Adam Savage's Miniature Vault Door Build! (Part 3) 

Adam Savage's Miniature Vault Door Build, Part 1: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SiL8IzJSnyU.html Adam Savage's Miniature Vault Door Build, Part 2: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OoMgiXfHbj0.html

Hi Adam, fellow Adam here. I live in Oregon and work on safes and vaults for a living. Also have my own fabrication workshop for making replacement safe and vault parts. I wish we could have collaborated before you started the design. I have scans of vault blueprints from older vaults like this and lots and lots of experience working on these doors. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

Adam, another vote for making the back out of acrylic. Being able to see the mechanism at work would make this an even more amazing project. Though it might mean that conversations over the coffee table stop for several minutes while guests play with the bank vault and see how it works.

Polishing out tool marks. 30 years after doing an apprentiship and always having machines , i had to go on a machine corse to use lathes ect at a tech compny i joined, H&S. five days over five weeks, one job C clamp I took home and polished it for hours, probaly about 4 , to a mirror finish. The next week, showed it to the instructor, ive finished this one. He got the apprenitces from other companies round and said it was exhibition quality. the first measurement he made with his micrometer was .000. moments of joy I see in Adam . the fit of shut the front door.

The closeup shots of Adam's shoulder are really part of the charm of this channel and I love it. The message I get is: You can do this stuff too.

The body of the hinge is supposed to have a significant clearance from the door and wall. The purpose of the second hinge (at the center of the door) is to allow the door to pull STRAIGHT OUT of the hole a short distance before it begins to pivot the rest of the way open.

Now I want to see Adam dress up a full bank vault with mini piles of money, gold bars, and the piece de resistance: a mini safety deposit box with the Jason Bourne stuff inside it.

If you don't have tiny safe deposit boxes, a tiny table full of mint and a miniature cart with gold bars in there, I will be disappointed.

I had a really crap day at my studio today and walked away so demoralized. Thank you so much for this. It really made me feel connected to a community of people who face shit like this every day. They might walk away ... but they never give up. I really appreciate what you do. Tomorrow I go back and try again.

Hi Adam While working in the machanic shop at a shipyard in Norway back in the eighties, we cut a lot of aluminum. We experimented with different types of coolant and lubrication while cutting, milling, tapping and drilling, and found that the best was to use denatured alcohol or red spirits. It prevents tools from clogging up, and makes it a lot easier to work with aluminum. Cheers PK

You should be so proud of the legacy you are leaving the world. It is such a joy watching these videos you create and your story over the years. Thank you Adam.

Adam asking alexa/siri/whatever about some maths reminds me of how we used to watch sci-fi movies and shows where the crew asked the "computer" about some distance to a target or time until explosion and today we basically have exactly that

looking forward to the addition of 1/12 scale gold bars and bank notes

I am happy to see you managed to save the door Adam! I am teached in the old school way of manual machining and during the first years of working as a machineist there was a few duds that humbled me to the core! Measure, measure again, theorize some then measure again just to be sure! It takes time but it's nothing compared to the hours it takes to redo the labour at the machine! This brought me back to my youth!

Love this Vault Door series. Watching Adam work through the mental gymnastics we all go through working on "From Scratch" projects.

A 2 in thick clear acrylic box would be such an amazing home for this. Would not only make it a functional “safe” but would also allow you to see the mechanics and engineering of the door. Functional art!

I love when Adam uses "non-trivial". It's a beautiful expression that I would have heard unless I watched him. It should be in more people's vernacular. Also that flatting plate looks fun as hell to use.

I got caught with one of your videos on in the background while I was working… now my boss is hooked and it’s all we talk about😂

Adam may be over dramatic about most things he nerds out on, but anyone that has a love for any kind of hobby can fully understand that inner child being overly dramatic. I'm nerding out just as hard over this build as Adam is. I've always been fascinated by bank vaults and never thought that I'd see anyone build a model of one. And now that this thing is a real object, I MUST BUILD ONE MYSELF. Thanks Adam for planting that brain seed and sharing this with us!!

