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Quiet, isn't it ?.

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bouncer965

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Post Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:34 pm

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

i go for the letterbox tool too but wont be sure till he has slept with it :stupid: :D :D :D
[“A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.”.

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Magic1

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Post Tue Apr 27, 2010 2:07 pm

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

Yes .... but then again I expected YOU or Bouncer to get it Hi!. The screw jack gives me 200mm of fine adjustment and therefore the extension tubes go up in 200mm multiples. Today's was the first 200mm extension tube, the next will be 400mm long and so on. Total reach will be 2.0 meters for a worst case of bottom middle letter box, with a top right or left rotary bolt.

Gripper rotation and gripper 'gripping' operation will be on the outside of the door and not a cord in sight. Since the control head is always on the end of the tool, it will be able to open rotary deadbolts at the top and bottom of the door as well as draw bolts , security chains and lock nibs. Eventually I would like to make a ROBOT type gripper for it ... providing I don't lose interest first. Euro's and Yale clones are no problem.

I have been buying up web cams from EBAY because they never put the camera body size on the ad's. I got a another small one arrived yesterday from China, that has a body width of 36.4mm and of course the brass 'Georgian' style combined letter box / lock has a slot 35.33mm wide. It will slip in if I turn it slightly. There are still others on the way. Pity because all of the smaller ones I have seen so far have no internal illumination. So I am still looking for a bullet style CCTV camera to mount on the tool. The idea of the web cam is to use a laptop /notebook as the viewing screen. The PC will also work with some of the other tools I have done. I did look at MP4's but at my age I would need a magnifying glass to see one. I suppose from your point of view a nice large screen provides customer entertainment and 'enhanced' value.

It will be interesting to see what I have missed. I will leave it to you to explain what an LBT is for Hi!.
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uklockpicker

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Post Tue Apr 27, 2010 2:46 pm

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

:slainte: Sounds a very interesting project you got going on , i was going to mention the mp4 but a laptop screen would be better :D
Looking forwar to seeing the next stages and final article :D
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Magic1

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Post Sat May 01, 2010 9:20 am

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

Letter Box tool (LBT). I have enough done now to assemble the basic frame of the tool. Just in case anyone doesn't know, an American letterbox on a pole is completely different from a British one which is normally a slot in the front door with a flap on it. A typical letter box slot is about 130mm x 35 mm and it is through this slot that the tool is designed to be used, to open the locks, bolts and remove the security chains on the inside of the door. HPC make one but, it leaves a lot to be desired, so I thought I would make my own. On the right of the photograph is the basic frame to which the 'clever' bits will be attached. The right hand vertical tube is the handle and stays on the outside of the door. The left hand vertical tube passes through the letter box. At the top of this tube is the control head, which will contain the mechanism for rotating the gripper, opening and closing the gripper etc. A web cam will also mount on the control head. The actual manipulation of the controls will be done outside the door.

The same tube that the control head is on, has two means of arm length adjustment. There is an internal screw jack which gives 200.0mm of fine adjustment via the hex headed 'knob which can just be seen at the bottom of the tube. Originally I had planned to bring this fine length adjustment out to a control on the outside handle via two bevel gears, but changed my mind as the two reference points for the required length, are the physical center of the letter box and the external key way of the lock, both of these can be seen outside and the tool adjusted to a precise length, before it is entered into the letter box.

On the left hand side of the photograph is the 200.0 mm extension tube for the control arm. I still have to make up a 400.0 mm, 600.0mm and perhaps an 800.0 mm extension tube.

The next job will be to complete the control head side, which will be terminated with the controls on the handle. The handle is removable, to enable the tool to fully enter the letter box. Once the tool has passed through the letter box, the handle is plugged in and the tool can now be rotated through 360 degree's if required.

As always when doing these things, new idea's appear and right now I am considering making a new control head, to better serve the needs of the control head CCTV camera. We will see ....
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Magic1

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Post Sun May 02, 2010 7:52 am

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

What is the maximum number of degree's rotation required to open a 'problem' lock .... from the inside ?.
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ChicoSlim803

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Post Sun May 02, 2010 8:31 pm

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

it looks sexy magic after you sleep with can i have seconds? lol
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Magic1

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Post Mon May 03, 2010 2:36 am

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

You can go first if you like and that will give me a chance to test out a secondary function, ie the ability to extract peoples teeth through their ass :shock:
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bouncer965

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Post Mon May 03, 2010 3:45 am

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

:agree:
[“A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.”.

