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 oldtimer
 
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
 |  | Elevator 101
< on 10/7/2005 9:18 AM >
|  | | | Elevator techniques has not been covered yet - so I thought I might start. There is another thread about elevator surfing but that's not for me. I'm more the problem-solver, mechanical puzzle solver type guy. Closest I came to elevator surfing was that I climbed up on the hand rail inside of an elevator and opened up the ceiling door. That's about it. That's just too scary for me.
However an elevator offers other forms of entertainment. After all, what better way is there to transport one to magical and wondrous inaccessible floors.
In several places where it was obvious to me that there were "secret" floors that the elevator was bypassing - discovered while timing the intervals between the changing number display, or seeing locks in place of buttons, or buttons that simply won't light up when pushed - I took the time to understand elevators a bit better.
I needed the time to open the switch panel - which was affixed with decorative brass round headed screws - with an undersized standard hex hole (allen keys).
In order to get such time and not have bothersome additional people interrupting things I have found a way to stop the elevator in mid stride without triggering an alarm. This method must be tested - since it obviously will not be successful in all installations.
The following is for elevators with double doors - ones which half goes left and the other goes right. You and an accomplice are riding inside elevator.
1) While the elevator is in motion, wait until it is between floors. Wet hands slightly for increased "grip" on a flat surface... force inner doors apart. If the elevator has back doors as well as front doors use the back doors. They seem to be better greased and smoother because of less use.
2) When the doors are apart about an inch there is greater resistance. Now a friend can help put his fingers in-between the gap and push the doors apart. It is only necessary to slide them about a foot or two. At this point they roll very easily and could slam all the way open so be sure to watch for that.
3) The elevator will now abruptly stop. Wait about 10 seconds to make sure there is no alarm. Now the panel can be unscrewed in peaceful solitude. Getting the right tool and making sure the screws aren't too tight to budge should have been done a day ago. Please keep up.
4) By checking with the front of the panel locate the inoperative switches. On the inside there will be override switches. Two position or three position toggles. Toggle the switch to override and press the normal button. It should now light up. Toggle the override switch back to its previous position. Swing the panel back into place. Hang onto the screws until your trip is successful. If the panel keeps a noticeable gap from the wall have a strip of duct tape handy. Nothing like a professional job of attaching a nice brass plate with duct tape. All the pros do it. Learn from the pros.
5) Re-close the elevator doors. This may take two people - one per door. Sometimes the doors require a bit of momentum to close the last few inches. Apply steady pressure to prevent them from bouncing off each other.
6) The elevator now will be on its merry way to the forbidden floor(s). If any new pesky passengers get on board in the mean time just ignore the doors opening at the machine room floors and feign surprise. You'll have to do it all over now. Loose a point for picking a busy time.
7) Enjoy your stay on the utility floors. The best way to return to the world would be to take alternate route back. Sometimes it's a wall embedded rung ladder that comes out of a ceiling someplace. But be sure to go back to the compromised elevator and replace the screws. Remember the UE code.
If there is no other obvious way to return then summon the elevator. Be prepared to get some wide-eyed stares from passengers as you come in from a floor they didn't know existed. Look cool and casual. You're probably half deaf from the roar of the giant fans anyhow. So just look stunned like a common workee does. Here's where a sandwich and coffee decoy can make all the difference. Any lip from the passengers and you give them the patented "whaddayoulookingat" glare. Remember, you're a surly maintenance guy and they are little people.
Did I mention blue overalls? It's all in the body language.
For elevators with single large doors you might try the following:
1) A friend is recommended but not required. Both stand inside the elevator, nominally. While the elevator is stopped at a floor with the door open, reach in the gap between the two doors (between the inner and outer door). Up to your elbow in there should be a vertical spring loaded bracket which engages the two haves so that they move in unison. Press laterally and the wedge should disengage the outer door. With the help of a friend he should be able to pull the outer door closed. Once the outer door is closed the elevator will function as usual... again, experimentation is a must. Different elevators work differently.
2) You can now enjoy traveling floor to floor watching the inside of the shaft zip by. Quite disorienting and scary especially the wind that is now evident without the inner door seal.
