Tips on removing a broken off easy out?

[stephen4785]

I got to experience the familiar "****" sensation once again a few days ago. I broke off an easy out while trying to remove a M8 exhaust manifold bolt. Anyone have some tips to remove it? It broke off recessed so I cant grab a hold of any part of it.

 

[Johnny chaos]

Try to weld a nut onto it, the heat of the welding usually helps as well.


Never mind that, I just re-read and you broke the tap. I've got nothin......EDM at a nearby machine shop?

 

[rsanter]

Take a dremel to the center to make an indension. Then take a hardened center punch and smack it to try to break or shatter the easy out

Bob

 

[APEowner]

This is every bit as crude as it sounds but I've had pretty good luck with sticking a punch down in the hole and pounding the **** out of the tap. They're so brittle that you can usually get them to crumble before you do to much damage to the hole. That is of course a last resort and you may end up needing to do a thread insert.

 

[rlitman]

Torch it out. That's what I do to broken taps.
You set an OA flame on a welding tip (one hole) to severely oxidizing. Put the point on the ez-out/tap, until it starts to glow (heat the ez-out, NOT everything around it).
When the ez-out starts to get yellow and sparkle, turn down the acetylene, and watch it disintegrate in a shower of sparks. You'll have a nice clean hole, and nothing damaged around it. Really.

 

[Doug Arthurs]

An easy out on a manifold bolt. Probably not the best ideas. For a situation like that I would first try to weld a washer then a nut to the bolt. The heat will help loosen things up. If that doesn't work I drill a hole down the middle of the bolt then try an easy out if there is any significant resistance stop before your twist the easy out. Drill it out larger until you get to the hole threads and try and pick the material out with a scriber. I only use easy outs when the bolt has been sheared off not on one that is rusted in. You're just asking for trouble. If the bolt wasn't able to be removed with a wrench then its not likely you will get it out with an easy out.

 

[pmason0]

I had one break off, we ended up using a die grinder to grind it out.

 

[mopar01]

Take a dremel to the center to make an indension. Then take a hardened center punch and smack it to try to break or shatter the easy out

Bob

This is about the best way iv found to get them out.

 

[steel 35]

Torch it out. That's what I do to broken taps.
You set an OA flame on a welding tip (one hole) to severely oxidizing. Put the point on the ez-out/tap, until it starts to glow (heat the ez-out, NOT everything around it).
When the ez-out starts to get yellow and sparkle, turn down the acetylene, and watch it disintegrate in a shower of sparks. You'll have a nice clean hole, and nothing damaged around it. Really.

I read that before and dam if it didnt work. I just heated till it glowed and used it like a normal cutting tourch and it was gone in a fraction of a second.

 

[rlitman]

I read that before and dam if it didnt work. I just heated till it glowed and used it like a normal cutting tourch and it was gone in a fraction of a second.

Exactly. If you have experience with a cutting torch, you learn that once the preheat is done you can actually turn off the acetylene, and just use the oxygen jet to keep cutting. I don't have a steady enough hand to keep it going more than 1/8", but it is easy if you're just holding the torch still in this case.

The flame acts as the preheat, which you want concentrated on the tap/ez-out. As you turn down the acetylene, eventually all of the oxygen goes into burning the metal itself.

The gap between the tap and the metal it is embedded in insulates the tap a bit, and the sheer mass of the metal vs the tiny size of the tap concentrates the heat in the tap. So long as ONLY the tap is above the required preheat temperature, only the tap will be burned by the oxygen stream. There really is about no risk of damage from this, except from the sparks that may blow through.

 

[sfm1951]

Rlitman, What size welding works best? For say a 3/8 bolt. Thanks for this tip Steve

 

[IndyGarage]

I've had good luck with welding a washer then a bolt on it.

EZ out material just gets welded in with the rest of it.

 

[Fixnair]

Torch it out. That's what I do to broken taps.
You set an OA flame on a welding tip (one hole) to severely oxidizing. Put the point on the ez-out/tap, until it starts to glow (heat the ez-out, NOT everything around it).
When the ez-out starts to get yellow and sparkle, turn down the acetylene, and watch it disintegrate in a shower of sparks. You'll have a nice clean hole, and nothing damaged around it. Really.

I really like this idea and there is no reason why it shouldn't work. Thanks
Rlitman. I will store this trick in my pea brain.