# Vintage Safe Restoration



## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

I am currently restoring a very old Gary Safe Company safe. I have posted a request for assistance in Classifieds > Request a part, job, or quote from members are and have had many views and replies. Just posting now as a new member to allow easier access for updates. Also a big shout out to the Administrator Janger for all of his help to date!


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

I have moved this safe with me across 2 countries and 8 or 9 residences over the past 40 something years. There were a few failed attempts to repair it when I was growing up in Colorado.


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

The background I know is as follows. The safe was found by my older brother in shallow water of a lake about an hour from our home. He was just a young teenager at the time and had been fishing with my father. He brought the safe home and it sat in our family garage until I was old enough to become interested. I should mention that the safe had already been cleaned of any contents when it was found in the late 1960's. Some obvious attempts to open the safe lid were evident but whoever deposited it in the lake eventually gave up and used a torch to cut through the back of the vault portion and removed whatever was in it. When I saw it in the garage my curiosity got the better of me and I began to study the dial. None of my older siblings had even tried to open it up. Of course guessing the combination was a no starter. So I used a flashlight to peer inside where the torch had cut a small hole which would have been big enough to shake out any coins. I immediately saw the back cover and 3 screws so grabbed a screwdriver and removed the back panel to expose the inner workings from behind. Now I could see the working mechanism bit better and used the screwdriver to line up the tumblers with the gate, presto change turn the dial and off came the lid! My family was impressed and so I inherited the heavy scrap. Being a kid I immediately filled the safe with tennis balls and closed it up. I had of course determined the combination while the safe lid was off. My memory is a bit fuzzy here but I think that I forgot the combination over time. So back to the screwdriver to remove the back panel. Now with the tennis balls and back cover obstructing any clear vision I was in for trouble! I don't know if panic set in but I made the mistake to punch out the dial to gain a better view to manipulate the tumblers. Well that worked and I got the safe open but wrecked the drive cam in the process (mistake #1). Then I decided I could attach the spindle back to the drive cam by boring a small hole through the cam and using a set screw to hold them together (mistake #2). Then I decided to drill and tap the spindle end to use a bolt to hold the cam onto the spindle (mistake #3).Then I asked a friend’s father to braze the cam to the spindle (mistake #4).Eventually I gave up on the repair to these components but still had my friend’s father weld a piece of very heavy steel channel onto the back of the safe vault to cover the hole that had been torched in it (only real success out of everything!). I immigrated to many years later to Canada and brought the safe with me thinking one day I would get it fixed properly. Well 35 years after immigrating I am trying to get this done and am elated to have found this group!
Recently I have been doing deep research in the safe itself but this has proved challenging as well. Although I have seen similar lids from the same company (Gary Safe Co.), the other lids have move advanced components and relockers. Also the tags are different. I believe everything I have seen online to date are more recent models than mine. I have some feelers out to the safe industry folks to see if I can get something more definitive but for now stand by a date between 1948 and 1951 as I can see a move from Los Angeles District 13 to Los Angeles District 21. The number plate shows this as (13). I have also reached out to Underwriters Laboratories but they were not of any help as the unit is so old.


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## eotrfish (May 5, 2020)

Hi Kelly

Thanks for posting the additional photos.  Now it makes sense.

Tom Kitta is right - there's at least a day's work here.

How is the keyed shaft attached to the dial?  Making a new shaft should be no problem but if the original shaft can not be removed from the dial it could be bored and a replacement stub shaft press fit / pinned / loctited (680) in place.  

The cam is another issue.  My guess that the 11 holes are to allow for different combinations to be set.  If you can live with fewer combinations then the hole placement and number of holes is not critical.  You don't necessarily need the three square keyways in the cam.  You could drill the new shaft/cam combo at the thread pitch line and use a hardened pull dowel as a key.

My question is...
Do you want to restore the lock mechanism as close to original as possible or do you just want the lock to work reliably?


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## Janger (May 5, 2020)

Kelly I think you’re on the cusp of buying a mill and a lathe..!


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## Bofobo (May 5, 2020)

I am fascinated by this whole item history, now if you could please, add pictures of your own with some measuring device for scale.


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## Johnwa (May 5, 2020)

From the pictures it looks like most of the original parts could be salvaged.  
Unless it is some oddball thread the spindle thread could be restored.
The disk could be bored out and a new threaded part silver soldered in.  That is a horrendous brazing job!


