How to crack this Meilink safe

[Ignoramus10422]

I bought this Meilink safe at auction. Sadly, the safe is locked and
the combination is not available.

http://goo.gl/N2Nwcc

(Fortunately, at the same auction I bought a very nice Mosler safe
with a secret lockable compartment that is open).

Before I scrap this Meilink safe, I want to crack it open to see if
perhaps there is gold or diamonds or some such inside. I have a
acetylene torch, forklifts, etc.

I am not interested in spending big money on locksmiths, safe crackers
etc and I do not care to preserve the mechanism. This is a light duty
safe and it weighs under 300 lbs.

Any quick ideas of what I can do with it without wasting too much
time. Torch it from the bottom?

i

[Stormin Mormon]

As for myself, I never teach lock defeating
on a public forum. Crooks could be reading.

--
.
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

[Cydrome Leader]

too bad it's not cold out anymore. you could fill it with water and let it
freeze.

[Stormin Mormon]

On 3/20/2014 12:15 PM, Cydrome Leader wrote:
>> http://goo.gl/N2Nwcc

>>
>>
>> Any quick ideas of what I can do with it without wasting too much
>> time. Torch it from the bottom?
>
> too bad it's not cold out anymore. you could fill it with water and let it
> freeze.

Just truck freight it to some place cold?

[Cydrome Leader]

In rec.crafts.metalworking Stormin Mormon <cayo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On 3/20/2014 12:15 PM, Cydrome Leader wrote:
>>> http://goo.gl/N2Nwcc
>>>
>>>
>>> Any quick ideas of what I can do with it without wasting too much
>>> time. Torch it from the bottom?
>>
>> too bad it's not cold out anymore. you could fill it with water and let it
>> freeze.
>
> Just truck freight it to some place cold?

We had the perfect winter here in Chicago for fun activities like that.
Could have just left it outside with a tarp over it for a couple days.

[Peter Fairbrother]

It looks more like a fire safe for protecting documents in a fire rather
than a safe for valuables to me.

Which means torching it from the bottom will take a lot of time and gas,
and will likely destroy any interesting contents.

Dropping it a few times from a great height onto concrete or similar, or
running a forklift into it, may break the Ming vase or anything else
breakable inside, but should not burn any bearer bonds, diamonds (yes,
they burn), money etc..

You pays your money and you takes your chances ...




Shouldn't be too hard to crack though.

I think there is also a very quick technique with a forklift which
crooks use, but I can't remember it.

- Peter F

[Tim Wescott]

Richard Feynmann, in his memoirs, has a very amusing chapter about safe-
cracking (he was the unofficial safe-cracker for the Manhattan Project at
Los Alamos, which he started mostly by playing jokes on his buddies).

The VERY FIRST thing you do is call the manufacturer and ask them if they
have a default combination when they ship the safe. Most safes with
combinations that can be changed ship with the factory combination, and
many people (particularly if it's a fire safe) don't bother with changing
it.

Try it. If it works, I'm a freaking genius. If it doesn't -- well, then
I'm no worse off than I am now, right?

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

[Jon Elson]

Ignoramus10422 wrote:

> I bought this Meilink safe at auction. Sadly, the safe is locked and
> the combination is not available.
>
> http://goo.gl/N2Nwcc
>

Looks like it might be a 3-number combination. If so, it shouldn't
take very long to try all combinations.

Some time ago one of our kids locked my wife's ipod. Their punishment
was to have to go through all combinations until they unlocked it.
Didn't take them very long, working in shifts.

Jon

[Eli the Bearded]

In rec.crafts.metalworking, Tim Wescott <t...@seemywebsite.really> wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Mar 2014 09:42:26 -0500, Ignoramus10422 wrote:
> > I bought this Meilink safe at auction. Sadly, the safe is locked and the
> > combination is not available.

> The VERY FIRST thing you do is call the manufacturer and ask them if they
> have a default combination when they ship the safe. Most safes with
> combinations that can be changed ship with the factory combination, and
> many people (particularly if it's a fire safe) don't bother with changing
> it.

After that, hire a safecracker off craigslist:

http://blog.sfgate.com/cityexposed/2014/03/09/safecracker-wanted-for-25-percent-of-treasure/

Excerpt:

Wyatt, 51, is a man with time on his hands. He defines himself as a
marginally employed computer repairman, a tinkerer in all things
mechanical and an unrepentant coffee-shop slacker. He learned
everything he knows about safecracking from a 34-page PDF document he
found while doing a Google search on "safecracking for the computer
scientist."