My Uncle's neighbor from back in the 70's and 80's used to work for one of the vault door companies. He was flown all over the world to balance and do final fit on the vault doors. He was a wild guy, and I never actually learned his real name as a kid because everyone called him Worldwide because he had traveled to so many countries. It's really neat to see this miniature version of what he used to talk about as a kid.

It may just be a miniature but Adam will be damned if it ain't still bomb-proof

I’m loving this series Adam, it would be great to see the rear of the wall in acrylic so we can see every pin in action. Plus please add a scale tile floor in front of the door for scale.

As a person who works ALOT by themself and also enjoys talking out loud through the process. I very much appreciate the knowledge and the process Adam.

Adam, failure is always an option. It only makes you human. As always, love to see you work and im glad i can join you on your long project

Adam sometimes imperfection is perfection. Most of us average makers look at your makings in awe.

Fantastic! You could also build out a scale room behind it, with a bunch of tiny safety deposit boxes. Then make a little wooden table miniature to go inside with a miniature green bankers light that turns on when you open the vault :)

Absolutely love The Long Kiss Goodnight. I still quote it regularly and I am thrilled to know others love it too!

Industrial Design Consultant with 40 years experience here. I started with a drafting machine at the beginning of my career, but 30 years ago switched to CAD (Autocad, Pro-Engineer, then Solidworks). My wife laughs at me because I won’t even hang a shelf or a curtain rod at home unless I model the whole thing in CAD first. 😂

About halfway through the video, Adam walked out of the shot for a few seconds and I just came to the realization that someday... that shop might be empty and we'll have lost Adam. I honestly got teary eyed at the thought of a world with no Adam Savage in it. What a treasure to humanity you are Adam, and we are truly blessed to share this existence with you.

So, the hacksaw finally finished....

Another vote for the acrylic back for the door pins to lock into, seeing the mechanism working is a whole part of the charm to me. Loving the project so far though.

Love this build so far, I love vault doors too, but because of the Fallout games. I had the pleasure to meet you at Phoenix Fan Fusion and was surprised at how star struck I was when I got to meet you, so I ended up being more reserved that I wanted. Just wanted to say I have looked up to you since I was in High School and have appreciated all the shows and projects that you do. I truly enjoy Tested and the work that goes into all the projects big and small. Thank you for being a positive influence, one of my sons now loves watching your videos too.

Glad you did use Cad. You are building this vault just as they did in 1880. Work of art!

As a machinist your skills impress me more often than you suprise me with lack of knowledge I think you are very hard on yourself

Hey Adam, Manufacturing Engineering student here! I dont know if you've been introduced to them, but cutting the 6 in hole in the plate would've been a perfect job for a trepanning bit, which is essentially a grooving/parting bar designed to plunge into the face of a part to make a useable disc afterwards.

When I look at the tools at your disposal that practically make cutting metal such a breeze, I'm reminded of why a younger me failed at turning a flat length of what I think was an aluminum alloy into a Gunblade prop from Final Fantasy VIII using a hacksaw and a somewhat dull file. In the immortal words of Aerosmith "Dream On". 😂

Short time binger, long time lurker. At time mark 38:04 and then again 38:30 - I've never seen anyone so clearly think the way I think, and it was amazing to see. You're stating your error. You've been watching your livestream through your eyes and making your own commentary, which we now get to see. There's that joy when present you defeating past you's attempt to sabatoge your work in a playful way. At 38:04 you state the exact root cause - you set a goal, knew it was unrealistic, and there will be downstream improvisations you'll have to clean up. 38:30 you're trying to put together an absolute, but you keep getting interrupted by your brain fighting the terms you're stating. Movement is necessary, just along a useful axis. It's not lateral all the time, there are various vectors. Finding holes in the broad strokes you were drawing as you drew them, then circling back to approximate your point as you were to getting the door mounted by the end of the day by way of compromise was a level of meta that is just - *mua* chef's kiss. To see you at 48:35 then experience that joy and say, "yep - I have notes too, but come at me - this thing's great, and I did it using my process" was pretty great. Purely in the spirit of being academically pedantic, I would say that vibration is the manifestation of Energy not being directed toward intended Work. I'd love to see that too get picked apart as Energy and Work are both misunderstood terms, quite possibly by me...I, too am a flawed measuring device. Watching you self edit and be so accountable to your real-time critique isn't something I've ever seen anyone do. I've been so drawn to your stories since Mythbusters specifically because I see that sort of literal self-accountability. It took me a long time to figure out that other people don't do this, and it accounted for a lot of struggle. Thank you

Adam, you can never waste my time. Every moment with you is wonderful. Brilliant people like you and Hank Green keep me going. The fact that you guys can know so much and still be so excited to learn new things and still see the wonder of the world.