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## Tom Kitta (May 5, 2020)

Yes one not so work intensive idea is to take the old cam, bore it out and then either,
1) set it up for larger spindle
2) press into it / solder in the new spindle housing

or as John above said, just bore out and simply solder in new spindle - no dismantling possible but quicker. 

The safe itself could be one of the very first models made by the company - hence a bit simpler mechanism and little info on it.


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## Dabbler (May 5, 2020)

@Cap'n Kelly sorry for the delay in catching up on this.  I have 3 safes currently under restoration.  An 1880s safe with nice scrollwork on it, a 1940s army safe repainted for a dentist's office, and a large vault.   Are you in Calgary?

I've done some work on lockworks, and have been machining for 40 years, so I might be able to help you out a bit.  I'm really very (_very_) busy right now, but I can spare a couple hours to figure what needs to be done.  often fixes on lockworks are simpler than they seem.

pm sent.


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

eotrfish said:


> Hi Kelly
> 
> Thanks for posting the additional photos.  Now it makes sense.
> 
> ...





Dabbler said:


> @Cap'n Kelly sorry for the delay in catching up on this.  I have 3 safes currently under restoration.  An 1880s safe with nice scrollwork on it, a 1940s army safe repainted for a dentist's office, and a large vault.   Are you in Calgary?
> 
> I've done some work on lockworks, and have been machining for 40 years, so I might be able to help you out a bit.  I'm really very (_very_) busy right now, but I can spare a couple hours to figure what needs to be done.  often fixes on lockworks are simpler than they seem.
> 
> pm sent.



I was just examining the dial to spindle connection again. It might be pressed in and/or even a factory swage as I notice a perfect line halfway on the collar? However I also noticed a pin going in at an angle between the two pieces right under the dial that might either be the original attachment or maybe another childhood repair? I do remember the dial itself was bent by the person(s) who took the safe and that I straightened it out. I don't remember if I inserted a pin at that point but if I did the job looks surprisingly good for an 8 or 9 year old boy! I had also thought the solution would be to cut off the spindle and bore out the collar and then press/pin the new spindle in place. As for the cam, moving the drive screw is another way to set a new combination. I just removed that screw and it could be used again in any of the positions. I would of course prefer drill/tap holes to match the existing piece to keep it as factory but that part seems the easiest to me. The 3 keyways were likely a method for ease of customer hand changing the combination from time to time and gives more flexibility for ease of repositioning during reassembly (newer safes have 4 keyways). There are 3 other dials to hand change this as well and I have done this several times over the years and again recently. All components other than drive cam and spindle and key are in in perfect working condition so I would prefer to restore as close as possible to original.

I am in Calgary and could bring over the safe lid and even the vault anytime. After 40+ years I am in no hurry to finish this I realize that social distancing is still in place but am okay with a group meet if this would be helpful in determining the best solution. More detailed pictures forthcoming.


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

Janger said:


> Kelly I think you’re on the cusp of buying a mill and a lathe..!


I think my wife fainted while I was reading this post! And I wasn't even reading it out loud...good idea though;-)


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## Johnwa (May 5, 2020)

[mention]Tom Kitta [/mention] I was suggesting that a new “hub” be made for the disk and soldered in. The spindle would thread into that just as before.
This all depends on whether the threads on the spindle can be restored.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## YYCHM (May 5, 2020)

@Cap'n Kelly Was the damaged cam including threaded boss with keyways a single piece of brass originally?  Is the spindle in serviceable condition?


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

Bofobo said:


> I am fascinated by this whole item history, now if you could please, add pictures of your own with some measuring device for scale.


Some new pics from just now as requested. If anyone could comment on the foundry stamps this might be helpful in my research as well.


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

Johnwa said:


> [mention]Tom Kitta [/mention] I was suggesting that a new “hub” be made for the disk and soldered in. The spindle would thread into that just as before.
> This all depends on whether the threads on the spindle can be restored.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


This may be a suitable solution, likely dependent on an up-close visual inspection. Please review the latest photos. and thank you


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> @Cap'n Kelly Was the damaged cam including threaded boss with keyways a single piece of brass originally?  Is the spindle in serviceable condition?


