Here's the video again of Sturdy Safe's fork truck test which in my personal opinion should be added to all future testing for TL rated safes (I have a feeling if it were there would be a few safes needing a redesign.) Notice how much the 1/2" flat plate flexes that's holding the Sturdy Safe down, also remember that the door has the weight of the safe to lift too whereas the plate doesn't.
I'll have to double check to make sure I'm correct on the number, but I believe anything with a TL rating is tested to 60,000 pounds. Part of the test includes "pressure applying devices".
I reviewed the video again and I stated incorrectly that a bolt may have been slightly bent after the test because it was more difficult to open. Well the bolts were just fine it was the door seat that was slightly effected by the test so sorry for the false information.
The steel stock the bolts are made out of should be stronger than the frame, the door, and the bolt guides. If anything bent at all, it probably wouldn't be the bolts. Even in the Liberty video, the bolts didn't bend, although to the untrained eye it may appear that they did.
Terry states in the video that he has seen the fork truck lift 11000 Lbs. The rating of the fork truck itself is 10,000 Lbs and of course that is with a safety margin figured in. Since we see in the video that basically the hydraulic lift stalls then finally the rear tires come off the ground after Terry repositions the chain on the forks to get some leverage against the vehicle so the actual tension on the door is probably around 12000 LBS. So at what point is the door finally going to fail if it can easily handle 6 tons of tension? It handled this test but there were some early signs of stress since the door seat was slightly bent; the good part is that the stress is showing up on a bend in the uni-body of the safe so higher levels of tension on the door is actually going to further close that door seat which will help prevent the door from opening. Based on the support structure of the door and how well in handled this test, my educated guess is that the door will at least make it to 20000 LBS before finally failing but going with what we know, lets say 12,000 LBS is needed to get the opening process started.
This is where you start to go wrong. You're facts are right, but how you're applying them is incorrect. The forklift is applying the force in the best possible position, the strongest part of the safe.
Since we know that the door seat is recessed on the Sturdy Safe and the gap between the door and the body is just large enough to squeeze a dime between, we know that we don't have a place for a pry bar to even be used against the door.
Until a place is made. Wouldn't take long.
So with a collapsed body that allows you to use a crow bar in the first place, and a fulcrum that's 4" from the door edge where the crow bar makes contact.
I have one of those fancy pry bars. Refigure your math at 1" and let me know what you come up with. I'm almost positive I wouldn't need a crushed body either, although it would most likely be deformed to some extent.
so assuming you weigh around 170LBS
I actually gained some weight recently, and am at 160. My normal weight is 140 though, so you can recompute a 1" fulcrum at 140 pounds.
Of course, this would be to just get to the same level of force as the fork truck which didn't phase the safe so best be planning to use a 40 foot crow bar which would likely be too heavy to lift in the first place.
Much shorter than 40'. Keep in mind I'm not trying to rip the door off, nor am I trying to shear a bolt (pretty much what's happening in the video).
Instead of trying to figure out how much pressure I can apply (I already told you 10,000 isn't out of the question), how about you compute the strength of the door? You're an engineer, so we shouldn't be focused on a youtube video, we should be focused on some facts.
You should easily be able to determine the strength of the door and/or body. You know which materials are used. The values for these materials are easily accessible. What we need to know is what it takes to move the middle edge of the top or bottom of the door away from the body (doesn't matter which moves, body or door) just a few inches.
I'll double check your math for you.
