Irwin extractor set

[hancock1701]

So I was doing a valve adjustment on our Honda J series engine, and while putting everything back, idiot me used too long of a ratchet for that 10mm (M6) bolt and snapped it off. Most of the threaded portion was in the hole.

Today I had to go buy a screw extractor set and an M6 tap. Lowe's was the only one to stock this kind of stuff more than others. I got an Irwin set. I actually started reading about which brand is good for these, and Irwin was kinda at the extremes. People seem to really either love or hate their products.

Anyway, I got the 10 pc Irwin extractor set and asked my dad for help (I work on cars much more than him, but when it comes to this stuff, he's much better than me). We used a tiny nut as a sleeve to drill right in the center, and successfully got it out. It was such a relief. The included drill bit was also able to drill the Honda bolt without breaking. Irwin gets a plus from us this time.

A few things I noticed while shopping around: Irwin extractors and single taps are USA. Home Depot has some single Dewalt taps but are China. Are Cobalt drill bits really better and worth the extra than Titanium coated bits?

Also lessons learned this time: pay attention to the size of the bolt being tightened, and pick ratchet length accordingly. Also, aluminum heads are extremely soft. I actually screwed up the thread of two other holes, but the tap fixed that.

What is your experience with Irwin? Or fixing messed up threads or broken bolts?





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[four.cycle]

What is your experience with Irwin?

excellent. all the Irwin open stock up at my local ACE is US made. I just filled in the holes in my taps and dies from an Ebay seller who just got a boatload of Irwin stuff and is unloading it cheap: http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_ssn=toolandpartcrib&_armrs=1&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=irwin&_sop=10

 

[bareass172]

Get yourself a cheap set of Harbor Freight reverse cut drill bits. They're like $7 IIRC and often the bit will come out just during the drilling process alone since it's reverse cut. Sure, they're cheap, but for what the "good ones" cost I'll throw these away and buy another set if need be.

 

[Finky198]

I own a lot of snap on and some Irwin all of which is actually made buy Irwin.

And all of which perform very well under most circumstances that I have come across.

Irwin is for me the cross over between good value/price and a decent functional product. I tend to buy the snap on rebrands for warranty purposes but thats more for productivity...

I deal with most of the thread repair and broken bolt removal in our shop and. Irwin's designs allow me to do that reasonably while covering a pretty large range of sizes.

The others I use are. NES, Lang

The HF set of left handed drill bits has saved many a friends asses when they break something and need bailed out by yours truly I really should by a better set tho

 

[royesses]

I don't really like the round spiral extractors. I have two sets of them. I prefer the square tapered type. I used them to remove 4 broken exhaust bolts (8mm) on my 6.0L GMC recently. Still have one on the drivers side rear that I will need to pull the manifold to get at. Irwin drills and taps are alright for most uses and better than a lot of the import brands. I like left handed cobalt drills for broken bolts for the reasons already mentioned. They are slightly more brittle than HSS. I have found that the HF cobalts do a good job at a low cost. I know that sounds ridicules but sometimes you get decent quality out of them. It's a **** shoot. I also have the expensive brands(precision twist,etc). I test out the HF drills on some grade 8 bolts before I use them. If they break I dump the whole set in the trash. I once got a cheap set of metric drill bits from an online vendor. I drilled an 1/8" pilot hole in a piece of 1018 steel. When I hit the trigger on the cordless drill with a 10mm bit chucked up, the drill bit instantly shattered into 3 pieces. I ****-canned the entire set.

Tapping in the square tapered extractor with a small hammer actually sometimes loosens the bolt/stud enough to remove it without even putting a wrench on it. Not always though. Putting some PB Blaster on the bolt and letting it soak in helps too.

Just my opinion guys and gals.
Roy

 

[Avplayer]

I have this set....fyi its the same set made for snap on....made by Hansen. We use em at work and they are awesome.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRG66/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Sticky Grips]

Ditto on the left hand bits. I have an Irwin set from amazon, they have gotten me out of trouble multiple times. You're going to drill it out anyway, so why not just do it counter clockwise...9/10 it backs the fastener out.

 

[Sanny81]

I bought the 10 piece Irwin set that comes with the left handed bits. I've used the bits a couple times and they are great. I had bad luck with the one extractor I used and ended up snapping it. Was mostly my fault as I tried to rush the job and really should have drilled a bigger hole before attempting the extractor.

 

[gdocktor3]

Left hands bits are a must in my opinion. Not only do they drill the hole you need anyways, but sometimes you get lucky and the bit will remove the broken bolt. WIN WIN. Ridgid also makes extractor sets for SO, Matco, etc. Someone mentioned above not liking spiral extractors and I know from experience they can make things harder than necessary. As they worm their way in they are spreading the broken bolt apart making it even tighter and harder to get out. These are examples of the two sets I have and would recommend over the spiral designs. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ridgid-Scre...:g:AKgAAOSwajVUSbAU&item=131729031860&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matco-Tools...:g:W5kAAOSwezVWx306&item=201526572018&vxp=mtr

^ That Matco set is as mentioned made by Hansen.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Get yourself a cheap set of Harbor Freight reverse cut drill bits. They're like $7 IIRC and often the bit will come out just during the drilling process alone since it's reverse cut. Sure, they're cheap, but for what the "good ones" cost I'll throw these away and buy another set if need be.

In my experience with the HF set their left hand drill set dulls in about 30 seconds of use.