My Dad, in the 60's, and 70's used to work for Boing, and the air plane windows are made out of about inch, and a half acrylic, Circles, so, he brought home about 20 of the drop part from the original squares on the sides of the circles used... we, the kids would drill holes in the stuff, and paint colors in the holes.. Trippy.

That cut scene from hand lapping to the drill, pure comedy. We've all been there.

Although I have been a machinist for 15 years I still enjoy your videos. The majority of people don’t realize how much work goes into making something like this much less realize the precision needed

If you are a machinist you are always learning. It will never stop. ;)

love that ethos: improvisation requires accepting the risks! RIGHT ON ADAM.... RIGHT ON!

One could write Ocean's fourteen around that contraption, so lovely work.

Love Adam's excitement and enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge, but with his spastic and fidgety nature I don't know if i could work with him in a glass shop lol Also, how awesome is that tiny vault door!

Adam's laughter, starting at 18:40 makes the entire thing.

Another awesome video where Adam shows some of the less glamorous but far more visceral sides to making. I think we all have felt exactly how you were feeling when you first noticed that door wouldn't fit. You've been working away, a labor of love mind, on this piece for a long time. You're tired but invigorated to see it come together...only to have your heart drop as you realize you've screwed up. You workshop and problem solve your way to a viable solution to rework the piece, and you can feel yourself getting more and more impatient as you push yourself to get back to where you thought you should have been hours or even days earlier. Its not a pleasant part to the process, but its a reality we'll all face as makers. And frankly, it makes the final completion all the more rewarding. Thanks for continuing to be awesome Adam, can't wait to see where this project goes!

I use the "assumption" joke all the time. "...everyone knows, when you make an assumption, you make an ass out of 'u' and 'umption'." Love that movie - Long Kiss Goodnight from 1996.

Please, just please make part four already! I don’t need anything on RU-vid now except this vault door, I’m fighting war here and might not have much time ahead, just make this vault dooooooooooooor

The joy chuckle at 18:50 makes my heart smile

Hey, My Dad was a metal polisher and seeing you removing tool marks gave me an even greater appreciation for what he did, especially the fact he would often super mirror polish alot of his work.

These are the kind of videos I subscribe for!

as a CNC-Machinist it hurst my heart to see you lathe after drilling the holes but othervise love the projects and content you produce Adam!

After that cold open, knowing something goes horribly wrong, my heart stopped when it switched to that slowmo footage of the laythe 😵‍💫

I work in the jewelry industry, specifically Men's alternative material jewelry (zirconium, cobalt, stainless, etc) and I can tell you that vapor blasting goes a long way to hiding or removing tool marks and machining artifacts. It leaves a really satisfying matte surface that you can polish up fairly easily.

Vault-tec door next?

As someone who knows very very little about machining, I’m sure my opinion means very little but I think you’re doing great and I’m excited to see you finish such a neat project!

Nice vid , but why drill all the holes first to remove material before the lathe?You could just make the large hole directly on the lathe?

Great video, i love when Adam admits he’s made a mistake and works through it, its what us makers tend to do when we make on the fly. Cad can help but thats too precise, i like Adams projects. Keep at it Adam👍👏

Kind of comforts me that such an intelligent, talented, wise man also does "stupid" mistakes. And that improvising and beeing open to failure is just big part of the game have to get used to. Thank you for showing us failure and beeing honest about those things

Your new Wild West nickname is "Magnetic Chuck."

Am I the only one that thinks this would look super cool in a fitting that looks like it's been ripped out of a wall with a section of the wall with concrete rebar visible

You put a cliffhanger at the beginning??!! I had to go back to the start of the video to make sure I hadn't imagined it. What happpeeennnneddd??? Can't wait for part 4. Loving this series.

