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Punch Proof Over Center Cam Mechanism
Why is an over center cam so important?
All safes have some sort of locking mechanism. Most refer
to this as the locking bolts. The locking bolts are the
bolts you see located around the edge of the door. These
bolts move in and out by turning a handle located on the
outside of the door. Once the door is closed and the handle
is turned so that the locking bolts are extended, you
must have a locking device such as a S&G mechanical lock
or a electronic keypad. These devices block the movement
of the locking bolts. A lot of safes built today have
a direct drive mechanism for the locking bolts. This direct
drive makes direct contact with the S&G mechanical lock
or the electronic lock. If you drill a hole in the side
of the safe, locate one of the locking bolts, take a punch
and hammer, it is possible to drive the locking bolts
back and open the safe. With an over center cam mechanism,
all the force of a hammer and punch is directed to the
cam and no force is applied to the S&G mechanical lock
or electronic keypad. An Over Center Cam Mechanism is
much stronger than a direct drive. |
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Spring Loaded Re-locker
What are re-lockers?
A re-locker is a device, usually a harden pin, that is
held in place by a thin plate. It has a heavy spring with
tension applied. If someone hits the safe with a sledge
hammer or knocks off the dial or keypad, the plate holding
the harden pin will release. The harden pin then locks
in place behind the over center cam mechanism, thus keeping
the safe locked. It is important that re-lockers are in
a safe. Having multiple re-lockers in various places through
out the safe helps keep it secure from many different
types of break in attempts. |
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Torch and Drill Guard
Glass Remote External Re-Locker System
The glass re-locking system in a Summit Safe is very unique.
There is plate glass located behind the dial and sandwich
between layers of hard plate. Attached to the plate glass
is a cable, attached to the cable is a remote spring loaded
bolt. If anyone uses a torch to the safe, or tries to
drill, the glass will break, the spring loaded bolt will
trigger and the safe is still locked. This spring loaded
bolt is totally separate from the over center cam, and
is very hard for someone trying to break in, to figure
out its location. When shopping for a safe, ask for glass
plate re-lockers. It does make a difference. |
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Notched Locking Bolts
Summit Safe takes the extra effort and time to notch the
locking bolts. Why is that so important? You might have
seen videos on the internet of people prying open gun
safes with crow bars. Because some safe companies use
very thin steel, it is not hard to do. That could not
be done to a Summit Safe, however we did not want to take
any chances. If someone used powerful hydraulic equipment
on the safe we wanted to be able to stop this type of
attack. The notched bolts would actually grab the frame
from all sides, preventing anyone from spreading the door
apart. You may never need this kind of protection for
your safe, but it is nice to have, just in case. |
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Triple Step Floating
Hard Plate
Hard plate is just steel that has been harden so that
a standard type drill bit cannot drill thru. With the
right kind of drill bit it can be drilled. So the more
hard plate you have the harder it is to drill. We use
three hard plates in our safes. And then we sandwich the
glass plate in between the hard plates. Even to the most
experienced safe cracker, our safes are a nightmare to
drill open. |
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Steel Thickness
When building a safe, you need to use steel. I know that
sounds redundant, but so many safe manufacturers use 12
gauge steel to make a safe and many think that a 10 gauge
safe is a premium safe. But the reality of it is 3/16”
is twice as thick as 12 gauge. Twice as thick! That’s
twice the amount of steel protecting your valuables. Our
Everest model starts with ¼” steel in the body, that is
2 ½ times thicker steel than 12 gauge. In our doors, the
thinnest metal we use is 3/8” thick. The door of an Everest
starts with ¼” plate steel, then ¾” ceramic fiber with
a ¾” steel frame and then another ¼” steel plate. When
you see doors as thick as ours they are usually built
with one layer of 12 or 14 gauge two layers of sheet rock
and if your lucky maybe another layer of 12 gauge. That’s
an overall steel thickness of maybe 3/16”. There is a
big difference between 1 ¼” inch of steel and 2 layers
of 12 gauge. Please do not be fooled by tricky catch phrases,
complicated fire ratings, and any misdirection by any
manufacturer. Bottom line, safes that are safe are built
with steel. THICK STEEL. Period. |
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