Yes this certainly appears to be a single machined piece. I think personally that the spindle may need to be replaced just by observing the threads but I am no expert for sure?


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## YYCHM (May 5, 2020)

I think I'm counting 24 TPI on the spindle.  If a 3/8" X 24 TPI bolt threads into the cams that might be half the battle right there, as, at least it's a common thread and taps are available.  Does the spindle have to be hollow?

Something to note is that the keyways in the cam boss don't appear to be timed with any of the peripheral features such as the threaded holes or 12 o'clock notch.  At least that's what I'm seeing from the images.


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> I think I'm counting 24 TPI on the spindle.  If a 3/8" X 24 TPI bolt threads into the cams that might be half the battle right there, as, at least it's a common thread and taps are available.  Does the spindle have to be hollow?
> 
> Something to note is that the keyways in the cam boss aren't timed with any of the peripheral features such as the threaded holes or 12 o'clock notch.  At least that's what I'm seeing from the images.



The spindle doesn't need to be hollow, the visible top portion was my very young attempt to reattach the pieces. Also, the keyways only need 120 degree separation and the location to the rest of the cam do not matter.


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## YYCHM (May 5, 2020)

Cap'n Kelly said:


> The spindle doesn't need to be hollow, the visible top portion was my very young attempt to reattach the pieces. Also, the keyways only need 120 degree separation and the location to the rest of the cam do not matter.



That would certainly simplify things.  Why is that assembly threaded and keyed and not just keyed?  Are all the cams threaded?


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 5, 2020)

The purpose of the threads is to not allow the dial/spindle assembly to simply fall out if you pull the dial towards yourself while opening the lid.


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## Tom O (May 5, 2020)

The only person I knew that was familiar with safes was a guy named Ron Pruin back in the early 90's. The Calgary Herald ran a full page article calling him Canada's #1 safecracker after his release he was deported back to the Netherlands. In the article he stated that he could have designed safes but who would have believed him!


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## RobinHood (May 6, 2020)

Cap'n Kelly said:


> The purpose of the threads is to not allow the dial/spindle assembly to simply fall out if you pull the dial towards yourself while opening the lid.



i think they are also used the control/adjust the disc spacing in the stack-up: with three key positions at 120* apart and an assumed 24 TPI (as observed by @YYCHobbyMachinist; 3/8”-24 is a standard UNF thread), each 1/3 of rotation of the disc equals 0.0139” of axial travel along the spindle.

you mentioned that the newer safes have 4 key slots in the spindle: that would give you even finer adjustment (0.0104” per 1/4 of rotation) to set the disc spacing.

clever design actually.


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## YYCHM (May 6, 2020)

@Cap'n Kelly  How thick is the web section of the cam and how proud does the boss extend from the web?  Also, how much material would have to be bored out of the cam web in order to install a replacement boss?

Craig


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## Johnwa (May 6, 2020)

It looks like at least one other disk rotates on the outside of the boss.  From the pictures the ID of that disk is 0.429” so the OD of the boss must be just under that.  With a threaded ID of ⅜” there isn’t a lot of meat left for the key way.

It looks like it would be a fun project.


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## YYCHM (May 6, 2020)

Johnwa said:


> With a threaded ID of ⅜” there isn’t a lot of meat left for the key way.



One image shows he mic'd the spindle thread at 0.295" so it's more in the realm of 5/16" X 24.  I mocked up a prototype in aluminum, It's pretty tight alright.  If the boss can be threaded with a tap, I think I can make a replacement boss out of brass.  The 1/16" key kind of boggles my mind.  That means 1/32" is engaging the boss and 1/32" is engaging the spindle.  How to make a 1/16" square key is a whole different problem and I'm thinking a piece of drill rod might suffice.

Craig


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## Johnwa (May 6, 2020)

Fastenal shows 1/16 key stock in their catalog, but I suspect it would be special order.


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## RobinHood (May 6, 2020)

do we have the key way dimensions somewhere?

I could rough mill something down and then surface grind it to size if appropriate key is not available. Have done it in the past to adapt metric shaft to imperial pulley.

the key way on the shaft might have been cut using a slitting saw of appropriate size. Note the ramp out at the end of the key as it comes into the threads... I probably have a saw of correct size.


