Pimp My Safe (LED Lights and PALS webbing panel)

[partsman]

It started with a Bighorn 31 CuFT Safe from Costco.... I decided to add some "Piranha Bar" LED lights from Oznuim.com. Wired them off a dimmer / off switch and through 12v adapter... Great lights that allow a very clean install. These lights are more commonly used by the "rice burner"
and car tuner market, but they make for damn fine gun safe lights that take up very little space, last for an estimated 25,000 hours (3+ years of continuous use...), create no heat, and can be crazy bright. Definitely needed the dimmer / off switch!



I used 4 -10" bars and 4 -20" bars total in the "Cool White" color



Everything was wired through two plastic junction boxes I screwed to the underside of the bottom shelf. Made it easier to hide the plugs and connectors.



Notice the tissue box I used as a self support to snap this picture...




After the lights were complete, I wanted to find some way to store mags and other items on the door panel. The door panel kits available from Cabela's and the like looked cheap to me, so I started to research other options. I eventually found a company in California, Special Forces Gear, that could create a custom 40" by 60" PALS webbing panel for the inside of the safe door. The panel is held in place by wood screws through preinstalled grommets After I got it in place, I realized that covering the entire webbing panel with Velcro on the back might have worked also, but I at lease I know the screws are not going to pull loose.





Added a few Condor MOLLE pouches and Tuff Gear pistol mag pouches ... good to go with some room to expand later.








Now just need more toys to fill the safe...

what kind of pistol rack is that? did you make it?

[RaisedByWolves]

joseywales

There is a flaw in your putting the safe in the basement theory.

More flaws than that, although I do have mine in the basement.

I am open to input, but really didn't want to hijack the OPs thread.

I did some research on this back when I thought I had enough cash to buy one and a parceled in some of what’s out there online.

Problem # 1: Just like chicken nuggets, there are no industry standards for measuring the effectiveness of a safe, so each manufacturer can create their own testing environment, etc. and state “their” fire ratings. So not only are there bone chips and other crap in my chicken nuggets, I can’t even care for my firearms properly. I want to work in an industry where I get to create the standard, then match my product’s rating to it. Nice.

Problem #2, because of Problem # 1, some companies test on a building scale of heat, which is worthless. That’s like saying I can run 12 mph for 5 minutes and starting the clock when I leave the Starting Line. The clock should start ticking when the temp is at 2,500, not during the time the heat builds. As an example, the safe might read: “2,500 for 30 minutes.” But the house reached 1,200 in the first 10 minutes, so perhaps in 20 minutes it is 2,500. So you actually only have 10 minutes of 2,500 protection, not the 30 they claim.

Problem # 3 – How hot is it inside the safe? Paper chars at approximately 405 F and guns are damaged when temperatures exceed 500. The figure you want to know is how long can the safe keep the contents below 350 degrees. That’s what I care about. Not how hot it can be outside my safe for 30 minutes. Who cares? How hot will it be inside my safe for the amount of time I believe it will take for the fire department to put the flames out AND for temperatures, inside my home, to come down to where they are no longer a threat to the contents of my safe. If that’s an hour timeframe, from the 10 minutes after the start of the fire, to the time temps are back to normal inside the home, then I need a safe that will keep temperatures inside my safe, top to bottom, less than 350 degrees, for an hour. And brother, by the time you have a safe of that quality you might as well put your cash in a money market fund or buy some gold. Over time that should cover the value of the lost items, should a fire occur.

Anyway, maybe it’s different then when I researched this, but that’s what I saw.

Also, I don't store anything in any air tight containers. No good ever comes of that, wether we're talking about things popping, or moisture, rust, etc. Everything needs to be able to breath/expand. Just like the waistline at Thanksgiving dinner!

To late to worry about the OP, lets run with this and clear some things up.

#1, The industry standard fire ratings.


Buy from a reputable company. Any company worth buying from will do their best to rate their safes safely. The Fireproofing used in safes is nothing but Gypsum drywall board. Adding more would be easier and cheaper in the long run than trying to cheat the customer out of a few pennies.


#2 There is no type of house fire that will reach 2500* unless your storing chemicals or copious quantity's of flammable liquids. The average temps in a house fire range from 900*-1200*F.....Thats it.


#3 The manufacturers ratings are for internal temps. While external temps play a part it would be foolish for a reputable manufacturer to cheat here. My safe is rated against 1200* external temp for 45min. This rating ensures that the internal temp will not reach more than 275* after 45min of exposure to 1200* fire. Again, it would cost them pennies to make this whatever they want, which should not be confused with the Value added costs passed on to the consumer for added protection. My safe with all the bells and whistles cost me @$1500 and will surely meet your spec of 350* internally for 1hr.


#4 Air tight containers.

What?


All your valuables should be kept in them...........Unless you keep them wrapped in your turkey dinner, then I cant help you. Airtight container+Dessicant FTW!


#5 It falls 10-15 feet. What are the odds


Id say about 6/1, but Im probably underestimating this. Of course any fire rated safe will have a plauoseal door seal which will up the odds greatly. This stuff will easily expand 6 to 24 X its original size depending on time/temp. It starts to activate around 160* and will seal out smoke/heat/water/ bugs and the FBI for the duration of the worst house fire in the most highly rated safe.



This leade me to the issue of the safe in the B-Ment.


Im pretty sure Ill be OK with my guns in the event of a fire even though there is the threat of water damage. If I suffer a full on house fire the door seal should seal out any water and keep my goods safe as the temps should exceed the activation temp of the wonderdoorseal long before water/flooding becomes an issue.



These were my findings before I purchased my safe.