A related technique is to do the above while standing outside the elevator. This time force the inner doors closed. This is not very useful and caused a couple of mishaps that I will relate so that you know how things can go bad:
One mishap resulted in the doors re-engaging somehow askew - they jammed. I pressed the alarm and ran for cover. I returned about 1/2 hour later and watched the expert elevator repairman at work. I chatted with him for a bit. He was impressed that anyone would take an interest. The spring loaded door engagey thingy was huger than I had imagined. I hid my bruised arm and grease stained sleeve hoping he wouldn't notice a curious coincidence.
On one occasion I had managed to have the elevator stop about 1/2 way down from a floor. No matter how hard I tried I could not close the inner doors completely. The outer doors were still open as well. I had to crawl out of about a foot and a half gap near the ceiling and propel myself into the hallway - hoping I would not tumble backwards into the open shaft. I then helped my friend out - I held onto his arm for an extra pull. I regretted having to leave the elevator in such as state but I had no other choice. I spend a few more minutes fiddling with the doors but it was just too badly jammed up.
In alarmed elevators things can go defcon as soon as you fiddle with doors. This can be disconcerting and noisy before a coffee. Immediately press the button for the next available floor and exit post haste. Grab a donut and allow adrenalin to subside.
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Random
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Gender: Male
Partially Retired
| |  | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 1 on 10/7/2005 10:04 AM >
| | | | Awesome tutorial! I'll be sure to experiment with these techniques next time I'm in a building.
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Logan
    
Location: Ra-Cha-Cha, NY
Gender: Male
We miss you Jerry
| | |  | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 2 on 10/7/2005 7:01 PM >
| | | | Ill have to try that out really early morning in my college apartment complex.
Cogito Ergo Sum |
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Slombat
Location: space
RPG's anyone?
| | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 3 on 10/7/2005 7:47 PM >
| | | | Ive had some mishaps with elevators
Once I opened the roof hatch and the elevator came to a sudden stop and would not function until i re-sealed the hatch which took a few minutes in my panic. So if you want to stop the elevator without setting off an alarm, try opening the hatch. Also sometimes pressing the emergency stop wont set the alarm off, if there is a separate alarm button it might be worth trying the emergency stop, but you never know...
[last edit 10/8/2005 12:45 AM by Slombat - edited 1 times]
www.RIUE.TK |
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oldtimer
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
| | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 4 on 10/7/2005 8:13 PM >
| | | | Oh I didn't know they have switches on the roof hatch. Thanks for that tip.
I suppose you can always climb through and close the hatch behind you.
I'm not so keen on pressing the emergency stop though. It's more likely wired to the alarm. But yeah. You really never know until you try.
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this_guy
Location: Chicago suburbs
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 5 on 10/7/2005 8:23 PM >
| | | | The only time I've ever accessed a mechanical room level a friend had an elevator key. He found it locked up in a little box near an elevator in an abandoned building, and it worked in an elevator in a different building not in any way affiliated with the building he found the key at.
"Every sound shall end in silence, but the silence never dies." - from Samuel Miller Hagemen, found written on the wall of an abandoned building |
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Freak
 
Location: Usually Alaska, now MSP.
Gender: Male
Hypocrite
| | | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 6 on 10/7/2005 10:02 PM >
| | | | You can make a simple elevator key out of a bent coathanger. Usually the outer (hallway side) doors are secured with a sliding latch lever just inside a small hole, so you need something which can go in, down, and then twist to the side. http://www.elevato...images/KeyPac1.jpg
The elevators in my old dorm were pretty ghetto, they'd jam and trap people inside quite often. I let a few people out using my coathangar key, one time the fire department was busy and had left the guy sitting in there for hours. You could also punch the roof hatch and make it pop open, but it would sound a really loud alarm and jerk the car to a stop.
If you get stuck inside the shaft, you can pop the door pretty easily by just pushing on this lever, usually they're very lightly tensioned. If you're on top of the elevator you can pop the doors to the next floor up and exit that way. Once I was in an elevator when a mechanic started working on it, but for some reason he forgot to shut down the car. I arrive at my floor, the inner doors opened, and the outer doors remained shut. I started to pop the outer doors, and the mechanic wrenched them apart and started yelling at me for being in there... when I hadn't even been screwing with it! (I did have a toy gun stuck in my pants from an earlier dorm battle, so he was a bit wierded out).