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## YYCHM (May 6, 2020)

RobinHood said:


> do we have the key way dimensions somewhere?
> 
> I could rough mill something down and then surface grind it to size if appropriate key is not available. Have done it in the past to adapt metric shaft to imperial pulley.
> 
> the key way on the shaft might have been cut using a slitting saw of appropriate size. Note the ramp out at the end of the key as it comes into the threads... I probably have a saw of correct size.



1/16" as far as we know and from my proto type I would tend to believe that as there ain't room for anything bigger.

As for the shaft/spindle, that's something I can't attempt to do as I don't have mill indexer.  I'm assuming that the original spindle is serviceable for now.






For scale, this is what we are dealing with here.

Kelly needs to weight in before we go much further with this.

Craig


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 7, 2020)

At this point I think some eyes on would be best. I am mobile so can bring parts and assembly anywhere in Calgary for a viewing session. I have a bit of a hiking commitment late this morning (May 7) but could be available in the afternoon or any following day. I am open to repair of the existing pieces.


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## YYCHM (May 7, 2020)

Cap'n Kelly said:


> At this point I think some eyes on would be best. I am mobile so can bring parts and assembly anywhere in Calgary for a viewing session. I have a bit of a hiking commitment late this morning (May 7) but could be available in the afternoon or any following day. I am open to repair of the existing pieces.



PM sent.


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## YYCHM (May 7, 2020)

Who stepped up to the plate to help Kelly out?  All's Kelly would say was that a member visited him today to take a look at the problem and they have a plan of action in place.


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 7, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Who stepped up to the plate to help Kelly out?  All's Kelly would say was that a member visited him today to take a look on the problem and they have a plan of action in place.


PM sent.


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 8, 2020)

RobinHood said:


> do we have the key way dimensions somewhere?
> 
> I could rough mill something down and then surface grind it to size if appropriate key is not available. Have done it in the past to adapt metric shaft to imperial pulley.
> 
> the key way on the shaft might have been cut using a slitting saw of appropriate size. Note the ramp out at the end of the key as it comes into the threads... I probably have a saw of correct size.



See attached sample picture of the top of a spline key. This is a later model lid as you may notice how the safe bolts are kept align by the bisection of each bolt instead of using grooves in the back plate. The attached drawing shows a different manufacturers detail but the key would be similar (references RH-right hand, LH-left hand, VU-vertical up, VG=vertical down are not applicable to my drive cam).


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## RobinHood (May 9, 2020)

Thanks for the picture/info regarding the key.

the spindle-bezel-knob assembly was successfully separated yesterday. Turns out that the spindle is threaded into the knob with a 5/16”-24 thread. The bezel is held captive between the bottom of the knob and a shoulder on the spindle. It is prevented from rotating by the “thread locking pin” which is at a 45* angle to the axis and driven into a blind hole.






the pin is 1/8” OD so I used a 7/64” end mill to start the removing process. I held the assembly by the knob in a 1” 5C collet in a square block set at 45* in the milling vise. I eyeball centred the cutter. I drilled down about 1/4” and then ran out of room because the mill spindle was starting to interfere with the part. So I switched to a 7/64” twist drill. I figured it would just follow the path of the EM, but give me more reach. It worked fine. Kept pecking away until I got some rust on the drill bit - figured I must be through, so stopped. Used my picks to get the pin pieces out. Then realized that there was a thread and unthreaded the spindle from the knob. Here are the parts.






oh, the thread on the other end of the spindle is 40 TPI. I will remake the spindle next. Stay tuned for that.

when the factory made the lid, they machined the casting in two operations: one from the face (outside) and one from the back (inside). There is a boss that extends from the back through which the spindle passes. The drive cam boss (bronze disc with the holes that needs a remaking because of the failed repair 


 this part), fits inside the cast boss and provides bearing support for the rear of the spindle. The front support is by the shoulder on the spindle below the bezel as it passes through a register in the face of the lid. The two bores are not concentric as seen here.





I put a close fitting gauge pin (the silver object) in the face bore extending into the cast boss on the back side of the lid. You can clearly see how off center it is. I will need to rebore the face hole to make it concentric with the rear boss bore as that is the only place where there is extra material available for removal. I will make the spindle shoulder oversize to match the new oversized hole.

i am actually thinking that this may have contributed to the failure of the drive cam boss in the first place. The wall section where the three key ways are is so thin to begin with, that any excess wear quickly chafes through the wall.

more to come as progress is made...


