BASIC) to generate the gcode. Run the gcode through MACH3. MACH3 drives the stepper, sends an M code to try the lever, and stops running if a "door open" signal is received. I've left out a lot of details

[steve323]

Don't you just have to get the first 3 numbers set and then you can try all 100 possibilities for the last number without re-dialing the first 3 numbers? This would reduce the time it takes to work through all possible combinations.

[jdr]

You have to have all four numbers to open the safe(if it's a 4 number combo).

There is no way to know only the first 3 numbers.

[martinw]

Dear jimalb,

It was the weapons vault for the marine Reserve. It is built as an integrated part of the building, the walls are steal reinforced concreat filled cinderblock and solid concrete cieling best I can tell, the room is about 15' x 30' and there is a vent hole in the wall next to the floor that I was just able to put a telescoptng mirror in and look around.
There is a cage door on the inside of the vault door that will not let me see the inside of the vault door to see if there is a safty latch inside to open the door with.

Well, you need information about the inside of your vault, and my guess is that the vent could be a way to get it. OK, there may not be an inside release gizmo... but sniffing around inside cannot possibly do you any harm.

1) Small RC car with tiny video cam. They used this to peek into a burial chamber in Egypt a while ago, but consumer electronics have moved on and made this a really viable option for about (my guess $100) if you have a canny teenager in your household, or close by.

Information is power.

Just a thought,

Best wishes,
Martin

[LaserImage]

Don't you just have to get the first 3 numbers set and then you can try all 100 possibilities for the last number without re-dialing the first 3 numbers? This would reduce the time it takes to work through all possible combinations.

That should be right and would potentially save many hours of work.

[Fatboy]

We have a safe that sat around for years and then we couldn't remember the combination or sequence. The manufacturer (now I can't remember who) would not give us the number unless we went through a certified locksmith. Luckily a relative worked for a locksmith in years past and he got us the combination.
I filed it away in a safe place...another safe that I know I can remember the combo on.

[trevj1]

See if you can find the actual sequence required, to open the lock mechanism itself.

I bought a safe cheap at an auction sale (really cheap!) when the guy that used to own it could not get ut unlocked in front of the crowd.

He had forgot to turn the dial back to zero before turning the button that actually moved the tumbler. (Sargent and Greenleaf, IIRC)

I use a few combo padlocks that require a similar, somewhat counterintuitive moves, for folks that are used to regular school locker combo locks, requiring both that the first turns be in the opposite direction of the ones you normally use, as well as the requirement to return to zero at the end of the sequence.

Try 25-50-50-25, and variations of that, but start by determining if your lock requires a LH or RH turn to start.

Cheers
Trev

[rkremser]

Any Updates? Curious as to what your plan is to open this guy.