Chubb Floor Safe Mode - ON Guard -- Lost Combination

[ve3sjk]

Hello All,

I am new to this forum, I purchased a floor type safe i guess
I can lift it and carry it around. The safe is made by Chubb and
shows a model of ON Guard. It has a single spinner for the combination
with numbering going up to 100.

I know the combinations are 100*100*100 which seems to me that I will most likely have another stroke before I get through all the combinations.
I talked to the local lock smith who said that basically they would have to do it manually at a very large cost. I figured why pay someone else to do what I can do.

The safe does have a serial number on the hinge on the side door, don't know if that can be used. What i need to know is if there are any shortcuts like the master lock for determinng some of the numbers and how is the best way to get started on opening this safe.

Thanks in Advance

[ndgreen]

Hi,

Welcome to LP101. As you are new to the forums, let me be the first to point out that you will not get information on opening a safe in the public forums.

That said, if you contact Chubb in your area, and quote the serial number you located, and assuming that the previous owner didn't change the combination, they should be able to help (if you can prove ownership).

Otherwise, you should contact a locksmith. Depending on the quality of the safe lock, and your natural talent, it will most likely prove extremely difficult for you to open the safe without any assistance.

Cheers,

N.

[Shrub]

Any more numbers will be 100 then i guess, spin the dial more than 5 times to the left i think it is then try inputting the combe again, if it doesnt work start off by turning to opposite way that you did before.

[TOWCH]

Shop around for different locksmiths. Are you in the UK?

[ve3sjk]

iam in canada and its was my understanding that chubb here has dropped all safe lines here. They refer everything to the UK now. This safe is old the optiond i have seen is manually by paying a lock smith or buying a new one. Proving ownership is no problem but i can't see paying a lock smith when iam an electronic engineer. After all its just math i guess a variant of the the master combination. I know about the other forums but I can buy a new safe in less than the month required to get to those. Just want to see if i could save it from the garbage pile.

[eric343]

Google "safecracking for the computer scientist."

[mh]

...but i can't see paying a lock smith when iam an electronic engineer...

grin, I like that quote... I'm an electronic engineer, too, and I can't see paying electricians to repair something in my house, which I can repair myself much better and faster and cheaper and ...

I can however imagine to pay someone of another trade for their services.
Esp. in your case I seriously doubt it's a matter of looking up the combination from a book or formula; it's more a matter of spending time and effort - see eric343's suggestion for a good starting point for understanding the concept.

Cheers,
mh

[Chrispy]

Google "safecracking for the computer scientist."

An excellent document.

[jeremy]

Although many of the principles of combination padlocks apply to combination safe locks, the mathematical rules of certain Master combination padlocks apply only to those padlocks, not to safes. Even the safe locks whose design most closely resembles those padlocks do not, as far as I know, follow a pattern that allows us to narrow it down nearly as much as can be done with the padlocks.

And most safe locks are very much more advanced than that, having benefitted from some very good ideas over the years. To open such a lock by trying every possible combination is really not feasible. Your fingers will fall off! There is a method of safecracking called "manipulation", but amateur lock-pickers would, I think, find it at least as discouraging as the professionals do. Education on the subject could easily cost you twice as much as the safe opening job and a year of practicing every evening to get pretty good at it. That estimation is accounting for you being the smart guy you are, and it still doesn't guarantee that you'll be successful opening that particular lock. Don't let me discourage you though! ;)

[Shrub]

Its simple, you said you know the combo, read my post at the begining and you will open it unless you was fibbing and you dont have the combo, you wouldnt need a fourth combo if it does have one which i suspect it doest, as you would just keep turning the dial until it unlocked regardless of the number.

[Chrispy]

Now now, let's not discount manipulation too much. I don't find it discouraging at all. The mathematical dissection of the lock is quite fascinating and is well worth the time to at least get a basic understanding of.

[Al]

Is there a space/gap between the 100 and 0 on the dial? If so it really isn't a good first safe lock for you to open!
If a customer can bring their safe in and leave it to be done at my convienience I'll open and service it for a very competitive price. Your local locksmith is obviously not interested or didn't trust you or does not know or do much safe work. Where are you in Canada?
In the time it will take to try all combinations, you could earn enough doing a paper round to buy a new safe.

[eric343]

If you're an electrical engineer, I'd suggest building a device to dial every possible combination. (That's what the EE students around here do when they get a locked safe from an office cleanout or whatever.)

Designed well, you can get the safe open in a little over a weekend.

[jeremy]

Don't get me wrong. Manipulation is where it's at! But manipulation of U.L. Group 2 locks and the like is best suited for people who are serious about this. I wouldn't suggest learning it JUST to avoid a one-time opening fee.

Ve3sjk does not seem to know the combination but is simply calculating the total number of possible combinations, assuming that the lock has three wheels. It comes to 1,000,000.

Is the locksmith saying he'll just have to try all possible combinations and charge you the hourly rate for it?? That's goofy. Find someone who knows how to open safes. Someone who can get it open fairly quickly and leave it in good condition in the end.

[bonez]

thermite