Drilling a hole in a safe for power

Both my Fort Knox and my Browning came with a hole. Like the others have said, a cordless drill and a sharp bit will have you a hole before you know it. A hole may compromise the fire rating some, but electricity is nice. Lightman

PGT.
Great info way to go.

What I think you want to avoid is a fire INSIDE the safe from your wiring getting melted in a fire. Put a small appliance cord thru a small hole and use spackle or what the last guy recommended to restore the heat shielding despite the hole. Separate the wires physically immediately upon entry into the safe so they will not short even if insulation melts from conducted heat. Put a just-large-enuf inline fuse back outside the safe, say 1 amp.

What is a firePROOF safe? I would like one of those.

Jim

What I think you want to avoid is a fire INSIDE the safe from your wiring getting melted in a fire. Put a small appliance cord thru a small hole and use spackle or what the last guy recommended to restore the heat shielding despite the hole. Separate the wires physically immediately upon entry into the safe so they will not short even if insulation melts from conducted heat. Put a just-large-enuf inline fuse back outside the safe, say 1 amp.

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Just maybe....since your house is on fire and it is hot enough to melt the insulation off the electrical wires inside your safe.....do you really think the house wiring is still intact and providing electricity throughout this blazing inferno? Seriously....maybe the wiring in the "uninsulated walls" of the house, that is burning, has failed....the breakers have long ago tripped (assuming the FD hasn't already cut power anyway)....and there isn't much in the way of electrical power available for your safe.

Every Liberty safe I have ever seen in person had a premade hole for electrical. Many had plugs inserted in them at the factory, but easily pulled out. Check the back of your safe near the floor. If you cant find one, drilling through the back of the safe is not going to be a huge deal. Its heavy gauge sheet metal. Get a 1/2" drill, a new 1/2" drillbit and a good can of spray lube. Drilling steel is not high speed blast away. you will dull the bit in about 10 seconds. operate the drill at a low revolution (200-300 rpms at most) and use lots of lube. A shot of spray every 5 seconds is not too much. you want to keep the bit cool and lubed and it will keep cutting through the steel like butter. Once you are through the steel, the sheetrock is just that, sheetrock... The bit will just keep going. Use a knife to cut the interior carpet before you drill all the way through so the bit doesnt grap it and pull the interior carpet into a balled up mess.

Do not overthink it, its only sheet metal.

We have a raised floor at work. The floor tiles are two layers of 12 gauge steel filled with about 1" of concrete (don't ask). I can go through them with a 2" bimetal holesaw and an 18v cordless drill in about 30 seconds. A standard RSC would probably be even easier.

R

Instead of using a half-inch drill bit, you could speed things up by using a .50 BMG. Simply open the door and shoot through the back panel.

Safe

May I suggest that you please do either of two things.

Choice #1
Spend lots of time drilling and going thru many drill bits. But please be safe just in case you get tired and have a beer. Then spend more time and more beer....... Then give up!! And have beer.
Now the other option ~ send the Safe to me and go and buy a bigger and better safe with a light built in.

Choice # 2
Buy a led with a battery from Costco's for about $15 and spend the rest of the time cleaning your GUN!

I did #2...

OilyPablo said:

Too thick for that punch plus the "drywall" layers AND again I don't need such a large hole.

Hilljun - I'll need to buy a .50Cal for that.

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You say that like it's a bad thing. I'm confused.

Hope you are joking about shooting a hole in your safe. Way too many things can go wrong with this. My safe is actually a fire proof horizontal file safe. Weighs about 800#s with 8 1" pins. It sits on a concrete slab with brick walls on either side. Am not too concerned about fire with it. If placing your safe on a wooden floor be sure to support it well. Placing a couple layers of gypsum wallboard(sheet rock) on the sides, back, and top will greatly help if a fire starts. If in a closet then line it with double layers of sheet rock to slow fire.

People that think a fire is going to enter a gun safe through a 1/2" hole near the bottom and ravage the contents make me laugh. Not to mention the fact that most "gun safes" aren't even close to fireproof. Unless you have a 5-digit true safe, most any RSC won't protect your stuff worth a poot in a fire. Might keep the flames off, but the RSC will just turn into a big steel oven. Protecting valuables from fire effectively is gonna cost you big bucks.

I don't hold with the idea that nothing less than 5" thick face hardened armor plate is acceptable, but anything that can be cut with a chassis punch wouldn't be much of a safe.

Jim

With the many LED options out there I would say you might not need to drill a hole at all. just my .02 CENTS

I used a bit just big enough to run the cord from my goldenrod through it. From the inside, it took me about 1 minute with a good bit - it isn't a big deal

OilyPablo said:

Too thick for that punch plus the "drywall" layers AND again I don't need such a large hole.

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Not to mention that the punch requires a hole in the first place.

It seems that the Liberty safes I've looked at came with a hole already, and some had a power outlet or strip in them too. Been awhile though since I've looked at one.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I thought I might add a solution others may find helpful.

If you have a safe without a hole for power and drilling would be impractical or unpalatable to you, and you have half decent soldering skills, you can always repurpose an old computer ribbon cable for running low current power. They are usually thin enough to fit between the door and wall of the safe easily. You will need a pair of terminals for it, then just solder neutral power to one half of the pins and hot to the other. I have used this method to power goldenrods for years without issue. Just make sure the clearance isn't so tight that the door rubs the ribbon.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yp55dlzfkqhxubt/IMG_0070.JPG

since this thread is active I guess I'll update with the following.

Turned out there already WAS a hole in the back of the safe, just not through the interior panel (drywall.) I drilled that out and did the following...
took a flat 16ga 3 wire extension cord, cut the plug off it, ran it (and a network cable) through the hole, then replaced the cut plug on the wire. That gives me enough electric power inside the safe for the network storage box (Buffalo LinkStation Duo, fyi) and if needed later on a small heater. Annoyingly the LinkStation doesn't make enough heat to raise the temp inside the safe any amount.... was kind of hoping it would kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

I have drilled safes and unless you are attempting to drill into the lock mechanism they're no different than drilling a hole in your car's trunk. A standard high speed steel bit is fine (you don't need to run it at high speed) Most safe bodies are just two layers of sheet metal with a wet gypsum compound in between. If you're concerned about causing an electrical fire inside look at low voltage lights for patios and decks. Be sure to use a heavy rubber grommet where the wire passes through your hole.

I did the same as sota, but added a timer to turn the lights on. The heat generated, keeps the safe nice and dry.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n539/TheCaptHank/Valhalla/Valhalla001.jpg

Some safe walls are comprised of 12,000 PSI corundum-impregnated concrete surrounded by thick layers of plate steel, and I can tell you that drilling through that is not at all like drilling through a car's trunk. Which is why I offered an alternate method if that were the case.

That gives me enough electric power inside the safe for the network storage box (Buffalo LinkStation Duo, fyi) and if needed later on a small heater. Annoyingly the LinkStation doesn't make enough heat to raise the temp inside the safe any amount.... was kind of hoping it would kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

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That's a bummer to hear - I was planning on doing the same thing for the same reason. At least it will be secure though.

Timer

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n539/TheCaptHank/Valhalla/Valhalla002.jpg?t=1397147633

I've got a 10 year old American Security - one of their pretty good quality safes. I was told it had a hole in it for a power cord. After delivery... no hole. It took me quite a while and about 3 drill bits to get a power cord hole in it. Everything is a trade off. Where I live (on a lake), you definitely want a dehumidifier rod in there, and lights are nice to have as long as there's power there.