Just got a call from an old friend asking if I could take a look at his
old DOD-surplus filing cabinet, which has one of the "butterfly" S&G
locks (with a secondary turnpiece in the middle of the knob that holds
the fence away from the wheel pack until the dial is turned to a neutral
position, to prevent manipulation). It's probably been 20 years since
the beast has had any maintainance or a combo change, though it hasn't
been used very intensively over that time.
I seem to remember that there were two or three models of these. I've
never worked on them, though I know my way around other safe locks. I
seem to remember that the anti-manipulation mechanism involves a
complicated cam...
I'm trying to dig out my literature... But if anyone's got tips on what
particularly needs to be done (or not done!) with these, or reemembers
when they were last covered in LL or NL, I'd appreciate the pointers.
In particular: Are replacement parts still generally available? Were
these key-change or hand-change? And -- if it turns out that it's on the
edge of catastrophic failure -- how hard is it likely to be to swap in a
modern replacement?
- posted 18 years ago