A New Safe a New Challenge

Again I managed to get my hands on an unopened safe from trademe.

This one is small and light which is a nice for a change. I can just put it on my desk to analyse it.

After some internet research I found out that this safe is one of these hotel safes that have a digital combination lock. Next to that is a tubular key lock which is normally covered by a panel which can be removed. This key lock is an overwrite which enables the safe to be opened if the combination was lost or the batteries had died.

The person selling had the safe at his rental property and the tenant went overseas leaving no key or combination. I am quite certain that the safe is mostly empty. When shaking it there is only a very small rattling inside (maybe the key?).

The keypad shows no signs of life (there are 3 LEDs above the keys which stay dark no matter what I press). If anybody has any information or manual for these types of safes (like, how to set a combination,) let me know.

I think that the key lock is the weak part of this safe. If the batteries are empty it might be the only option anyway.

Kingdom Safe Opened

I have been fairly busy lately and did not manage to update this blog as regularly as I would like to. I opened the safe shortly after the last post. It was empty.

I tried to manipulate the combination dial for a while. I measure the gate width over a range of combinations but found it to be quite constant in width.

The gate is centred around the number 85 and on the side of the safe was a 8 digit number hand written in permanent marker ending in 85. I was therefore quite sure that this number was at least at some stage a valid combination. I therefore tried the combination with different key lock configurations, dialling directions and number of turns in between. And it finally worked and unlocked the safe.

It is slightly frustrating to open safe by means of deducting the combination from reading it of markings on the dial or even written on the safe. I still have not managed to open a safe by means of manipulating the lock.

I took the back panel of the door and had a look at the mechanics of the locking mechanism. I think it should be possible to deduct the nose depth into the gate by reading the angle of the handle. I haven't tried that yet.

I took out the key cylinder and tightened a couple of screws that had come lose, which fixed the problem with the key not coming out.

I cleaned it up a bit and the safe is now back in good working condition.