54 KEYNOTES APRIL 2024 WWW.ALOA.ORG BACK TO BASICS Mullions, Cores and the Firefighter bottom plate onto the floor were never coming out, and I’d have to work around them. Plus, it was below freezing the whole day, and having to lie on the floor was miserable. I couldn’t take any pictures while I was working, but I can explain how I got around the rotten bolts. We tried to re- move the existing ones, but both nut and bolt broke off, leaving what was left stick- ing out of the concrete ½". That turned out to be a help rather than a hindrance. The replacement mullion and parts were identical to the existing one. I vac- uumed out the debris and placed the new bottom plate, with two bolt holes, over the old bolts. This centered it exactly where the old one was. I knew it would be trou- ble to try to re-drill the existing holes, so I snap-punched two new holes on the bottom plate. We drilled two new bolt holes, put the new plate back on the old bolts and used the newly drilled holes as a guide for the hammer drill. I put in the anchors and bolts and snugged everything up tight. After that, it was just a matter of cutting the mullion to size and snapping it in. We had another issue in a different school, in that the top of the mullion was moving around. This caused the panic bars to latch intermittently, and the doors were not secure. In Figure 10, you can see why: The red arrow points to one of the 1/4-20 bolts the previous locksmith — and I use the terminology loosely — used to hold on the aluminum plate (blue arrow). What was happening was the nuts on the top of the frame were rusted and could not move to be tightened. I decid- ed to drill and tap two new holes through the plate and into the aluminum. In Fig- ure 11, you can see the countersunk holes in the plate. I think I used 3/16th-18 screws instead of 1/4-20. After applying some Loctite, the plate was solid as a rock. Figure 12 shows some- thing you’ll see in very old schools: a dou- ble handrail so the little kids can reach them. The Firefighter’s Cool Tools Back in December 2023, I was doing a job in Long Island, NY, and I heard about some nifty tools that firefighters use to gain entry quickly during fires and other emergencies. I was curious because in al- most 40 years of locksmithing, I’ve had my share of emergencies where I was under pressure to get in quickly, like “unattended cooking” and the occasional body. To me, any tool that will get me inside when time is of the essence is worth having. I’m sure that many of you feel the same. I called www.jobtowntools.com and spoke to the owner, Bill Walters, a re- tired FDNY firefighter. For the unini- tiated, that’s the fire department of the city of New York. I told him I was a lock- smith, and we had a conversation about the tools. Shortly after, he sent me several of them to try out. A week or so later, I was working on the island again, and we met at a Starbucks in Babylon. Figure 13 shows Bill and me, proving again that I am vertically challenged. Figure 10. The red arrow points to one of the 1/4-20 bolts the previous locksmith used to hold on the aluminum plate (blue arrow). Figure 11. You can see the countersunk holes in the plate. Figure 12. Here’s something you’ll see in very old schools: a double handrail so the little kids can reach them.
