Thieves

[bucko]

If I was you I would make shore you lock up and take some pic off all your gear to show the insurance company what you had taken becouse i have herd they can be difficalt and some times clam that you never had what you say you did and fit a good scurity light that lights up the hole yard when some one comes in but it just seams strange that they only take a saw shoerly at would at the very least take something in the other hand , but I find it very hard to understand the low life’s of society and how they can just take something that clearly is not theirs

 

[gavuk]

not sure if ink will work ,channel 4 documentary,........."break in and make my day"

 

[Bigjoe]

Further to me earlier post Daz, mine's been sitting in my shed for 6 months plus and ive got the battered shins to prove it! , i have the advantage of having 2 big dogs that will bark if they hear a noise a night (annoys the neighbours too ) and everyone local knows the doggies too, i spotted someone looking into my car late one night so let them out for a pee in the front garden! its amazing how quick someone runs when 2x 6 stone lurchers jump the fence in 1 bound!

Oh how i laughed!

Hope you manage to retrieve some of your gear Daz

Joe

 

[peter99]

I had a workshop on the farm but due to the threat of stuff going walking I have moved it to my parents house and set up there as they're retired and around 24/7.

You can't stop them all you can do is slow them down until you get there (but then you have to do something - it's all very well talking about giving them a good kicking, what can you do against 2 or 3 blokes in the middle of no where)?

So I installed an alarm and an auto dialer which calls my mobile within 20 seconds of the alarm activating. Then put all the valuable tools into 2 cabinets secured with steel. So if they break in (even with oxy/acet) I know they're there immediately and have the time between them then having to break the cabinets to do something. might only be 2 or 3 mins but it's enough. If that doesn't stop them then theres nothing really more you can do.

As for insurance it's a waste of time, they'll always try to get out of paying.

just do your best, slow them down, and have a plan when the alarm or mobile goes. I'ts a real B****** at the moment, thousands of them on the rob.

 

[..DAZ..]

Thanks for all the replies, but not very comforting to hear some of them. But at least it has opened my eyes a little. So this weekend I will be beefing up the security on the shed. First off the three T hinges are screwed into wood using security screws, these will be coming out and holes drilled straight through and the hinges will then be bolted onto a strip of flat bar running the height of the door. The same will happen with the three hasp and staples, at least it will make it much harder to force the door open. Next will be sorting the alarm out. I have given serious thought to rigging up half a dozen blank shotgun cartridges, but as I am about to apply for my shotgun and firearms licences it is probably not a good idea to be making peoples ears bleed as no doubt I would get into trouble for it. Unfortunately I have knowhere else to store the more expensive gear, unless the other half lets me bring it into the house for a month or so. Any more ideas on beefing up security in general? I already have security lights all round the house and don't have pennies at present to spend on a decent alarm for the shed. I will consider anything that is legal.

cheers
daz

 

[Bobtail4x4]

can you leave the expensive stuff at a mates for a short while, just in case?

 

[Welderpaul]

Thanks for all the replies, but not very comforting to hear some of them. But at least it has opened my eyes a little. So this weekend I will be beefing up the security on the shed. First off the three T hinges are screwed into wood using security screws, these will be coming out and holes drilled straight through and the hinges will then be bolted onto a strip of flat bar running the height of the door. The same will happen with the three hasp and staples, at least it will make it much harder to force the door open. Next will be sorting the alarm out. I have given serious thought to rigging up half a dozen blank shotgun cartridges, but as I am about to apply for my shotgun and firearms licences it is probably not a good idea to be making peoples ears bleed as no doubt I would get into trouble for it. Unfortunately I have knowhere else to store the more expensive gear, unless the other half lets me bring it into the house for a month or so. Any more ideas on beefing up security in general? I already have security lights all round the house and don't have pennies at present to spend on a decent alarm for the shed. I will consider anything that is legal.

cheers
daz

You can make an alarm for pennies:

Presuming you have mains power in your shed.... You need to obtain an industrial siren/sounder, a limit switch (Something like an Omron), and a key switch. Wired so that as the door opens, and as long as the key switch is switched on, the siren will sound. You can get fancy and wire in a relay which will 'latch' the siren on if the door is closed again, but we never bothered. I've wired them in a couple of hours. Easy to do. Fit the siren on the inside of the shed, at head level and they will get the shock of their life when it goes off - they are seriously loud. I think a set of bits as listed above cost me £25 off ebay.
I used to use similar set ups on furnace interlock systems. You can add flashing lights and all sorts of fancy bits!