Adam should have watched more Cutting Edge Engineering videos. By now he would have converted from Inches to Meters and made it more accurate and easier to measure! 😁😁😁😁

My two fav recurring episodes going right now: Adam's Vault and Furze's Garage. Thanks for the great ride. Love the stories and I remember that Odd Couple episode :)

sand blasting hides tool marks really good

Watching Adam is nostalgic to working with my dad in his shop. I love the over the shoulder shots which is what I used to do as a kid. Thanks Adam.

Wonderful! Was looking forward to a new part of this build. 👌🏻

I think if this looks like I think it will, this will be your greatest build ever! I too have always been fascinated by large steel vaults and having a miniature would be my most prized possession.

Couldn't you just have put a big shim between the hinge and the wall? The safe door is double-hinged anyway so with a shim you'd first move the safe straight outwards until the first (inner) hinge is fully extended and then rotate the door on the second (outer) hinge

Absolutely impressive. Very well done and NEVER undervalue your skills. I received my Tool & Die accreditation in the mid seventies, had the honor to machine some of the 1st mechanical heart valve prototypes, and later, after being lured out of the shop for technical sales, represented Cincinnati Milacron as our machines were being installed at what is now ULA, Decatur, Alabama. Machine tools are glorious and being able to create is a gift. As proud of my son earning his ME and being a part of a major program on Redstone Arsenal is that he knows his way around a Bridgeport, and the Clausing. I trust he will pass that knowledge on to the next generation.

Your lapping plate can’t be on a teetering table. You will introduce a crown again from the rocking back and forth

52:57 LOVE "The Odd Couple" I was born in 1966 and it's one of my fav's No need to apologize for reliving those moments that hold such deep meaning! I am known to the do the same thing to the younger generation I work with and they almost always come back with affirmation for the viewing choices I recommend.

The editing seems to be wrong on this - you jumped forward a long way after showing us the cleaned chunk of steel.

Hello Adam! Watching your build projects are very therapeutic and relaxing since my dream was always to be a professional model builder. Mom thought it was a lousy idea but seeing your career timeline speaks volumes. I am still striving to be a great model builder, but tools are always needed. Thank you.

When you told us about that your door was getting convex when you tried to flatten it, I was like : Yup, that's how telescopes (refractors) mirrors are made ! Here's how you make a refractor mirror : you start with two pieces of Pyrex. One thicker than the other. You press two pieces of Pyrex together, the thiner on top, with water and grinder powder. You start with the biggest grain, and while you physically walks around the future mirror, you hold the upper piece (called the "tool disk"), you imprint shapes : a W, an 8, and some other. This process could take HOURS of days of work. In the end, you have you tool disk getting a convex shape, and the mirror, a concave shape. But it's just the first part. The second part is getting to the most perfect shape : a parabolic surface curvature. And to do that, you use finer sand grinder, a lot of water of course. Then, on the tool disk, you have to apply some kind of resin (I forgot the name, in French it's called "poix"). I'm fast forwarding through the details here, but in the end, the way you correct your mirror for a perfect parabole, is just using some liquid and a finger. At the very end of the process, it's just about getting the near perfect parabole, using an optical instrument, and getting back to the table, and so on. When it's done : you send the mirror to be aluminized, the piece of Pyrex is coated with an atom wide reflective material like aluminium. And you have you refractor mirror. 20 years ago, I participated in the construction of 40 cm telescope (15,74 inches), that was exhausting, we -the makers- doing shifts around the the table. And when it was all done, the secondary mirror, the armature, the tracking system, we could watch the sky with an instrument we made, from scratch. It was GREAT !

Its great seeing someone as put together as Adam gets flustered. I can't wait to see the rest of this!

I know this is a bit late, but while yes it would save time and energy on screw ups to do stuff in CAD before hand but I admire the ability and confidence to like have a plan and just jump straight into hands on work. I would be the type to be extra careful in CAD and like never be fully sure of myself and so I never actually get the physical object done or even started likely. So the fact then Adam can just get into work and be confident in his own abilities and still consistently come out the other side with a beautiful result, albeit with possibly numerous screw ups along the way, is just inspirational

You are absolutely incredible Adam.