IIRC, YMMV, IANAL, NAIAFC. Nor am I a Fire Chief.




BTW Partsman, JCabin is going to be pissed.......



.

[moshan]

what kind of pistol rack is that? did you make it?

it is a Hyskore Power Aisle rack from Cabellas. They are really inexpensive...$14.99. I bought two and reconstructed them using threaded rods and bolts to make one longer one. The rack is a series of high density foam pieces held together by a plastic rod. Snip the rod, insert threaded metal rod, add more foam pieces, cut rod to length, add bolts to the end of the rods. Easy 10 minute project..

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...048&hasJS=true

[joseywales]

More flaws than that, although I do have mine in the basement.

#1, The industry standard fire ratings.


Buy from a reputable company. Any company worth buying from will do their best to rate their safes safely. The Fireproofing used in safes is nothing but Gypsum drywall board. Adding more would be easier and cheaper in the long run than trying to cheat the customer out of a few pennies.

#2 There is no type of house fire that will reach 2500* unless your storing chemicals or copious quantity's of flammable liquids. The average temps in a house fire range from 900*-1200*F.....Thats it.

#3 The manufacturers ratings are for internal temps. While external temps play a part it would be foolish for a reputable manufacturer to cheat here. My safe is rated against 1200* external temp for 45min. This rating ensures that the internal temp will not reach more than 275* after 45min of exposure to 1200* fire. Again, it would cost them pennies to make this whatever they want, which should not be confused with the Value added costs passed on to the consumer for added protection. My safe with all the bells and whistles cost me @$1500 and will surely meet your spec of 350* internally for 1hr.

#4 Air tight containers.

What?


All your valuables should be kept in them...........Unless you keep them wrapped in your turkey dinner, then I cant help you. Airtight container+Dessicant FTW!

#5 It falls 10-15 feet. What are the odds


Id say about 6/1, but Im probably underestimating this. Of course any fire rated safe will have a plauoseal door seal which will up the odds greatly. This stuff will easily expand 6 to 24 X its original size depending on time/temp. It starts to activate around 160* and will seal out smoke/heat/water/ bugs and the FBI for the duration of the worst house fire in the most highly rated safe.



This leade me to the issue of the safe in the B-Ment.


Im pretty sure Ill be OK with my guns in the event of a fire even though there is the threat of water damage. If I suffer a full on house fire the door seal should seal out any water and keep my goods safe as the temps should exceed the activation temp of the wonderdoorseal long before water/flooding becomes an issue.



These were my findings before I purchased my safe.


IIRC, YMMV, IANAL, NAIAFC. Nor am I a Fire Chief.




BTW Partsman, JCabin is going to be pissed.......



.

#1 You obviously don't own a Toyota.


#2 The stats I read state that a house fire reaches 1,200 in 10 minutes. Are you saying that it won't get any hotter for the next 35 minutes?? Maybe that's correct, I don't know. But it seems odd.

# 3 Again, companies would sell out their mother for pennies, so I wouldn't count on any "reputable" companies to spend 1/2 cent for my benefit. I buy used guns (and most other products), simply because companies produce substandard products. If I buy at a discount, I don't feel like I got reamed when I discover offset joints, missing screws, etc. I bought my first new gun in 20 years and sent it back because the slide was so damaged during their packaging of the gun, sight adjusters, etc. No QC. I even bought a $1,200 custom revolver from a famous maker and I struggled to fire 3 rounds from it. The ejector rod had not been fitted properly and obvisouly no one test fired the gun before shipping it. No QC. I can only guess that was a cost saving to them...

#4 I store all of my Lionel trains (older models, not the new) wrapped in wax paper, with the ends open, so they can breath. I wouldn't store anything in airtight containers, unless I can control humidity, etc. with an active unit. Something like in a humidor. Although my humidor (bought on Craigslist)is small, so I use crystals. My safes (low end models bought on clearance) have the cans of dessicant as well.

# 5 makes sense. But that's all labratory testing. Look at 911. "We never saw steel do that before. There was something like 9 "first time that's happened.."

Like I said, I did my reasearch years ago, but I just couldn't justify the expense of a high-end safe. Maybe I need to buy more guns (used of course!)

[RaisedByWolves]

OK.


Im not sure what kind of research you did, but by your lack of understanding of the simple methods used in the storage of valuables astounds me. I feel your talking out of your rear end to justify to yourself the purchase of a low end safe which you may now regret.


BTW, re read my last post to understand why the average house fire will not see the temps reached in the destruction of the twin towers. HINT, there was 60,000lbs of fuel on those planes.


.

[ViperGTS19801]

I look at that and my first thought it, "Wow."

My second thought is, "...I think it would look cooler if he used ice blue LEDs instead."

But don't get me wrong - amazing work. +rep.

[moshan]

I look at that and my first thought it, "Wow."

My second thought is, "...I think it would look cooler if he used ice blue LEDs instead."

But don't get me wrong - amazing work. +rep.

I thought of running a separate system of red tubes and have the capacity in the system for it...but it was getting a bit expensive.

The Cool Whites I used are a blue / white, like an HID headlight, rather than the Warm Whites, which are closer to standard light.

Glad you like it....

[ViperGTS19801]

I thought of running a separate system of red tubes and have the capacity in the system for it...but it was getting a bit expensive.

The Cool Whites I used are a blue / white, like an HID headlight, rather than the Warm Whites, which are closer to standard light.

Glad you like it....

Oh I see, awesome. I just have seen a lot of movies where cases have all these blue lights, maybe thats why I liked the idea.

[edogg]

very nice impressive setups

[Fizzle1985]

Your pistol mags puches, where did you order them from. I can't find them anywhere?