2011- monster vault door made by Gunnebo for Gold Bullion storage in Qatar

[Huw Eastwood]

Thought this might be of interest- I remember brief mention of this in a Gunnebo news brochure I saw a year or so ago-

Apparently the days of the oversize custom door aren't over- this client obviously needed something a bit over and above the off-the-shelf 'graded' doors the modern manufacturers offer. Also nice to see that someone was up for the challenge. Gunnebo's massive umbrella covers just about everything from electronics, glazing, door catches for cars& vans, to heavy engineering and fabrication for the oil/gas industry, so at least the machining shouldn't have been a problem!


I hope they stuck a big UK Chubb badge on it , but then it could have been down to what they had left in the box at the time- so it might be a Fichet, a Rosengrens, Tann,......Lips.......Garny..........Churchill.... ..etc

[Adrian Weber]

Sorry my friend but Gunnebo is just a ******censored****** company.

I only refer to them as the "Kuchenblechmafia" because what they do is buying other companies, throwing everything away that will not print money for them, use their ideas, destroy the name of the company, don't give a *****censored***** and go.

The THREW AWAY the archive from Garny even though Prof. Eisenbach from the economical archives in Hessen said he will come with his employees and take everything WITHOUT any cost for the company. He approached them several times but they were not cooperative at all.

I do not really care what the built because in my opinion they destroy more than they built.

Adrian

[wylk]

The numbers for the Gunnebo door are impressive by today's standards (3.2 meter diameter and 70,000 kg total weight) but help underscore problems comparing doors. When stating the diameter of the door, assuming it's tapered, is that the large diameter or the small diameter? When stating the weight, is it just the door or does that include the hinge and/or frame?

To be fair, Gunnebo is unusually clear in stating the door is 3.2 meters and the outer frame is 4 meters, though it still isn't obvious what "outer frame diameter" means. And they do state the weight of the unit including tunnel frame is 70,000 kg, not just the door (and they incorrectly use "Kg" instead of "kg").

Something else I'd like to know is whether the door was cast as one piece, or if it was welded up from many plates.

In older doors the same is true. The various specs for the Cleveland Federal Reserve are described in a confusing manner, for example in Wikipedia:

Its original 100 short tons (91 t) bank vault door is the largest in the world. The hinge has an overall height of 19 feet (5.8 m) and weighs over 47 short tons (43 t) fully assembled. The door casting itself was 20 short tons (18 t)

If the door casting was 20 short tons and the finished hinge is 47 short tons that still leaves 33 short tons unaccounted for, I suppose by the frame.

[Doug MacQueen]

Right on Adrian! Power to the people! I had a feeling they were @#$^&^% ^*$(#@%. Welcome to the future. Wylk diameter would be OD Inner Diameter would normally be stated in terms of clear door opening. Only recently did I find the door casting was hollow to considerable degrree and filled with goodies. As if 4 feet of mild steel isn't good enough Doug

[Huw Eastwood]

Adrian I'm guessing Gunnebo aren't on your mail list for a Christmas card this year

70,000 kilos is a pretty impressive installation for a door these days though you have to admit

I agree about the Gunnebo side of things, and the loss of those records and archives is as bad as it gets, but like it or not, it's often the way of the modern world.
Politics aside, I see the positives that this custom vault was made at all, and wasn't a case of '10 years ago chubb, Lips, garny etc had the facilities and capability but we haven't anymore'. That for me, would've been far worse and those final nails in the coffins.

ok- first one to find a photo....

[Adrian Weber]

Nope they are not

but Kromer/Lebtig is and also Targo Safe in Switzerland.

[Ian D. Lewis]

And ASSA Abloy have done the same with the Lock Industry.

[Huw Eastwood]

Ah well, there's obviously little interest in a custom door of this size being made these days, and just mention of the name Gunnebo has opened one big can of worms. Ian, I don't think it can get any worse as rumours suggest it might be fitted with a 2 metre long Assa euro profile cylinder with an inside turnknob. Snap-safe of course......

[Ian D. Lewis]

Max it would be nice to think it had a Chubb badge on it but I wonder were it was made. Definitely wouldn't have been England. Looked at the site that used to be Chubb Wednesfield Road on google earth and all that is there now is a housing estate.

[Huw Eastwood]

yes, it's anyone's guess but more than likely it was probably done in Malaysia or the Philippines

The machinery from the old Chubb factory lives on though- a small company near me has the press brake from the old Wolverhampton factory which formed the outer skins for the last safes made there. Will bend up to about 15 mm steel plate if I remember right.