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## RobinHood (May 11, 2020)

Here are some more progress pictures.

The threaded bore inside the knob is off axis by 19 thousands (measured at 1/2” from the face)




 


 




Bored out the lid face bore so it is concentric with the inside boss bore. It will need a 3/8” brass bushing on the spindle shaft to make up the difference.






Here I am setting up the new brass drive disc in the dividing head for the 11 divisions - ten 8-32 threaded holes and one 1/4” notch.




 


 


 




The spindle still needs the key way cut, the center section turned down to match the recess on the lid face and the 3/8” brass sleeve.
The drive disc needs the bore threaded, the key ways cut and the boss OD turned to match the ID of the lid boss.


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 11, 2020)

FANTASTIC! I have pictured the last photo in my head for years but was incapable myself of doing it. I also had no idea the additional corrections that needed attention. The visuals and the detailed descriptions really tell an additional story.


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## RobinHood (May 19, 2020)

A little more work done today. Threaded the drive disc 5/16-40. Turned down its boss to fit into the lid bore. I used a trepanning tool I had on hand to machine out the 70 thou recess.




 




this is the lid boss the drive disc has to fit into





then it was time to deal with the misalignment of the face recess with the through bore. Again, a picture of the problem: there is a gage pin in the bore. the off-center is clearly visible.





since the face recess needs to be co-centric with the rear boss, I used a 5/8” collet to hold the lid in the lathe to bore the face recess.



 








and the result





next I turned down the shoulder of the spindle for a nice sliding fit. I finished off today by milling the key way using a 50 thou slitting saw.





here are the new parts as of today. The drive disc needs the three key ways and a key needs to be made. The misaligned knob threads do not affect operation and I would keep it original as a “feature”


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## PeterT (May 19, 2020)

Lots of delicate setups & operations. Way to go!


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## kevin.decelles (May 20, 2020)

Good photos and descriptions. I learned much. Thx!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## RobinHood (May 20, 2020)

Thanks Gents. I am learning a lot too.

Today it was time to make a little broach: 50thou wide (to match the key way in the spindle). I was considering using part of a 1/16” (0.0625”) parting blade as it already has two of the relief angles from factory. I did not have a good way to set up the angles on the surface grinder (no sine bar) to grind off 12.5thou to make it the required 50thou. Plus I have no way of holding it in the mill spindle without welding some sort of shank onto it. So the next best candidate was this:



a busted HSS end mill. It has a 3/8” shank. I rough ground it on the bench grinder before I switched to holding it in the spin indexer and grinding on the Clarkson T&C grinder. The spindexer allowed me to grind in the relief angles while getting the cutting face to 50thou.



 







the flat on the shank will be used to indicate the cutter in the bore. It was ground at the same time as the front face (both faces are visible in above picture). The edges were honed to remove the grinding burrs.

here I am setting up for broaching. I used a well fitting gage pin to center the part in the mill vice. The drive disc is held in a hex collet block so I can get the 120* angular spacing required. (One could also use a dividing head or a rapid indexer for this operation). Since the gage pin is in a through hole, I used an O-ring to prevent it from falling through.



 




the broach is held in an ER chuck with a short piece of bolt behind it to prevent it from being pushed into the collet (probably overkill, as we are only going into brass)





next will be the actual broaching...


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## PeterT (May 20, 2020)

_I did not have a good way to set up the angles on the surface grinder (no sine bar) _

You likely have seen this method but just in case... You can make quite accurate sacrificial custom angle jigs using a piece of metal with one good edge & some dowel pins.
Example shows a layout to get a desired 3.50 degree angle relative to horizontal. How accurate? 2nd example shows same jig with RH hole out by a thou (yellow shade now a driven dimension), results in the angle being off my only 0.02 degree (purple shade). This is just a positioning device of course, you still need a way to clamp the part, kind of like how a parallel positions. The nice thing is you can use this to hold stock at oddball orientations, could be upright or relative to some other angle. Or incorporate 3rd dowel to act as a stop, now you have 3 contact positions for repeated operations.


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## Dabbler (May 20, 2020)

@RobinHood, I should loan you some of my grinding tools!  Nice work with the T&C grinder!