We also had a double-door elevator built between two sections of a building, with floors at different heights. That one was always confused, and would randomly open the wrong door to a blank wall, or dump you out on a half-size mech floor.
[last edit 10/7/2005 10:03 PM by Freak - edited 1 times]
Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137 |
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this_guy
Location: Chicago suburbs
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 7 on 10/7/2005 10:21 PM >
| | | | Posted by Freak
You can make a simple elevator key out of a bent coathanger. Usually the outer (hallway side) doors are secured with a sliding latch lever just inside a small hole, so you need something which can go in, down, and then twist to the side. http://www.elevato...images/KeyPac1.jpg
The elevators in my old dorm were pretty ghetto, they'd jam and trap people inside quite often. I let a few people out using my coathangar key, one time the fire department was busy and had left the guy sitting in there for hours. You could also punch the roof hatch and make it pop open, but it would sound a really loud alarm and jerk the car to a stop. ong door to a blank wall, or dump you out on a half-size mech floor.
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I'm talking about a key for floors that have keyswitches instead of buttons.
"Every sound shall end in silence, but the silence never dies." - from Samuel Miller Hagemen, found written on the wall of an abandoned building |
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oldtimer
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
| | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 8 on 10/7/2005 11:48 PM >
| | | | Oh yes. I saw such holes near the top... The elevators I was practicing on where lower tech I guess. Either I didn't notice the key method or I just preferred to disengage doors by taking advantage of friction and springs and such that usually keep things humming along. As I said - I look at things as puzzles.
As for keys that operate certain floor's switches - I did not know that they can be shared among different elevators & buildings. I would have thought that - oh, never mind. I am thinking now about penthouse floors where owners have keys, vs. maintenance floors that could conceivably have common keys. Never mind. Anyhow, such keys are of the common door lock type which can't be made from a coat hanger. Some locks I've seen aren't all that much more sophisticated than luggage locks... so maybe fiddling with them is possible.
I don't like the idea of anything approaching lock picking. I prefer taking panels apart in a way that does not violate the lock's intent. LOL. A hex bolt is a lock too, isn't it? And I'm using a perfectly legitimate hex wrench key intended for that purpose.
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drainpunk
| | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 9 on 10/8/2005 12:10 AM >
| | | | Thanks for all the info!  I hope I can have some use for it sometime.
| I hid my bruised arm and grease stained sleeve hoping he wouldn't notice a curious coincidence. |
Hehe..
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Freak
Location: Usually Alaska, now MSP.
Gender: Male
Hypocrite
| | | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 10 on 10/8/2005 1:45 AM >
| | | | Sometimes those keyed buttons are really cheap, I found one that would take pretty much any key.
Also, sometimes when you push and hold "door close" at the same time as a disabled floor button, it will go there.
Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137 |
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Slombat
Location: space
RPG's anyone?
| | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 11 on 10/9/2005 6:28 PM >
| | | | The top two floors of the building I work in are locked (research lab), although I do have the key, but if someone uses the key for say floor 4, which is locked, and then I press and hold 4 and press 5 at the same time it saves me from taking out my key. Thought you guys might find that useful some how, the message by Freak reminded me of it.
www.RIUE.TK |
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grit1
Location: University Campus - Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Got Shear Line?
| | | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 12 on 10/10/2005 1:56 AM >
| | | | If the floor button locks are in a large institution with lots of keys/locks as part of a system, and if the locks have a high volume of use, then there's a good chance that the locks are "cross keyed" meaning that they're pinned in such a way to allow a lot of different keys to operate them. If this is the case, the keyspace for that lock is relatively small, and if you had a key of the same keyway even from a different building / site, it could still work. Locks such as this are somewhat easier to pick as well, with more possible sheer lines.
Nice write-up OldTimer ... very entertaining. ~Grit.
