Eye protection and an angle grinder will cut through most ulocks within one minute. It will take longer than a minute because it's so scary to have massive amounts of sparks, kind of like spakerlers on steriods, so you'll keep stopping. The metal will get very hot and once you have begun a cut into the lock and you stop, do not try to start up the grinder while touching the lock. Start the grinder by itself and then try to grt back in the groove. It will give you a big kickback if you start it up while in contact. You can cut like a lumberrjack creating a "V" and then make a slash to go thru at the end. The more steady you keep the lock the easier it is. A second pair of hands is helpful but some type of clamp works well. Careful, good luck.
On 6/23/09, Scott Beardsley <scott@sacbikekitchen.org> wrote:
I'm involved with the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen in California. We
recently sealed a deal with the local Police to take 30-40 bikes/month
off of their hands in return for working with troubled (meaning
law-breaking) teens (something we're doing already anyways). I'm
really excited about this and it'll bring even more exposure to our
quickly growing shop/org along with giving us a ton of extra used
parts. I have a question about breaking/cutting locks. Most of the
bikes we will get still have locks (U-locks, chains, cables locks,
etc) on them. What is the best way to remove these? Right now we are
passing it on to the customer, but it'd be nice to at least have the
proper tools if they wanted to DIY it. So far we have zero power tools
in the shop. This might end up being the exception. What do we need to
consider? Eye protection for everyone? Tell me how you handle these
issues in your shop.
Thanks!
Scott
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