วันอาทิตย์ที่ 21 กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. 2556

Master Lock 5400D Set Your Own Combination

The masterlock select access storage box is a great Master Lock 5400D Set Your Own Combination. I bought one for a slightly unusual purpose, in that I took it camping. For four weeks, this box was locked onto the frame of my station wagon, right next to the exhaust pipe. During that entire time, I used it several times without any problem. For the last two weeks, I found myself making hour-long treks over dirt roads, and across river beds every other day in a vehicle that was hardly designed for the task.

When I returned to civilization, I fully expected to find the box thoroughly abused. I expected the rubber case to have been melted by the exhaust pipe. I expected mud to have gummed up the combination locks. I even imagined there might be a few dents or scratches on it from the road. None of this was the case.

While my use of the box has revealed to me that it is not water tight, and the glue used to hold the rubber casing on may be a little weakened by heat or water, the worst damage I found on it were a few small scratches on the rubber casing around the lock part, where it had been attached to the frame of my car.

Recently, I managed to get a key stuck in the device somehow. Perhaps it no longer worked right because I removed the rubber casing. Maybe the long car key I put in jammed the locking mechanism somehow, or maybe I managed to accidentally reset the combination while it was open. I suspect that I reset the combination accidentally. My one complaint with this device is how easy it is to do this. Users can easily fix this by gluing or taping the reset switch in place once you've chosen a good combination.

Since I needed the key, I decided I would have to break open the device. Those of you concerned with the security of this product will be pleased to learn how hard it was to do.

As I had gotten the rubber casing off, I already knew that there were six rivets in the back. I imagined that by drilling through these, I would be able to get the lock apart. Using a bench vice, and a power drill with a metal drill bit, it took me five minutes of serious drilling to get through these rivets. When I was done drilling, nothing happened, because the rivets were set in such a way that the drill holes had gone in crooked. I ended up pounding away at the thing with a ball-pene hammer and a cold chisel for another half hour to break the rivets on the sides all the way through. This allowed me to rip off the sides of the front panel. Once that was done, I had to beat in the back of the lock so that I could get the chisel into the top, and force the locking mechanism open. The hinge was too strong for me to break at all. Once I got it out, my key was slightly twisted. I'm not sure it will still work.

All told, it took me fifty five minutes,to break into the master lock select access storage box. Fifty five minutes, using all the tools I could think of. At a private home, with it latched to a doorknob, or in an inconvenient place, it probably would have taken much longer. I don't think there are many places where the police won't get around to a criminal before they get at your keys in one of these things. I also don't think a criminal who can get at the keys any faster would be able to use them once he got them out.

ไม่มีความคิดเห็น: