Harbor Freight 1.8cf digital safe. Can I make it stronger?

George9

George9

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Hello, I have a Harbor Freight safe the 1.8 cf one that is digital looks like a small refrigerator.. The steel on it is not bad. Door 1/4" and sides back bottom 1/8" weight is 75 lbs. 3 live dead bolts 3/4" round.Full 1/2" steel door case fully welded. I looked at the locking mechanism behind the cover inside and this safe lock works is not that good.. Anyone here have one or one like it under another brand name? Have you beefed it up any? Again my worry is the lock works, solenoid and such.. what and how did you do it? Pictures would help.. But your thoughts or how you did it would be just fine I can work with that.. Thanks. George
 
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This type of safe is basically to keep your kids away from your guns or to slow down anyone trying to steal it. If you want a more secure safe, I suggest you buy one, rather than try and modify the one you have. Certainly no safe is truly secure, but a full size quality safe can provide a much higher degree of security than the safe you are referring to.
 
Rule number 1 never buy anything with moving parts from Harbor Freight. I can,however, highly reccomend their dead blow hammers :D
 
I would buy another safe, nothing fancy but decent.

I tried cheap safes too, just to be on "the safe side" and not to leave firearms across the house. I was disappointed and unhappy so I sold them.

Also, a safe needs to be fireproof at least for 30min in my book.
 
The safe is good except for the moving parts as you said.. I agree. But the build it's well made for what it is with it bolted down good and a good way for better locking. It's would not be bad.. I also weld and could plate it to any thickness I wanted too. George
 
Tried to find your safe on the HF site, but didn't see it. Most low cost safes of this type have the combination reset switch mounted on the periphery of the inside of the door.

A bent hacksaw blade can be inserted through the door gap and used like a slim-jim to activate the switch. You then reset the combination to your choice of numbers and open the safe.

You could weld or epoxy a small diameter pipe stub over the push button switch so you'd have to insert your finger to activate it. This would eliminate one common (check YouTube for a video demo) method of entry.
 
16thVACav, Thanks! Ya that's how I found out just how easy it was to get into You tube.. That reset button I could even move to under the cover.. But the real issue is the lockup and the solenoid.. You can punch the key lock then stick you finger in and release the lockup by pushing the solenoid down.. I have seen this safe open if hit hard on top as there is not much of a spring on the solenoid.. Such a shame as the steel construction door door frame and sides is quite good. And easy to beef up more. George
 
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