quick question

[Frog4]

Hello & Thanks for the forum ...

I'm a wood worker/welder/dumb country boy so bare with me ...

Designing/building a mini WOOD safe for the GF for a christmas present.
She's an accountant and loves wood as well.

I have the "box" figured out. Pretty simple for a wood worker.
I have the 4 dead bolt door mechanics figured out. Simple, since
we have an electronic/key safe, I just took the inner door panel
off and checked out how they made the handle/bolts function.

what I'm having trouble wrapping my head around is the combination
lock I want to build out of WOOD ... I'm trying to have it function the same as
a metal lock, "clicks" when rotating the dial etc. I have found some literature
from several woodworkers who have made "toy" combo locks, but I'm
looking to build this a little more realistic

Is this something ya'll could help with?

[femurat]

How about this? http://woodgears.ca/combolock/index.html
I found it years ago and planned to make one... it's one of many projects I wish I had time to make.
Don't forget to post pictures of your work in progress and final result: we all love pictures

Good luck

[Frog4]

yup, gonna order his plans ...
my problem still is to make it life like and less toy like ...
how do I make it "CLICK" like a real combo lock?

[femurat]

well, combo locks don't click... I mean, real combo locks, not cheap fireproof boxes combo locks...

that said, you could drill a hole in a surface very close to the dial, insert a spring and a sphere and make many grooves around the dial surface so that it "clicks" if you turn it. this is just the first thing that crossed my mind when I read your question, maybe there are better options.

about buying the plans for the lock, are you sure you need them? if you're a woodworker you may be able to reproduce that lock by eye

Cheers

[MacGyver101]

how do I make it "CLICK" like a real combo lock?

I was puzzling over that comment from your first post: I may just need a coffee... but, just to double-check, what "clicking" are you referring to? Safe locks don't click when you manipulate them -- or, if they do, it's only in a couple of places, when the wheel packs pick up... and you typically can't hear that, if the safe door's suitably thick. (And the dial typically doesn't make a clicking noise when you turn it.)

[Frog4]

this is another I would like to find,
it has a complete wooden safe build:

http://www.amazon.com/More-Working-Wood ... 0941936791

But at $300+ US dollars forget it ...

[Frog4]

ahhh, the CLICKing of the dial rotating, similar to this:

Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached.

[MrScruff]

Maybe you could reverse engineer a computer mouse wheel. Every time you turn it the wheel "clicks" into place. I know it's purely mechanical and relatively simple, the only thing I'm not sure of is whether you could reproduce it entirely with wood.

As a complete aside, this is a fantastic project. Best of luck!

[femurat]

Hey Frog4, to insert a picture in your post you have to upload it to imageshack or similar and then include a link here

[Frog4]

this one seems close to what I am looking to do:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Safe-1/

thanks for the picture tip ...

[Frog4]

here's the picture I was trying to upload:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/med ... -until-the

[deception]

how do I make it "CLICK" like a real combo lock?

I was puzzling over that comment from your first post: I may just need a coffee... but, just to double-check, what "clicking" are you referring to? Safe locks don't click when you manipulate them -- or, if they do, it's only in a couple of places, when the wheel packs pick up... and you typically can't hear that, if the safe door's suitably thick. (And the dial typically doesn't make a clicking noise when you turn it.)

LaGard 3330 Group 1 lock does in fact "click". It's the key feature that makes it manipulation proof.