[...]

Rodgers recently bought a mid-century home in the Upper Castro
neighborhood, which came complete with a 1-ton antique safe that
prevented him from parking his car in the garage. He was offering 25
percent of the unknown contents to any person who could open the
safe. The only catch was that the safecracker had to haul away the
cracked safe when the job was done.

[...]

At 10:22 a.m., Wyatt cried out, "I got it!" Rodgers came running over
just as the several-hundred-pound door fell off the safe - a
contractor had removed the hinges in a previously failed attempt to
get in.

Wyatt's reward was indeed 25 percent of the air in the safe. Apart
from that, nothing was inside.

Still, Wyatt had a giant grin on his face as he held the inner
workings of a lock like a shiny piece of gold. His curiosity had been
quenched.


Elijah
------
no word how Wyatt, on his bicycle, was getting the safe out of there

[Leon Fisk]

On Thu, 20 Mar 2014 09:42:26 -0500

Ignoramus10422 <ignoram...@NOSPAM.10422.invalid> wrote:

>I bought this Meilink safe at auction. Sadly, the safe is locked and
>the combination is not available.
>
> http://goo.gl/N2Nwcc

<snip>

>Any quick ideas of what I can do with it without wasting too much
>time. Torch it from the bottom?

First off I would try forcing a large, 6 ft or so pry bar in between
the door and side. Maybe use a small sledge and some cold chisels along
the same edge to gain some room for the big pry. It really depends on
how many bolts are in the door, how long they are, how well anchored...
But I think a big pry bar will bend/spring the side away for you to gain
entry :)

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

[David Billington]

On 20/03/14 14:42, Ignoramus10422 wrote:

I guy I know used to work in a quarry and they had been using an old
safe that was around as an anvil for years. At some point it eventually
got opened and it was found to be full of sweating dynamite, seems it
was the safe for storing it in safely and that had been forgotten. The
bomb squad got called and the stuff was safely disposed of and all that
had used it thought what if it had gone up, of course if it had they
wouldn't have known about it.

[David Billington]

Peter,

I remember an old OU IIRC film and it showed the burning of diamond
but they said the activation energy was so high the diamond needed to be
heated white hot with the likes of an OA torch and then placed in liquid
oxygen where it did burn. I know you're a chemist so maybe you know if
there's more to it.

[Paul Drahn]

Are telling us you don't have any Russian friends that were KGB?

Paul

[Peter Fairbrother]

On 20/03/14 20:36, David Billington wrote:

> Peter,
>
> I remember an old OU IIRC film and it showed the burning of diamond
> but they said the activation energy was so high the diamond needed to be
> heated white hot with the likes of an OA torch and then placed in liquid
> oxygen where it did burn. I know you're a chemist so maybe you know if
> there's more to it.

Short version:

Carbon in any form will burn in air at above 800C or so, which is within
normal flame temperatures.

Above about 650C diamond actually burns at a slightly lower activation
energy than graphite or amorphous carbon, though the difference is very
small and temperature-dependent.

However diamond and graphite present nearly atomically-smooth surfaces
to the air, and amorphous carbon doesn't. In the middle of these smooth
surfaces the activation energy is quite a bit higher, and the
temperature has to be above about 800C - while at the edges, and for the
larger surface areas of amorphous carbons, the required temperatures are
lower, perhaps 450-500C.


And of course the hotter it is, the faster it burns. LOX is cold, and it
will cool the carbon as well as reacting with it, so it helps to have
the diamond red-hot when it enters the LOX. Not so important with a
large diamond, but people don't burn large diamonds in LOX very often.

Also diamond conducts heat better than anything else (except graphene) -
and by quite a lot, it has about 5 times the thermal conductivity of the
next contender, pure silver - so burning small lumps of it in LOX is a
bit atypical.

-- Peter F

[Cydrome Leader]

That's pretty funny.

[Michael A. Terrell]

http://www.fireking.com/mk_home.html


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

>> > Any quick ideas of what I can do with it without wasting too much
>> > time. Torch it from the bottom?

If it's a "fire safe", and not a security safe, it's easy as heck to get
into. Just peel off the sheet metal, crush the gypsum insulation, and
cut with anything you like to get the box inside open.

There's nothing 'secure' about a fire safe, because they aren't designed
for that.