The Irwin set isn't that badly priced and works a hell of a lot better.

 

[LXCam]

I have this set....fyi its the same set made for snap on....made by Hansen. We use em at work and they are awesome.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRG66/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I have that set cept its labeled mac. Between that and my Alden left hand drill extractor set, I normally don't have any issues. I've never much cared for both the spiral or tapered square shank, but they do work.

And with experience will come fewer and fewer busted bolts. It has happened to all of us that wipe the donut crumbs off our faces and actually do something with our tools. It's just a matter of calibrating your flesh covered torque wrench.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I need to get me a good set of left hand drill bits. Who else besides H.F. has them, I would like some thing a little better then H.F.
don't mean to start any ****, I have a lot of H.F. stuff, But think drill bits need to be better quality.

 

[Buckgnarly]

I need to get me a good set of left hand drill bits. Who else besides H.F. has them, I would like some thing a little better then H.F.
don't mean to start any ****, I have a lot of H.F. stuff, But think drill bits need to be better quality.

You want good ones, here you go...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VXYEKM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Avplayer]

You want good ones, here you go...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VXYEKM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Hmmmm there are some "used-like new" for half price

 

[hancock1701]

And with experience will come fewer and fewer busted bolts. It has happened to all of us that wipe the donut crumbs off our faces and actually do something with our tools. It's just a matter of calibrating your flesh covered torque wrench.

True. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, using a flex long handle 3/8 ratchet on a 10mm bolt valve cover bolt with full force.

I think the hardest part about using extractors is how to drilling a perfectly straight, correctly sized, and centered hole into the stud.

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[gdocktor3]

In my experience with the HF set their left hand drill set dulls in about 30 seconds of use.

The Irwin set isn't that badly priced and works a hell of a lot better.

That's why I limit my HF purchases to rubber mallets and stuff like that. Non mechanical, non cutting/drilling type stuff. It just doesn't last. I have drill bits that my father bought back in the 70's I still use. No way will HF's drill bits ever come close to comparing to the quality of good USA made bits.

 

[hancock1701]

I have this set....fyi its the same set made for snap on....made by Hansen. We use em at work and they are awesome.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRG66/?tag=atomicindus08-20

That seems like a pretty nice set for that price. I noticed it says "Multi Spline," and my set says "Spiral." Is there a difference?

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[bareass172]

No way will HF's drill bits ever come close to comparing to the quality of good USA made bits.

They don't come anywhere near the price either...
I never said they'd last a lifetime and you'd pass them onto your grandkids. For the price I'm fine with them, one breaks and I buy another set. I don't break a lot of bolts, even turning wrenches everyday, so I'm not spending ~$150 for a set to sit in a drawer. I'd bet most people that don't turn wrenches everyday would use them even less than I do, making them quite a bargain.

You see, the money I don't spend to sit in a drawer can be spent on tools I need and will actually use often.

 

[gdocktor3]

They don't come anywhere near the price either...
I never said they'd last a lifetime and you'd pass them onto your grandkids. For the price I'm fine with them, one breaks and I buy another set. I don't break a lot of bolts, even turning wrenches everyday, so I'm not spending ~$150 for a set to sit in a drawer. I'd bet most people that don't turn wrenches everyday would use them even less than I do, making them quite a bargain.

You see, the money I don't spend to sit in a drawer can be spent on tools I need and will actually use often.

I can't argue with that.
I just rather save the headache of driving back to buy another set when that one drill bit breaks... Right in the middle of a big job... On your own car... So now you have to find a ride...

 

[barrybeefburger]

Does anybody have any experience with this set http://www.amazon.ca/Neiko-01925A-Extractor-Cobalt-10-Piece/dp/B000F9ANQW/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdt_img_sims?ie=UTF8

 

[P51Boilermaker]

A few things I noticed while shopping around: Irwin extractors and single taps are USA. Home Depot has some single Dewalt taps but are China. Are Cobalt drill bits really better and worth the extra than Titanium coated bits?

What is your experience with Irwin? Or fixing messed up threads or broken bolts?

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

Cobalt drill bits are MILES ahead of titanium coated bits or any other standard drill bit. The only problems? Price, and brittleness. They cost more and if you abuse them, they'll snap because they're harder than high speed steel. Tungsten carbide bits are the same way. The pro's of cobalt bits outweigh these though. They're awesome and I've yet to break one.

Cobalt and Tungsten Carbide are meant to drill through really tough stuff. Like hardened heat treated steel. Use them on wood, or aluminum and they'll keep their edge longer than standard bits. Worth the money IMO.

Use a center punch on the broken stud next time. Tap it with a hammer and get a nice divot to start with so your drill bit won't wobble away. 135 degree drill bits wobble less than 118 degree bits FYI. Heating the broken stud up helps as well

 

[P51Boilermaker]

I've got these, made by Irwin/Hanson. They're nice because you can use a socket on them instead of a tap handle.

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[gdocktor3]

Does anybody have any experience with this set http://www.amazon.ca/Neiko-01925A-Extractor-Cobalt-10-Piece/dp/B000F9ANQW/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdt_img_sims?ie=UTF8

In my opinion, when it comes to something like this, you want to buy quality. You're already in a pinch, you don't want to make it worse by breaking a bit off. Then you'll really have a fun time drilling that out! Hansen, Ridgid and Irwin are excellent brands and used by Matco, Snap On, and Mac. Buy these instead http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0002NYBH8/?tag=atomicindus04-20