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## RobinHood (May 21, 2020)

Thanks @PeterT, that’s an excellent explanation on the accuracy of that method. yes I did use that principle when I milled the new lathe compound gib on the mill table supported by a chunk of cold rolled and a dowel pin. The gib was super glued to the top of the billet.

I should have been more specific: since I was going to use the surface grinder, the pin method does not work as the magnet won’t hold down the vice any more. So I would have had to use a vice on the mag chuck, then another (smaller) vice inside the bigger’s jaw and use the pin method on it to get the angles. Head room quickly becomes a problem. Plus the blade has tapered sides - tough to hold onto it in the first place.

A “magnetic sine bar“ is what I was referring to. It could have held the blade fine for grinding... maybe I should buy all of Bert’s surface grinder accessories, if he were willing to separate them from the grinder? What you think @Dabbler?


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## Dabbler (May 21, 2020)

@RobinHood  You could borrow my multi-axis sine table at any time, put the pin in a V block, and you are away!  You found a perfect solution using your T&C grinder - great thinking!

-  You and I should talk about the SG and accessories.  Give me a call when you are able.


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## RobinHood (May 21, 2020)

@Dabbler , I will call you.

only small progress today. Broached the three key ways. Worked very well.



 









key is next...


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## PeterT (May 21, 2020)

That turned out very nice. So are you stroking the quill like drill press mode? About how much DOC per pass? Do you select a low gear to minimize spindle rotation or does it even matter? I have yet to broach but I'm sure I will have to cross that bridge one day.


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## RobinHood (May 22, 2020)

@PeterT , the actual broaching was anticlimactic, almost a let-down.

After using the little flat on the front of the tool to indicate it square to the part, and centering it in the hole, i just moved over in Y for touch-off. Yes, i just moved the quill up and down with a DOC of 2.5 to 3 thou. It was mostly done by feel (i know super precise, hugh?!). No seriously, i could feel the broach engage and take a chip and just went with "about that amount of down pressure on the quill handle feels right". I could feel / hear the chip being taken. Having done some metal scraping probably helped as i have a pretty good feel for what is too much/not enough pressure.

The mill was in low gear with the variable speed selected to lowest (~40 RPM) and the spindle brake engaged. So the only movement is the little bit of backlash that my machine has in the spindle drive gearing (i have not measured that, but being a spur gear, i would guess no more than 2-3thou between the teeth). I called that good enough. One could build a real spindle brake to engage where the spindle protrudes the quill - that would result in zero rotational movement.

Here is a picture of the little ships.


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## RobinHood (May 23, 2020)

The Finishing Touches

The key is 50 thou thick. I found a washer of suitable thickness ~49 thou and did some rough grinding with the Dremel and finish shaping on the mill. Work holding was the biggest challenge as the height of the key is less than 1/8”, the thinnest parallel I have. I used some steel strapping underneath the part to raise it high enough to allow the machining without cutting into the parallel.




 




here is the finished key





the spindle, knob and bezel were assembled next. Made a new brass pin after using a 1/8” end mill as a drill to make the hole at 45* to the shaft axis. This was done originally to prevent the spindle from unthreading and to hold the bezel. They had a steel pin, the new one is brass, I think plenty strong enough. Used some low strength locktite for added security.




 






 




after final assembly and a little tweaking (filing) the lock is back operational.






the combination is 37, 4X, XX, XX, in case you are wondering... I’m sure Kelly will change that....


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## Cap'n Kelly (May 23, 2020)

Wow, super impressed with all of the detailed workmanship! I am super stoked to pick this up and re-install in the safe body.
Now for some historical perspective for what it is worth in closing this off. I had alluded to the age possibly being from 1948 and have attached the related advertisements from https://archive.org/details/PopularMechanics1948 . Contact with several safe forums, antique safe dealers, and even Underwriters Laboratories did not reveal any further evidence but I will continue that quest. I have also exhaustively researched where the safe may have come from, I have really only a single piece of an old news article https://www.coloradohistoricnewspap...--1--img-txIN|txCO|txTA-safe+burglary-------0-- so this is highly speculative but the time and proximity seem plausible (attached below).
Thank to everyone for their interest and assistance with getting these parts replaced. I am completely humbled not only by the precision of the newly manufactured pieces but also by the corrections made to make this piece better than when it came from the factory! A huge thank you to RobinHood for his meticulous work!!!


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