Even if it's a security safe, unless it's a high-end one, the door bolts
can be cut pretty easily. It's unusual to find heat-sinking bolts in an
inexpensive safe. (and even then, oxy-acetylene can cut the copper
inserts, with some time and gas)

The whole idea of a 'hardened' safe is to make it take too long for a
crook to feel comfortable staying on the job. Someone who has time and
no fear of cops or discovery can get into almost any safe with common
tools.

Lloyd

[Peter Fairbrother]

On 20/03/14 22:39, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
>>>> Any quick ideas of what I can do with it without wasting too much
>>>> time. Torch it from the bottom?
>
> If it's a "fire safe", and not a security safe, it's easy as heck to get
> into. Just peel off the sheet metal, crush the gypsum insulation, and
> cut with anything you like to get the box inside open.

Yeh. Jist gie it some laldy.

-- Peter F

[Stormin Mormon]

On 3/20/2014 4:30 PM, David Billington wrote:
> I guy I know used to work in a quarry and they had been using an old
> safe that was around as an anvil for years. At some point it eventually
> got opened and it was found to be full of sweating dynamite, seems it
> was the safe for storing it in safely and that had been forgotten. The
> bomb squad got called and the stuff was safely disposed of and all that
> had used it thought what if it had gone up, of course if it had they
> wouldn't have known about it.

I've heard that dynamite put into a camp fire
burns gently without exploding.

[Ignoramus10422]

What a fun story!

[Ignoramus10422]

Yes, but he is only good at shooting, not safe cracking

i

[Ignoramus10422]

Lloyd, thanks. I will try.

Now what about this safe:

http://www.empiresafe.com/uploads/0000/0174/TRTL_Round_Door_Money_Safes.pdf

(the top picture, with dual key interior door)

This is the Mosler I was talking about buying along with the above
mentioned Meilink.

I bet the inside compartment is very hard to get to!

i

[DoN. Nichols]

Have you tried the "storage" combination? Assuming that the
dial is a 0-100 dial, try 25, 50, 25, 0, starting to the left with over
three full turns and stopping on 25. Then right two full turns plus
what it needs to reach 50, then left one full turn plus what is needed
to reach 25, and finally right to 0. Then, depending on the lock,
either turn a tumbler bar in the center of the knob if present and keep
going as far as it will go (perhaps another 1/8 turn or so), or just
keep going to the right and see whether it unlocks. If it doesn't work
you're out a few minutes of fiddling with the dials.

If what is in it is paper, torching it from any surface will
likely burn the paper. But the bottom might be the easiest path in.

Or -- put it just outside the door, and let it be known that it
has gold in it -- and wait for someone else to open it before you
pounce. :-)

Good Luck,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: <BPdnic...@d-and-d.com> | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

[Jay Hennigan]

On 3/20/14 7:42 AM, Ignoramus10422 wrote:
> I bought this Meilink safe at auction. Sadly, the safe is locked and
> the combination is not available.
>
> http://goo.gl/N2Nwcc
>

> Before I scrap this Meilink safe, I want to crack it open to see if
> perhaps there is gold or diamonds or some such inside. I have a
> acetylene torch, forklifts, etc.

A Skilsaw with a cutoff wheel along the left edge of the door about an
inch in from the seam should do the trick. You want to cut the bolts,
likely two of them equally spaced. Wear goggles!

[Jon Elson]

Ignoramus10422 wrote:


>
http://www.empiresafe.com/uploads/0000/0174/TRTL_Round_Door_Money_Safes.pdf
>
> (the top picture, with dual key interior door)

Ugh, this one looks VERY hard to get into through the door.
I'll bet it is easier to go through the side on a safe like that,
at least if it is a 5 number combo, which with all the other features
it is likely to be.

Jon

[Tom Gardner]

On 3/20/2014 10:42 AM, Ignoramus10422 wrote:

Drill one hole, fill with water then insert a small explosive charge.

[Ignoramus23598]

Well, I got it opened. Details and photos here:

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/How-to-Open-a-Meilink-Safe/

[Jon Elson]

Ignoramus23598 wrote:

> Well, I got it opened. Details and photos here:
>
> http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/How-to-Open-a-Meilink-Safe/

Well, that's spectacularly boring! Or, did you lift out the 3 Kg of
gold bars before you took the picture?

Jon

[Ignoramus23598]

There was n o t h i n g

very sad

[Ernie Leimkuhler]

In article <cb-dnVPxwt4cE7bO...@giganews.com>,

Grant Sarver was a working blacksmith in Tacoma WA who had a standing
contract with many demo companies to repoint their jackhammer bits.