We love you Adam. Nothing is more motivating than watching you problem solve. It shows even the best of the best have to go back and try again before it works. Thank you so much for the amazing videos

Who else wants one??? I feel your proudness. Such a beautiful piece already.

Awaiting the next installment of this one. I got excited when you said you’ll be doing machine work decoration for the door. I’ve always wanted to see how that is done. Being a locksmith I’ve seen some amazing machining skills on the old vintage safes

I am truly riveted by this build series! Thanks so much for bringing us on this journey Adam!

This guy works with a truly passion! Cheers from Brazil

Good to see with some alterations it still worked out. Can’t wait to see it finished

Adam, Please Please PLEASE make the back of this transparent so that you can still see the outer edge details when the door is closed. You could even cast it in resin so that the pin slots aren't frosted.

Hey Adam, the main plate on the hinge, if you flipped it so the hollow side faces the door it would give your door the extra space to move parallel out of the frame.

Former aircraft mechanic here. Can confirm that bandsaws and aluminum really don't get along at certain sizes. Chain drilling is a fantastic trick to have in your arsenal too!

im so glad i get to continue watch a guy who i loved watching in my childhood. Adam was always the best part of myth busters. its crazy how talented adam is though because to make something like this, it takes a good 5-6 trades youd need to learn maybe more. Also love how hes so chill about messing up, he makes no excuses and hes just like "welp, guess ill just have to fix it" instead of raging like most of us would do lol

I love that someone i enjoyed watching while i was growing up. Also enjoys the stuff i chose as a career path. Machining is so much fun and so annoying at the same time !!!!

On what Adam said about saws and aluminium - I also hated it and avoided it until recently. We use a generic cutting fluid but it never seemed to improve things much. Our workshop got the Tap Magic Aluminium cutting fluid and it does a great job of preventing the aluminium from gumming up the saw teeth and keeping things running smoothly.

I worked in Demolition for many years. In my time I have demolished 3 bank vaults. I can tell you the walls off a vault is filled with steel beams, off cuts of chain, rocks, bricks and it is all incased with concrete. They were built to last. Thankyou for the one day build.

This gives me such a beautiful mix of emotions. Scratches that creative/mechanical part of my brain in the best way. Somehow feel pride and nostalgia as well. Appreciate and support your work and excited to see more ⚙️

I think the back panel out of acrylic is the best idea. also, a tiny vault behind it with acrylic walls would be cool as well, with some random object like one of your super precise weights stored inside.

Okay, I have just finished watching the 3rd part of a lunatic building a scale model of a bank vault, with, if I understood correctly no engineered drawings of the thing, just sketches and flying by the seat of his pants, showing his successes and his screw-ups, ending this hour-long video with a quote from one of the best comedy shows of the 70’s (right up there with Barney Miller)…the Odd Couple (I remember that episode vividly Felix was in Court for ticket scalping). And through it all I sit here now thinking to myself….WHEN IS THE NEXT EPISODE!!!!!!!! Bravo Adam!!!!!

Adam, I worked in a National Reserve Bank. We had vault doors set into the vaults in the teens and twenties when the bank was built. Remember at that time it was mules and steam power. Our vaults were so precisely made, that there were indentations of paper clips and staples in the metal of the vault's threshold when the door was closed and locked. That was an example of the tolerances the vaults had. The doors were so big, they had a lever on the side of the door you had to insert into a fitting in the floor to actuate the floor. Yes, the floors had to float downward for the door to be moved and locked into place at night. Due to security reasons, we cannot take pictures of these indentations or the vaults themselves.

Adam you surely are a fine craftsman. Very intelligent

I really love getting to see your thought process in all these builds, and the organized chaos of your shop. Makes me realize I’m not alone in how my brain works

The magnetic chuck! So cool to see it in action, proving that the magnetic hold is good enough for work like this!

50:37 I'll tell you something else I learned about bank vaults... (goes off on a tangent) 😂 I really love the passion Adam puts into telling us about these little gems of wisdom 😅