Bought all the stuff at a closed car wash.... except the keys.

[Dan-Ark]

Went to an auction Saturday and made the first, and as it turns out only, bid on all the equipment for a wash that is being repurposed by its new owner. with 2 ss bays and a D&S Super 5000 IBA. 3 D&S vacs, changer and bunch of stuff, mostly with locks. the new owner didn't worry much about getting keys, old owner out of state used a former manager now out of touch, etc... Locksmith says 75.00 each (have at least 9) to drill out the Medeco locks. 25.00 to pick/open the easy doors. 95.00 for the trip. I have already ordered a tube lock impression tool set that I hope will hande the T locks on the vacs if none of my current D&S keys works so looks like on top of plumbing, electrical and sanitation engineering, I now need to add locksmithing to my list of needed car wash owner skills. Would appreciate any helpful comments or private messages on best way to deal with these locks. (drill, pick melt, freeze whatever!) I figure I can buy a lot of drill bits for $600. May not even try to save the vaults but stainless is pretty hard to work with even with torches and grinders. Most of the in bay equipment and vacs at this site seems to have come from D&S if that makes any difference on master key availability, etc.... Of course Im sure all the vaults are full of money and the changer is full of bank notes! (yeah right lol).

 

[Randy]

I'll be in touch. Locksmiths don't know have the know how to open these locks.

 

[mac]

If you can get the serial numbers off of any of the equipment, the manufacturers may be able to tell you which locks came with it and sell you the keys. and drilling out Medeco locks is a learned art.

 

[Waxman]

Criminals tried in the past to drill out a medeco of mine. They did such a pi$$ poor job that the lock was still usable after their attempt at drilling.

 

[MEP001]

I've only had to use the easy technique to drill out a Medeco once - I used to plow through them with a hammer drill which took 30 minutes and made a ton of noise. The easy way barely took five minutes and didn't harm the housing. The impressioning tool is fantastic. For ~$25 and ten seconds you're in, and you can lock the tool to be used to have a working copy made.

 

[Dan-Ark]

I got two very reasonable methods that will be far cheaper than paying the locksmith 75 a log to hold a power tool. If he could make keys, it would be worth it, but from what I can see, the medeco lock keys are not easy to reproduce.. Thanks to Randy and Josh for the advice!

 

[Earl Weiss]

Follow Randy's advice. 10 minutes being careful not to damage the housing. Kind of Scary. Another incentive for Layered locks. Maybe add another 10 minutes if Randy is around

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Maybe add another 10 minutes if Randy is around

That's being pretty conservative...

 

[rjpete]

Last week, I fought my way through a Medeco lock in an ESD Card system. I got it done without damaging the T-Handle housing, but I feel it did not go as well as it could have. I am never given advanced notice as to the challenges each day may bring, so I get to look at everything in hind sight, or while on site.

Randy, what is your method for drilling out these locks? Mine was painfully slow, roughly 3 hours slow. I had to be very conservative in my efforts. I was 2 hours from our warehouse, it was after 5pm and I only had the new barrel lock to replace the damaged one.

Thank you

Robert Peterson
Service Technician
Martin-Ray Laundry Systems
rob@martinray.com

 

[Randy]

Last week, I fought my way through a Medeco lock in an ESD Card system. I got it done without damaging the T-Handle housing, but I feel it did not go as well as it could have. I am never given advanced notice as to the challenges each day may bring, so I get to look at everything in hind sight, or while on site.

Robert Peterson
Service Technician
Martin-Ray Laundry Systems
rob@martinray.com

Robert,
I’m not going to tell you how to do a Medeco lock and I don’t think anyone here on the forum who knows how to do a Medeco lock should tell you. You’re doing work for money/pay why should I or anyone else help you do your job. If one of your customers needs to get Medeco lock opened they/you should call a locksmith. We don’t know who you are. The problem is if I or someone here on the Forum tells you you’re going to tell someone else and then they in turn are going to tell someone else and then the next thing you know everyone will know how. Sorry I’m not going to tell you and I don’t think anyone here should.

 

[rjpete]

I am an hourly employee of a Commercial Laundry Service/ Sales company in Denver. I always try to prepare myself as best as possible for the jobs I encounter. This is the first time that I have needed to perform this particular operation on a Medeco lockset. I felt that it did not go as well as it should have. Hence, my searches for a better method.

I apologize if my request was out of line, but, I figured if I could learn a better method, I could save the next customer some money.

Thanks anyway and have a great day!

Robert