One day he put a pile of bits in the forge to heat up and walked back
to his office.
The explosion took out is forge, all the windows in his shop and a few
other innocent bystander tools nearby.
Turns out the demo company sent him some old bits that had been made
from sucker rod from a rock quarry.
One of them had been used to pack ammonium nitrate into blast holes and
the hole down the center of the bit had become packed full of it. When
the ends got peened shut from use nobody knew it was a pipe bomb.
You can pound on ammonium nitrate all day long and nothing happens, but
it didn't seem to like being heated to 1600 degF.

The demo company gave him a new forge and a small pile of cash.


Grant Sarver passed away a few years back.
Larry Langdon inherited his bit pointing business.

[et...@whidbey.com]

On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 17:54:44 -0500, Jon Elson <jme...@wustl.edu>
wrote:

He doesn't know it but the safe was probably full of Dark Matter. Most
likely WIMPs, AKA Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. If he tips the
safe over the WIMPs will flow out and through the floor. Then he can
weigh the safe and tell us how much Dark Matter was in there.
Eric

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

[Ignoramus23598]

On 2014-03-22, et...@whidbey.com <et...@whidbey.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 17:54:44 -0500, Jon Elson <jme...@wustl.edu>
> wrote:
>
>>Ignoramus23598 wrote:
>>
>>> Well, I got it opened. Details and photos here:
>>>
>>> http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/How-to-Open-a-Meilink-Safe/
>>Well, that's spectacularly boring! Or, did you lift out the 3 Kg of
>>gold bars before you took the picture?
>>
>>Jon
> He doesn't know it but the safe was probably full of Dark Matter. Most
> likely WIMPs, AKA Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. If he tips the
> safe over the WIMPs will flow out and through the floor. Then he can
> weigh the safe and tell us how much Dark Matter was in there.
> Eric

Want to buy that dark matter? It is very valuable dark matter, aged
well inside that safe.

i

[DoN. Nichols]

On 2014-03-21, Ignoramus23598 <ignoram...@NOSPAM.23598.invalid> wrote:
> Well, I got it opened. Details and photos here:
>
> http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/How-to-Open-a-Meilink-Safe/

A pity that there was nothing in it. I would not have expected
valuables, but perhaps something interesting to read at least. :-)

Did you make any attempt to recover the lock? I would have.
Once you have one apart, you can reset the combination to something
known. But working through that hole you made would not be fun,
especially if you don't already know how the locks are installed and
assembled.

Enjoy,

[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

> http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/How-to-Open-a-Meilink-Safe/


Well! THAT was ten minutes wasted! <G>

I knew it would be easy, Ig.

Lloyd

[Steve W.]

I have a few old fire safes in my shop. I lift the doors off and set
them on the back. They get used to catch hot scrap. Like bolts/nuts that
got cut off with the torch or weld slag off the bench. Anything that
might cause problems. When they get filled I put the doors back on, lock
them then weld a small bead on the seam. Then they hitch a ride on the
scrap truck when our town has clean up days.

--
Steve W.

[David Lesher]

Call the DEA and tell them there's a joint inside.....

--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

[tracie...@gmail.com]

I was just wandering exactly the make n model of your Meilink safe. And if u have a serial # on it as well if it had a Sargent & Greenleaf lock mechanism built on wheels.
The reason being is that I have a friend who just recently got one that looks exactly like yours, but I can't find anything on it to find out on how much that it is worth.
Please get back with me on this subject

[out...@cox.net]

On Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 7:42:26 AM UTC-7, Ignoramus10422 wrote:
> I bought this Meilink safe at auction. Sadly, the safe is locked and
> the combination is not available.
>
> http://goo.gl/N2Nwcc
>
> (Fortunately, at the same auction I bought a very nice Mosler safe
> with a secret lockable compartment that is open).
>
> Before I scrap this Meilink safe, I want to crack it open to see if
> perhaps there is gold or diamonds or some such inside. I have a
> acetylene torch, forklifts, etc.
>
> I am not interested in spending big money on locksmiths, safe crackers
> etc and I do not care to preserve the mechanism. This is a light duty
> safe and it weighs under 300 lbs.
>
> Any quick ideas of what I can do with it without wasting too much
> time. Torch it from the bottom?
>
> i

The safe is a Meilink 9030. Definitely any assistance will be most appreciated. That's about all I can tell you.

[tomres...@gmail.com]

I have an old mielink safe keyed. How can I open without key?