Broken screw removal 101 - tips appreciated.

[Ipassgas]

I have some bolt extractors - the kind that look like nut drivers, but with left hand spiral flutes. As long as the bolt/screw has enough material protruding for purchase, they've never failed me.

Broken screws/bolts without protruding shafts kick my ****. I don't think I've ever successfully removed one. I have the as seen on tv speed outs. I have the craftsman screw-outs. I have craftsman 9-66196 currently broken in a blind bolt for the abs sensor.

Every time I screw around with these cursed things, I end up just drilling it out anyway and tapping new threads. How do I use these successfully? I'm tired of wasting time, and drilling out broken stuff.

Thank you.

 

[T45]

These seem to be weapon of choice:
Hex Head Multi-Spline Screw Extractors - 532 Series

http://www.irwin.com/tools/screw-bo...screw-extractors-532-series-plastic-case-sets

 

[ken w.]

Depending on where the bolt is located , I sometimes use my torch with the smallest welding tip and put some flame in the hole I just drilled. I'll spray some Kroil on it before I tap the extractor in and give it a turn. This is moderately successful.

 

[Olafur]

The tool you are looking for is a welder. If you need to remove broken bolts - there is no substitute.

 

[kctyphoon]

Something that was passed onto me that saved my *** a long time ago - if you can fit a small chisel into the hole, you can try to hammer a grove onto the piece that's stuck, and use a flathead screw driver to back the piece out.

 

[Hiball]

I have some bolt extractors - the kind that look like nut drivers, but with left hand spiral flutes. As long as the bolt/screw has enough material protruding for purchase, they've never failed me.

Broken screws/bolts without protruding shafts kick my ****. I don't think I've ever successfully removed one. I have the as seen on tv speed outs. I have the craftsman screw-outs. I have craftsman 9-66196 currently broken in a blind bolt for the abs sensor.

Every time I screw around with these cursed things, I end up just drilling it out anyway and tapping new threads. How do I use these successfully? I'm tired of wasting time, and drilling out broken stuff.

Thank you.

The trick to any extractor, whether it's the spiral/square is to make sure your drill enough of the material out, it's ok to start with a small drill bit (prefer left handed as sometimes you get lucky and can skip step two) but I almost always move up in drill bit size till I've removed at min 50% of the material.

 

[Sco Deac]

1. Avoid the problem at the outset. For machine screws use carbon steel and avoid stainless.

2. Lubricate. Hobbes no. 9, liquid wrench, kroil, your favorite penetrating oil, home made ect.

3. Use the right tool for the job. Correct screw driver, specific non adjustable wrench, ect.

4. Left handed bits or extraction tool like posted above.

5. Heat and vibration.

6. For screws, Cut a new slot in a mangled head with a cut off head on a grinder. This also creates heat and vibration.

 

[lazer50]

All good advise! If you cant cut a slot and have to drill, make sure you center it.then use a good quality left hand bit.sometimes ive drilled out most of the broken fastener ans can pick remaining material out of threads.they can be a headache for sure!

 

[Ipassgas]

Thank you for the replies! I'll be referring back to this thread as I'm sure I'll have other broken stuff. I always seem to have something go sideways.

 

[MikeF2316]

All good advise! If you cant cut a slot and have to drill, make sure you center it.then use a good quality left hand bit.sometimes ive drilled out most of the broken fastener ans can pick remaining material out of threads.they can be a headache for sure!

I find that centering is the most important. If you get the pilot hole in the exact center, the broken bolt will come out. If you don't then you just end up with a **** show. I've gone as far as making a fixture out of 3/4 steel plate that I can bolt to whatever with a small guide hole. I then position this guide hole so that the drill goes exactly where I want it.

 

[sberry]

The drill guide is a good idea. I have very few specialty tools for this and rarely use one, I weld them out if its possible. This is a small one. 5/16 or so I fished out for a customer. I should save all the pieces for a couple years and pic an assortment.

 

[ckadams00]

On smaller bolts or where there is no access for something like a grinder to make a slot I have had success using a diamond tip on a Dremmel - either to start a center hole for the drill bit or to make a slot for a flathead. It's tedious but a lot more control and precision.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I like the ridgid 35585

https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/10-screw-extractor-set

 

[RBFD415]

Been reading about setting up vibration to help break up & loosen stuck parts & encourage Penetrating oil to seep in. But how? I can imagine how, but wondering how you guys approach it?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[MDK22]

Penetrating oil, heat, and Impact Grade spiral socket. Turbo Socket are best. Try that first and if it doesn't work i use a chisel put a cut in the middle of the flat and turn it with a punch. If that doesn't work weld. If that doesn't work chisel off head and chisel across bolt try flat head method. If that doesn't work I drill out with a dome double cut carbide burr that is 2/3 the thickness of the bolt. Tap in an extractor from Snap-On SR40k kit and take it out. If the extractor starts to flex I stop wiggle extractor out and drill bolt all the way though and try again with extractor get deeper in this time. Still doesn't work i use a drill bit to get as close to the threads as i can and then tap it. If i go off center and chew up the thread I use a nut sert helicoil or whatever.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Looks like a welder is a damn handy thing to have. It's on my next purchase list.

 

[Wklein]

I use tig welder on stainless in alloy. Weld a penny washer on to the stud. Then weld nut on washer. Remove with socket

 

[Olafur]

Looks like a welder is a damn handy thing to have. It's on my next purchase list.

Indeed. To give you an idea - in the past two years I have removed several dozens of broken bolts, studs. Majority of them broken flush or close. Most of them 6-10mm but few bigger.

I had to drill out 1 or 2. The rest came out with welder, most with MIG but even better is TIG with stainless rod. Stick works fine also. I have only recently started experimenting with TIG doing this and it seems to be best of them for this job. The reason is you can apply plenty of heat to the broken bolt, very quickly without adding any material, it's also easy to control the flow of the weld to cover the end of the broken bolt.

I have had decent set of screw in extractors from Koken for over 3 years and I have never used them. And I hope I never will. Big shop I work for a lot has no extractors at all. Never use them, just the welders. For a good reason.

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The method I use if I am dealing with bolt broken flush I just weld to the bolt and build up material. I try to use as much current as possible to get as much heat as fast as possible to the bolt -without melting it or welding it to the surroundings. The heat expansion breaks up the rusts and tends to free up the stuck piece. Right after the first weld I hammer the weld a bit before i weld/add more material and hammer even more. After that I weld a washer or nut to the material sticking out and hammer it a bit more for good measure. Some guys never weld nuts to broken studs, they just weld another bolt or a piece of scrap to the stud and use light hammer to turn the broken bolt out. This works great in some cases.

Then comes phase two, wiggling back and forth, perhaps hammering more etc. Sometimes I have to repeat the process because the weld or the bolt breaks. But usually it takes about 5-10 minutes to remove a broken bolt this way after you have dug out the welder and fired it up.

Needless to say this takes some practice, but it's no very difficult to do.

 

[Olafur]

The drill guide is a good idea. I have very few specialty tools for this and rarely use one, I weld them out if its possible. This is a small one. 5/16 or so I fished out for a customer. I should save all the pieces for a couple years and pic an assortment.

You should do that!

 

[sberry]

On occasion weld a lock washer on first. The admix picks up the strength and can give it better twisting power. Back in the day before putters it never occurred to us anyone would want to see a can full of broken bolts. I tossed a couple the other day without thinking about it.