6 January 2016

Dear Mr. MacQueen,

Thank you for your offer of assistance. I am not a mechanic. I once pulled the heads and did a valve job on my car, but that was a 1973 Levi Gremlin and was 40 years ago. I can field strip an M1 Garand.

This is my first and only safe besides a gun safe. I have wanted a cannonball for many years and found this one on Ebay and purchased it from a gentleman in Albuquerque New Mexico. He has several. He included what he said were the original operating instructions that came with the safe. I have followed those directions and set the timeclocks several times with the door open as you suggested. All three clocks run down and the bolt motors retract just fine. Everything appears to work fine.

What I am seeking guidance on is how to go about prepping the safe for bead blasting or sand blasting. Can I take the timelock unit out by simply removing the four brass or bronze screws that seem to be securing it? Or will a lot of other parts jump out like the old snake in a can trick?

I would also like to take off the bolt tripping lever and the back cover plate of the safe door to paint the door. And on the front the dials slide off the spindles but can I remove the 3 screws holding the plates the dials cover?

How much trouble is it to just take the door off entirely? Or is that wise?

My main desire is to get the timelock mechanism in a safe place and then get the body of the safe cleaned up.

Is "bondo" ok to use as a fairing compound?

Thank you for any guidance.

Jody Sims a/k/a Texaschilli