Ryder Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 6eSn9Qn4poQ In the aftermath of an attempted robbery of the house I’m staying at I’ve decided to upgrade the security. I have a variety of expensive, ‘nickable’ items which I don't want falling into the hands of a criminal or worse. So I set out in the blazing hot day to scour the shops and stores nearby for a gun safe. It had to be affordable, fairly substantial and light enough to transport on my bike. It also had to have digital and a manual key override feature; as thieves often deliberately destroy the keypad in fustration when faced with one of these and without a key back-up your safe is locked forever... Within two day’s I’d found this one for 3300 baht, a bit over the odds but I’d haggled it down as far as the owner’s would go: http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030302.JPG Here's the stats on it: 16 kilo’s Digital Keypad Manual Key Shelf insert and carpet 4 x expanding masonry bolts You will need: A main’s powered drill with a varied array of masonry drill-bits A spanner or adjustable Rawplugs (in the case of breeze-block construction) A Hammer or suitable blunt instrument Pencil or other marking instrument Back at the ranch it was time to get cracking on installing it. I shouldn’t have to tell you that a safe isn’t much good if it isn’t anchored securely to something, preferably a wall and / or floor... Safe Location First thing it is to decide where you want it. For me it’s right at my bedside where I can get to it from being awoken from sleep etc. I was going to mount it at waist-height but decided upon the floor, this was partly to do with making it much harder for a thief to rip-out of the wall using levering tools and also it would be easier to install and remove at a later date. Next thing is to ‘match-mark’ where the holes that are set into the safe onto the wall itself. I just used a graphite pencil but you can use felt pen etc. This is probably the most important bit of all. Make sure the safe is absolutely flush with the wall, in the case of an uneven / unsquare floor or wall you may have to apply pressure while you ‘match-mark’ it up. http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030304.JPG Make your Drilling! http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030305.JPG Next is drilling out the holes. Make sure that the bolts you are using won’t protude through the neighbouring wall. A good rule of thumb is to keep your bolts to at least 2.5 inches but no more than 4-5 inches. If you have an olde-worlde stone / granite wall then you can possibly exceed this with bigger bolts... Don’t attempt to ‘gung-ho’ this bit, unless you are really a beast with a drill. I drilled two pilot holes in each hole before I switched to the proper drill-size. http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030306.JPG In SE Asia be wary of the cheap drill bits. I drilled out the holes but it took me a lot longer than I thought. The drill was just adequate but the drill bits themselves were glowing red after only seconds of drilling into breeze block! If this is the case you’re in for a long session, I filled up a cup with water and began ‘quenching’ the bit after each ‘buzz’. So you can make it a bit easier if this is the case. If you overdo it you could end up with a molten drill tip and have a devil of a time removing it from the hole! If you have tungsten / carbide drill bits you are laughing in comparison. If you choose to install the safe onto the floor via floor bolts, then you’ll need to be very careful about not cracking any tile’s present. In SE Asia these are a trend in newer houses. Pilot drilling each hole is strongly recommended in this case. Bolt Installation http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030334.JPG For European style solid house-bricks and concrete foors expanding masonry bolts are brilliant for using to anchor a safe of any description to. But for the breeze block construction that is common to South-East Asia they aren’t so good. The cavity-void in the middle will not suit the bolt and during the expansion it will weaken the block itself, crumbling the wall and weakening it. If this is the case then it’s best to use a screw-bolt with a hefty raw-plug: http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030336.JPG The Screw-type bolts aren’t perfect but it’s the best method for breeze block, short of having steel plate’s, and welding bolts to it on the other-side of the wall you can’t go far wrong with this method! Then it’s just a case of gently tapping the rawplugs into the holes (or simply inserting the expanding bolts), lining-up the safe then inserting the screwbolts into the holes. You’ll want an even hand on tapping the rawplugs in btw. I buckled one accidently and it was a pliers job to yank it out and put another one it... http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030331.JPG http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030332.JPG Ideally you want a small adjustable spanner. In my case all there was to hand in the shops was this bigger one. Meaning tightening them up at a straight-on angle, which takes a bit longer: http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030335.JPG You want to tighten these up in-sequence preferably in a diagonal order for best results. You want all the bolts to be flush as can be. http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030338.JPG One flat washer and one spring washer for between the safe-side-bolt and the wall are also a good idea: Drillout out the concrete floor / equiv. is also very suitable for enhancing your gun safe's resistence to levering tools... Once you’ve got all the bolts tightened and in place it’s time to fill-up the safe with goodies and valuables http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030340.JPG Make sure you use a decent passcode, NOT the factory supplied one or the 1234... Check out the video at the top for the rolling low-down, video style with some music to get your mental juices buzzin' Thanks for reading. http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/WR/P1030341.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Sounds/looks like a good rainy-day project. HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCorinthian Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Just so you know, I could get into that in less then 2 minutes. And I could just take it in less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Yes but it makes us feel better than leaving the money on the table. What would you do in a hotel room or a rented house? I always dream up machiavellian schemes involving removing ceiling tiles or toilet cisterns. Coss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Ryder, I got to say one more time you are a clever guy. Seems like you are always doing something. Very informative article, thanks. . I had some shits get into my floor safe once. I guess they were surprised how easy they got in the safe being I hadn't locked it. When they opened the safe, I guess they were pissed because I had moved all the cash to the wall safe. Being they were dumb asses, they never did find the wall safe even though the combination of the safe was laying on my desk in plain sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCorinthian Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Yes but it makes us feel better than leaving the money on the table. What would you do in a hotel room or a rented house? I always dream up machiavellian schemes involving removing ceiling tiles or toilet cisterns. Coss I use the in room safes but I dont live there so all that is ever in it is some ids and a little cash. Not the best but better than anything. And they are easy to get in to too if you really had to. In a hotel, the hotel lock box's on the main floor are the best choice really, mostly because now days they have 24 video on them. But if you want a good place, taped under a drawer is good. And behind the fridge is another. Remember the toilet cistern has been used in so many movies that it's a poor choice. For your house, hidden in a clever place is WAY better than a safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookie Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Remember the toilet cistern has been used in so many movies that it's a poor choice. For your house, hidden in a clever place is WAY better than a safe. Agreed! A cheap 3K-Bt safe offers about as much security as a paper bag, it's just a little heavier to carry away. Use the toilet? Forget it! If not large objects, place them in the back of the refrigerator where the motor is. Small things can be held inside some of those fake food cans and just place the fake cans amongst other real food cans. Hiding things inside a TV is not good as they can carry the TV away. The underside of drawers...is undiscovered by only the most lame of thieves. Be creative...there are many places to hide things from all but the most committed thief! Now where to hide your sharpshooter's rife, with the silencer, or your fishing pole could present a problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 A lot of beds I see in the cheap hotels I stay in, are wooden to the floor and seemingly never moved. Mind you a smart maid would notice you'd moved it and wonder why, so that's not an option. I lost the key, to the in room safe once, 2K and a buggery big drill later, I got my passport back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexi Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Remember the film " Fistfull of dollars " where the bank had a secure vault which everybody knew about but kept the real money in a safe disguised as a drinks cabinet ? Camauflage and trickery is more effective IMHO.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pasathai1 Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 lots of room inside the celing mounted air cond unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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