 

[peter99]

Dazdidge, as your posting on a welding forum I assume your set up for basic welding. Go to your local steel stockholder this saturday morning, buy some steel bar even if only 12mm, make a small cage in the corner of the shed and either bolt it to something or weld some old steel wider than the door and window in a cross on the floor and weld the cage to that. VERY inexpensive and it will slow them down for a few minutes.

As for a temporary alarm you can buy a cheap bell box for £12 and a bell box battery for about £8, and make a small wire / metal grill to protect it. Get some 12v (car type) wire and run it from an old car battery to the door, buy an alarm door contact for £1 and run the wire then from the contact to the bell box.

Power the bell box from the old car battery.

If they open the door the bell box goes off, if they rip the car battery / wire off the battery in the bell box will keep it sounding.

not the solution your looking for but for £50 you have an alarm, a secure cage for the valuables and a bit of time to react instead of them simply walking away with it all.

Hope that helps

Cheers
peter

 

[peter99]

Or Welder pauls good advice which crossed my posting

 

[brightspark]

Dazdidge, as your posting on a welding forum I assume your set up for basic welding. Go to your local steel stockholder this saturday morning, buy some steel bar even if only 12mm, make a small cage in the corner of the shed and either bolt it to something or weld some old steel wider than the door and window in a cross on the floor and weld the cage to that. VERY inexpensive and it will slow them down for a few minutes.

As for a temporary alarm you can buy a cheap bell box for £12 and a bell box battery for about £8, and make a small wire / metal grill to protect it. Get some 12v (car type) wire and run it from an old car battery to the door, buy an alarm door contact for £1 and run the wire then from the contact to the bell box.

Power the bell box from the old car battery.

If they open the door the bell box goes off, if they rip the car battery / wire off the battery in the bell box will keep it sounding.

not the solution your looking for but for £50 you have an alarm, a secure cage for the valuables and a bit of time to react instead of them simply walking away with it all.

Hope that helps

Cheers
peter

the other thing u can use is a baby alarm to compliment the shed alarm when it all goes off u can hear them breaking in before it goes off

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

cheap silly effective noise sounder


3 volt motor off a kids toy , two big soup tin cans , one clothes peg, two all metal drawing pins length of 20 pound or more fishing line , PP3 9 volt battery and a couple of feet of thin insulated wire. . insulator using a thin bit of plastic 1/2 x 3/4 inch ( marge tub lid sort of stuff.)


One one can solder an L shaped strip about 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch long and 1/2 inch wide cut from the second can. Solder it by the short leg into the middle outside face of the unopened end . This becomes the actuating arm on the diaphragm. Bend it to a sort of swan neck as as to be in contact with the motor when fitted as :-

Make a cage of thin strips to hold the motor and the battery so that it can be soldered to the side edge of the can so that the toothed gear on the motor can be rotated against the edge tip of the swan neck so as to make a god awful noise when the motor is switched on .



Carefully put two drawing pins through the faces of the clothes peg so that the faces of the drawing pins face each other and will touch when the peg is closed , solder wire to the pins so that you can make a circuit with battery ,motor and this simple switch . Have it so that one of the circuit wires is stripped off & cut in the middle and given a few twists to connect so you can disconnect the circuit independent of the clothes peg switch
Noisy isn't it ?

Fix the peg to the edge of the can so it is solid ..with the peg jaws facing across the cans height . I used long thin 2 mm bolts for mine.


