Welcome to our world exploring the Historical, Political and Technological aspects of Locks, Keys and Safes

Page 1 of 9 123456789 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 84
  1. #1

    Default Freestyle model inspired by the old big superheavy round vault doors :)

    Hey folks!

    Since February i am working on a round vault door model completely made of steel. The door with frame weights about 300kg and the door itself about 120kg, and its diameter is 34cm. Im looking forward to build a remote combination viewer to which i have still many questions.

    I mainly used a lathe, a big drillpress and a big indexing head for the door. Some things, like the outer door plate and the crane hinge i have had plasma cutted out of a big 35mm steel plate.

    Well, there is still much work to do; the inner door frame is still missing, but raw material is already bought and the whole locking system is under construction.

    Here are some pictures :)

    Best regards!

    Maik
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails SANY0049.JPG   SANY0052.JPG   SANY0056.JPG  

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    1,754
    Country: Wales

    Default

    Hi again, it'll get a lot more people seeing it on here Maik- it's in the best place.

    wow again! Now I can see where the 300 kilos is, with that diameter and thickness door plus the frame steels 35mm thick, that's amazing. You mentioned using stainless steel but to be honest the bright steel you've used looks better I think. Stainless steel is so much tougher to turn it'd take a lot longer to machine the same parts, and in some ways looks a bit too perfect as it retains its brightness and doesn't dull much with age. Plus, like you say the cost would be ridiculous when you're dealing with large sizes like you've had to use there.

    You mentioned in your introductory post that you like chunky hinges and made them oversize, I'm the same liking the 'chunky' look to these doors, and i think the hinges look spot on, they blend in beautifully with the overall appearance.

    I think the remote combo viewers might be the hardest of the different types to find detailed info on, but I think there are some detailed technical plans floating around on here and I'm sure that members in the USA will be able to help if you get stuck. I bet you can't wait to get back working on it. Beautiful work and keep us updated!

  3. #3

    Default

    Hey thanks again for your kind words on my work! Its really good to hear, that it is good looking :)
    You might be right about the steel, and you are definitely right about machining stainless steel :)

    Yea the remote combination viewer is a really interesting part! I would love to build one on my own! The material is already here and maybe i can build a simpler one for the beginning... But i have a feeling that the only complicated thing is the combination lock that is integrated there. I have no clue how that corresponds to the parts behind the door frame... But it would definitely add some 30 kilos more to the door frame :)

    There is plenty of work still to do. The bolts dont work yet and are currently disassembled, for some works that have to be done. I will add some more detailed pictures of how this thing really works.

    About a combination lock: I already built nearly all parts of it, and it is scaled down (the notched wheels are 12mm in diameter), and all parts are made of brass and are fitted then in a round aluminium body that will sit in the center of the door (as you can see in the picture above).

    Since it is a freestyled door, and because of the massive parts on it, i couldnt built a pressure bar system for it unfortunately. But even with that, the door wouldnt become watertight or airtight, because there are many boundaries on building those doors. And also there are many things i still dont understand regarding the vault doors.

    Best regards,

    Maik

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Gilbert, AZ 85298
    Posts
    319
    Country: United States

    Default

    I have a keen interest in remote combination viewer vaults. Check out Vault Door Anatomy, it has all the information I could find on remote combination viewers and is available in these formats:



    Also, take a look at the Vault Doors online gallery as it contains all known remote combination viewer vaults: https://www.flickr.com/photos/canton...7639183617364/

    I am not a locksmith/vault technician (just a vaultophile) but I would be happy to share my research and help answer any questions you may have.

  5. #5

    Default

    Hey guys :)

    @VaultDoors: I checked out your links, but they dont work :( Maybe you posted the wrong destination?

    I just wanted to add some more pictures which include the building process and the status quo :)

    Some words to my machines:

    Im using a Liebert&Gürtler lathe from 1957 with a width of 1m and max. diameter of 36cm (max. 50cm if you take out the bridge). The lathe weights about 1.2 tons, and i also have a milling attachement for it, to actually do some milling work.
    Moreover i have a G. Wischeroop drill press (about 100 years old) that weights half a ton and can drill holes in stainless steel up to 40mm and cut threads up to M33x3 (that means big :D ). I have a thread cutting attachement for this drill press and that makes this machine extremely versatile. I also use a big dividing head to make the holes for the bolts of my vault door, or other sorts of circular arranged series of holes in metal or wood. In my actual vault door i have 15 bolts installed with a diameter of 28.7mm and the holes are 29mm. Because i dont have a borehead to get a real smooth finish inside the holes, the 0.3mm play remain. Currently its not possible for me to reduce that amount of play... A 29mm reamor would have done the job, but i didnt get any...

