Had to open and repair a faulty floor safe in Wednesbury yesterday and took a few photos for my own reference. They are worth a look if you ever have to replace a floor safe lock or make a repair to one.



This particular floor safe was locked shut with the key jammed inside.
After much pursuasion with a healthy dose of release spray i managed to free it up and get it opened.

The key had been over-turned inside the lock causing one of the fingers to bend inwards through the lever pack, the whole mechanism had an unhealthy rattle so i pulled it apart and gave it a good servicing.

removing the four large allen bolts holding the back plastic cover releases the sandwich of steel plates which the lock body sits on.

About 1/2lb of dust and shite errupted from the case at this point which was probably why the lock had become so stiff.

Beneath the lock body sits a central pin that engages the centre of the clutch and allows the thumbturn to activate.

If the lock were to be forcibly detached, this pin would fall loose preventing the thumbturn from working.

The bolt stump has two roll pins attached which link the lock body to the release mechanism of the safes lid.

Two spring loaded plungers block the main bolts from retracting via the thumbturn.

When the key is turned 350 degrees the bolt is thrown and the plungers fully compressed out of the way.

Its a pretty solid design and would make drilling tricky considering being mounted a good 6-8 inches below the floor. You would have to be spot on with your accuracy.

Now that i have seen the internals I would avoid drilling at all costs and definately choose the NDE approach since the lock was a relatively simple 7 lever.

Quick Tip

This will save you half an hours head scratching if you have never rebuilt one of these!

When re-assembling do not think of the lock in the usual sense.

Seems silly but REMEMBER:

When the lever lock bolt is fully withdrawn; the lids locking mechanism need to be set up in the locked position. (ie side bolts out)

If you do not set it up in this way upon re-assembly you wil find the keyholes out of line and it takes a little head scratching to work out why.

We are so used to seeing bolt out= locked, however in this case it is the opposite.



Inside a Floor Safe | Locksmith Wednesbury | Opening a Floor Safe