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Posted: 6/21/2010 12:29:43 PM EDT
| Is it ok to spray lubricant into a dial combo lock on a gun safe? |
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Quoted:
Is it ok to spray lubricant into a dial combo lock on a gun safe? I would ask the manufacturer. You may also want to try your question here |
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Quoted:
Is it ok to spray lubricant into a dial combo lock on a gun safe? I service ATMs and out of my 22 techs, I have never had one of them ask me if it was Ok to lube a lock. Why do you want / need to lube it? If it is (and always has been) tough to turn, it may need some adjustment (dial shaft is set too short). If it recently became tight, or is tight in a certain number range, something internal may be fooked. Get it open, and get the lock replaced asap. If you are wanting to lube it to prevent problems, do not touch it. Especially if its a S&G or a LA GARD, they should run a long time - Only problem you might run into is it needing to be re-set, but this shouldn't be the case, unless you open it 2 times / day for years and years and never change the combo (but this is rare). *if you do lube it, what may happen is one of the 3 cogs inside may rotate after it is set. Say your 1st # is 30. You turn your dial to 30. When you turn the dial to your second number, cog 1 (set at 30) may rotate down (gravity is a bitch) to the we'll say 10 spot. The other 3 cogs may do this too. So now your 30-60-30 combo is really 10-25-16 (internally) because the cogs are turning when they should be staying put. There will be no chance of opening this lock then, because there is no way to tell where the cogs turned to, and what the lock is really set to. Then it's magnetic drill press time. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Is it ok to spray lubricant into a dial combo lock on a gun safe? I service ATMs and out of my 22 techs, I have never had one of them ask me if it was Ok to lube a lock. Why do you want / need to lube it? If it is (and always has been) tough to turn, it may need some adjustment (dial shaft is set too short). If it recently became tight, or is tight in a certain number range, something internal may be fooked. Get it open, and get the lock replaced asap. If you are wanting to lube it to prevent problems, do not touch it. Especially if its a S&G or a LA GARD, they should run a long time - Only problem you might run into is it needing to be re-set, but this shouldn't be the case, unless you open it 2 times / day for years and years and never change the combo (but this is rare). *if you do lube it, what may happen is one of the 3 cogs inside may rotate after it is set. Say your 1st # is 30. You turn your dial to 30. When you turn the dial to your second number, cog 1 (set at 30) may rotate down (gravity is a bitch) to the we'll say 10 spot. The other 3 cogs may do this too. So now your 30-60-30 combo is really 10-25-16 (internally) because the cogs are turning when they should be staying put. There will be no chance of opening this lock then, because there is no way to tell where the cogs turned to, and what the lock is really set to. Then it's magnetic drill press time. I recently bought it used and I have never owned a safe. The dial seems to be kind of tight and I'm used to small combo locks spinning freely. I contacted Fort Knox and they advised me to not lubricate it at all. |
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Quoted:
I recently bought it used and I have never owned a safe. The dial seems to be kind of tight and I'm used to small combo locks spinning freely. I contacted Fort Knox and they advised me to not lubricate it at all. You don't want the dial to spin like it is on super-duper race car bearings. It makes trying to dial your combo and hit the numbers a bitch. Any time I have a dial that spins very free, I try to put my thumb on it to make sure I hit my numbers. Worse case, call a lock smith and have them come out and put a new dial on it. Or, yours just might need to be adjusted out a turn. If its just an adjustment, they will come out, pull the lock back off, and pull out the indexing key. Rotate shaft 1 full turn out, put the key back in the slot it came out of, replace lock back. If you are mechanically inclined, you can do this with a #2 Phillips and a needle nose. You may have to reset the combo after this as well. Just keep in mind the old saying "I charge double if you worked on it first" if you screw it up and do have to call a pro. |
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