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Magic1

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Post Mon May 03, 2010 8:24 am

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

Above the cable clamping blocks for the control head. Below, the clamping blocks for the handle end of this beast. These are for standard UK bike brake cables, which I chose for their strength. It does take me back to my question of how many degree's rotation is required to open any lock from the inside .... in the worst case. I know little about locks and door furniture, but so far the mortise lock seems to need the greatest rotation, ie 360 degree's. Most night latch mechanisms used with cylinder locks, appear to require only about 45 degrees rotation, but there may be exceptions ?.
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bouncer965

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Post Mon May 03, 2010 8:30 am

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

Not quite sure maybe someone can correct me but some thumbturn type euro locks actually need turning 720 degrees. But on saying that they are not springloaded so you can release the device then attach again without losing any headway.
[“A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.”.

http://www.youtube.com/user/bouncer965
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Magic1

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Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 3:42 pm

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

I changed my mind. To be of practical use, a letter box tool would have to be capable of dealing with the worst case, ie a lock-in. So I have moved the goal posts and now decided it has to be able to deal wit the following situation ....

Two door locks anywhere on the door. Letter box comb. Two rotary star deadbolts, one at the top of the door and the other at the bottom, one minus key. A sliding bolt and one or more security chains. Also, the 200mm of tool length adjustment, behind the door, must be continuously adjustable from outside of the letter box (because the star bolts, sliding bolts and safety chain positions cannot be seen from the front of the door and the tool length set up before entering the tool into the letter box). Gripper manipulation will still be done outside the door.

What have I missed ?.
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bouncer965

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Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:22 pm

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

THey only have a mail box on the outside :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
[“A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.”.

http://www.youtube.com/user/bouncer965
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uklockpicker

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Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:58 pm

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

Magic1 wrote:Above the cable clamping blocks for the control head. Below, the clamping blocks for the handle end of this beast. These are for standard UK bike brake cables, which I chose for their strength. It does take me back to my question of how many degree's rotation is required to open any lock from the inside .... in the worst case. I know little about locks and door furniture, but so far the mortise lock seems to need the greatest rotation, ie 360 degree's. Most night latch mechanisms used with cylinder locks, appear to require only about 45 degrees rotation, but there may be exceptions ?.



Looking at these pictures ,
001.jpg


Ive only turned the cam around 30degree's
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Magic1

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Post Wed Jun 09, 2010 3:41 am

Re: Quiet, isn't it ?.

Thank you for that information. I had not acquired a thumb turn yet, because although the boot sale season has started, I have not managed to get to one. I had planned on stocking up with locks etc., ready for next winter. Fortunately I have not found any UK domestic internal lock furniture yet that requires more than about 45 degree's rotation. Star bolts that I have, do require about 360 degree's which I am catering for, on both the mark 1 and Mark 2 version. As Bouncer pointed out none of these are spring loaded, so by backing off the tool and then re-inserting it ... one gets the equivalent of continuous rotation.

As usual the design turned out to be a compromise and I had a choice of EITHER having continuous rotation OR the continuously variable 200 mm adjustment. To simplify things I made the first one up in modular form so that if I got a better idea it would be simple to just change the control head, without scrapping the rest. As it happened I found a letter box that was so small, a one inch square tube would not fit into it, so the second one will be made of 3/4" square tube, with a half inch square slider. The wall thickness is 1.5mm as before, so it still has plenty of strength.

Just in case anyone is thinking about making one, sliding bolts at the top and bottom of the door not only require a longer extension, but this automatically means reduced torque available at the bolt to shift it. Some bolts can have considerable resistance, due to the pressure imposed on them by the door. For example, it the door frame is fitted with a foam draught excluder, this can exert considerable pressure on the bolt and cause it to be very difficult to move, even directly by hand. The normal solution is to lean on the door while opening the bolts. A simple tool for countering this is a 'door jack', which is simple a length of timber as wide as the door frame, a bolt that goes through the letter box with a swiveling piece of wood behind it that is wider than the letter box. You simply tighten the bolt and that forces the door to close against the compression of the draught excluder, thus relieving pressure on the door bolts. It works for stiff night latches as well. I wonder if anyone will spot the problem Hi!.

Just imagine if Cool Hand Luke had not been caught cutting off parking meter heads, he would probably have had to move onto American letter boxes by now and future generations would be wondering why everyone had a pole on their front lawn ......
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