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Lynx
Location: North York
Gender: Male
:do not cry out or hit the alarm
| | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 13 on 10/12/2005 7:06 AM >
| | | | hmm very interesting, I didn't even know that was possible to open the doors like that. might have to try that out in my building. or some buildings on campus which have locked floors. nice writeup
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The Bean
Location: Austin TX
Gender: Male
Some dude with a camera
| | | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 14 on 10/12/2005 8:59 AM >
| | | | For what it's worth, newer elevators will usually have a (very strong, sliding pin) lock on the inner doors as well - you're not going to budge them more than 1-2 inches, tops. Many older ones are being retrofitted with this too.
definitely be careful doing this - newer computerized multi-elevator systems will detect this as a stalled car and may trigger an alarm to the elevator company or on-site security. If this happens, the elevator may either stay put right where it's at to prevent further damage and/or injury until a mechanic resets it (sounds like someone experienced this already), or it may try to go back to the ground floor and open the doors. Either way, the computer takes it out of service until a mechanic inspects it. I'd only do this in older buildings with 1-2 elevator setups.
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bandi
Lippy Mechanic Bastard
Location: Trent Hills, ON
Gender: Male
A liminal mind is all I've ever known.
| |  | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 15 on 10/31/2005 1:38 AM >
| | | | I had the opportunity to play around with a powered elevator in an abandoned building today and found out some neat stuff... the 3 keyed switches on the control panel were actually regular SPST toggle switches in behind the panel... you just need to back the lock cylinder's retaining nut off a bit, and you can control the switches without a key. This absolutely shocked me when the elevator started to lurch... I figured the power would have been shut off elsewhere. On that note... it looks like a fairly heavy gauge of wiring, so don't be grabbing/cutting any wires.
hi i like cars |
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oldtimer
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
| | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 16 on 10/31/2005 1:54 AM >
| | | | I'm glad you had some success. Yes in my experience the switches in behind back of the panel are toggle switches. The nice clicky long metal lever kind. CLICK; press front panel button that was heretofore disabled, and CLICK back to the normal position.
I am unclear how you backed off a nut on a lock cylinder? The nut was at the front? But the toggle switch is on the back, right? Or did you manage to put the lock cylinder to the side and short the lugs with some alligator clip-on leads?? I can't picture it.
Yes the wiring is heavy duty. I'm not sure why that is. Either it's like low current 12V and so the resistance of the wire needs to be low, or it's full tilt 120V going through the switches and bulbs but that seems odd. I will remember to bring my voltmeter next time. But elevator electrics are generally well built... high specs. That goes for motors too. Overrated. And we're glad they are.
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grit1
Location: University Campus - Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Got Shear Line?
| | | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 17 on 10/31/2005 2:09 AM >
| | | | It's all probably 120V in heavy-duty application elevators.
The locks bandi is talking about are the sort that have a switch [SPST] operated by a thread-in mortise cylinder. All applications of mortise cylinders have some sort of cylinder retaining mechanism - a nut or clip - that prevents the cylinder from being "wrenched" out from the outside. If you were to open the panel, the inside of the keyswitch would have a retaining screw that you can loosen, to allow you to unscrew the cylinder. Simply loosen the screw, unscrew the cylinder and operate the switch behind it.
This is a picture of a very standard, generic mortise cylinder. The milled ridge on it's left side is where the pointed end of a screw engages to prevent its turning.
~Grit.
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bandi
Lippy Mechanic Bastard
Location: Trent Hills, ON
Gender: Male
A liminal mind is all I've ever known.
| | | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 18 on 10/31/2005 2:10 AM >
| | | | Posted by oldtimer
I'm glad you had some success. Yes in my experience the switches in behind back of the panel are toggle switches. The nice clicky long metal lever kind. CLICK; press front panel button that was heretofore disabled, and CLICK back to the normal position.
I am unclear how you backed off a nut on a lock cylinder? The nut was at the front? But the toggle switch is on the back, right? Or did you manage to put the lock cylinder to the side and short the lugs with some alligator clip-on leads?? I can't picture it. |
The nut was on the back of the switch panel, but I had the panel opened. I decided against using a jumper wire on the terminals, just because I wasn't sure which wire was for which purpose, I just used the switch after I had removed the nut from the lock cylinder and popped it out of place.
hi i like cars |
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oldtimer
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
| | Re: Elevator 101
<Reply # 19 on 10/31/2005 2:30 AM >
| | | | OK I think I understand, bandi. You had to loosen the cylinder to disengage it from the toggle switch so you could switch it yourself.
The one I played with, the key-switch was wired-in in such a way that the back of the panel switch did the same function. It was mechanically separate though.
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