Secure the can alarm to one side of the protection area at just above fox /dog height .. hide it in thorn bush etc ( don't make it easily reachable ).. use the fishing line and secure it opposite the path to the protected area and take the free end back to the can .
put a pin hole in the plastic and tie the plastic to the line ( you can add thin elastic to pull the line taught ( slip the plastic insulator in between the contacts on the peg.)

You should now have Davy's mark one noise generator ... 11.30 one night I forgot about it ... elderberry wine induced forgetfulness ... fell in to the bloody thorn bush trying to stop is screaming . I looked like I'd been trying to separate two fighting females the next morning .

Because the sounder is so cheap and easy to make once you have done one you can then make six or seven and do ab it of area coverage.

NO you are not allowed to substitute lethal or injurious devices in place of the sounder ( unfortunately ) but you can put a couple of the old fashioned flash bulbs at chest height in a well chosen place to dazzle an intruder as well as having one or more sounders to make for a panic noise .

David

 

[Arsonista]

You want a BFOD.

Like this.

 

[weldequip]

I got bit by a dog the other week! Minding my own business walking back to the car from the cash machine in the town centre & as I passed this scruffy little fecker (on a lead) it jumped up & bit me on the thigh!
The little blighter was only about 8 inches high but it bleedin hurt. "Sorry mate, did it nip yer?", the owner said!
weldequip

 

[SC_BK]

Just my opinion on cheap/basic security: (aswell as everyone else's posts!)

Beef up perimiter with fences/gates/bushes etc. Use a bit of barb wire or anti climb paint?
Gravel driveways/paths make noise when driven and walked over
If your shed/workshop has windows put grilles up on the inside
Keep valuable stuff out of sight of the windows, maybe even put up some kind of blind/curtains?

IMO if you have fancy shiney buildings, gates, etc people will think you have stuff worth nicking. Cover everything wood in dark creosote and everything metal in black bitumen paint!

 

[Arsonista]

I got bit by a dog the other week!

They're good judges of character, eh? You must look like a wrong 'un Weldequip.

 

[rtbcomp]

I set up a repeating doorbell with an electronic indicator unit from a car, a horn and a couple of relays. It all runs off a car battery.

Could easilt be adapted for an alarm and no curcuit boards or fancy electronics to wire up.

 

[..DAZ..]

cheers for the replies guys. I do actually have an alarm on the shed, but in my stupidity I lost the shed keys along with the alarm keys a while back. I ended up having to drill out three good padlocks and then cut the wires to to the sounder, the wires were hidden for obvious reasons but I knew where they were as it was me that installed it. As soon as I got into the shed aand cut the wires I found my keys, on the bench where I had left them!!! I now have padlocks that you cannot lock without the key. The baby monitor idea is good, never thought of that before, so simple, and cheap as I have a couple lying about. I will be making a metal cage of some sort, I have a shed load of box section lying there, providing of course nobody has nicked it by the time I get round to doing it!!! I have let all the neighbours near me know what has happened and to keep an eye out. One of them has lived here all his life and says he has only ever had stuff nicked once. He's the local farmer and had bits lying about. So hopefully that is the pattern that will continue to operate. I do believe they will come back as there eyes would have lit up when they saw everything else, I just hope I catch the ******s at it. No I'm not big and I'm not hard but something leads me to belive these are not seasoned crims, but rather some little ned/chav idiot who doesn't want to work for a living like the rest of us.
cheers
daz

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

You want a BFOD.

Like this.

View attachment 11907

Sadly dogs are fairly easily overcome.

Whilst on a security course we were told of an incident where a landlord found his two dobermans nailed to the back door of the pup with kitchen knives and forks when he returned home after a day at the races.

Was also told of several incidents where the dogs had been fed " special " meat.

They are also often killed by the use of certain things that lots of crooks know about and use.

 

[SC_BK]

If you have a decent dog they will just nick that instead

 

[brightspark]

If you have a decent dog they will just nick that instead

i knew a security guard that once did that