    So you see, to build a vault door out of steel, heavy equipment is needed :) You find some video material of the construction process of the vault door on youtube. Check out:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuI4...rJMMomz-DDBwPM
    where the holes for the bolts are getting bored. Or in this one:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ajr...rJMMomz-DDBwPM
    where one part of one hinge is getting turned on the lathe. I dont put much effort in editing the videos i make. I just let the camera roll for some hours and load all that stuff just right on youtube. But it is in german anyways so yea... Enjoy the pictures :D

    Well yea so here are some pictures :)

    Best regards

    Maik
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails SANY0011.JPG   SANY0012.JPG   SANY0017.JPG   SANY0026.JPG   SANY0016.JPG  

    SANY0058.JPG   SANY0006.JPG  
    Last edited by RiemannHypothesis; 16-05-15 at 08:06 PM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    1,754
    Country: Wales

    Default

    Yes I tried the links and found the same- thought it was an iPad problem as some sites have compatibility issues.

    well Maik, it's wow again seeing those beautiful old machines. It's making me think of the days I briefly had a big old British lathe with 12 inch swing. Didn't have it for long but seeing yours is making me miss it

    Anyway i I can see why you don't mess around making small models like I have to, you've got some really heavy machinery there and the vault door is the perfect project for them. Your lathe probably weighs more than my workshop...

    The vault looks great in the 4 th photo- really shows it off well from that angle

  7. #7

    Default

    Heyho :)

    well yea sometimes there are reasons why we cant have some piece of equipment... Im glad to have it now, but maybe some day i have to quit it? i dont know :)
    But i saw some of your works and i really have to say that this is very good work! Very detailed and fine! I would love to see more of your works! So you are using aluminium and brass, or steel too?

    Well about small models: Its not always a good property to just want the big stuff. My wife can tell you something about that... Of course she likes the vault door, but she would prefer if it would weight a quarter of it... And i understand that :) Im actually glad i didnt make the door even bigger :D
    I think my wife would like your models a bit more than mine, because of their size :) But she understands my desire to build such a heavy door. Thats what i wanted for years, even for over a decade :D

    I saw that you sell your model door from One King West on ebay but i couldnt see how much it was. Could you tell me? And yea, just tell something about your works! Im really interested!

    Best regards

    Maik

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Gilbert, AZ 85298
    Posts
    319
    Country: United States

    Default

    Sorry about that, the long links got truncated. Try these:

    Vault Door Anatomy:
    PowerPoint Show - images, active links, animations and videos
    Windows Media Video - images and animations
    PDF - images and active links
    Flickr - images only

    Vault Doors - online gallery with all known remote combination viewer vaults

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Carlisle, England.
    Posts
    272
    Country: England

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RiemannHypothesis View Post
    Hey folks!

    Since February i am working on a round vault door model completely made of steel. The door with frame weights about 300kg and the door itself about 120kg, and its diameter is 34cm. Im looking forward to build a remote combination viewer to which i have still many questions.

    I mainly used a lathe, a big drillpress and a big indexing head for the door. Some things, like the outer door plate and the crane hinge i have had plasma cutted out of a big 35mm steel plate.

    Well, there is still much work to do; the inner door frame is still missing, but raw material is already bought and the whole locking system is under construction.

    Here are some pictures :)

    Best regards!

    Maik
    Loving your work Maik.... loving it.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Cleveland, Ohio USA
    Posts
    1,433
    Country: United States

    Default

    Very impressive project you have going on there, Maik. On Cleveland Fed door, the timelock is mounted dead center on the door and the combination locks are mounted down close to the floor on the inside of the door frame. One of these days I will get back there to repair the dial knob that was clipped off when making a video of the door. That will require pulling the heavy side cover plate on the remote control viewer, so pictures of the mechanism will be taken. Doug

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •