Screw extractors - as crap as they seem?

In recent buggering about with the VS, I managed to strip the head from
one of the front brake reservoir screws. So, being an inventive bodger,
I used my Dremel to score a decent strip across the screwhead to get a
bigger screwdriver in.

Of course it didn't work, so I am now the proud owner of a set of screw
extractors, courtesy of a mechanic mate. So on reading this NG and
others, it now appears screw extractors are, in fact, a load of old
wank, prone to breaking and making the problem much bigger.

So, any suggestions as to what to do? Is there a knack to using them,
or do I take the easy option of simply getting new bars, cables, levers
, reservoir etc and ditching the existing lot in one go?

I'll do my best to avoid setting about the screw until I get your
thoughts. Or else I might wander out, **** about some more with it, and
post a new thread titled "Replacing bars etc - how easy?"

Ta.

 

True. If the threads are in any way seized, you run the risk of the
extractor breaking off in the hole you've drilled.
You then have to remove the very hard broken thing as well as the screw.

You could try drilling out the offending article completely...

 

Screw extractors are good if they're a decent set and the person using
them isn't an animal. If your mate is a skilled mechanic rather than
a 'home mechanic' I'd ask him to do the job for you rather than ****
things up through inexperience. If he's reluctant to give up his time
freely buy him beers, lots of them.

Your other option is to grind off the head off the screws completely,
remove the cap and use vice grips on what's left to undo the screws.

Failing that just buy a new reservoir (or complete master cylinder)
from ebay and use the opportunity to fit braided hoses at the same
time.

 

My mate has a set that have a very coarse thread, unlike the fine brittle
ones you can buy at halfords etc.I have used these ones a few times as the
larger ones would go straight into a rounded allen key bolt head. You could
really grunt on these ones and he has never had one snap. I believe they
were from the man in the snap-on van.

 

Might well be the answer!

 

Not an animal? On UKRM?

I would, but he's in Northampton, I'm in Glasgow. He just shipped us
this set.

Might well do, actually. Ta.

 

Yup, that's the ones I have here. Snap on, so obviously decent kit.

 

It's the option I'd take if I were you. If you break the extractor
you'll have to buy him a new set and buy the reservoir so just go for
the easy option and buy the reservoir now.

I use extractors at least once a week in my job and they do exactly
what they're supposed to do but to succeed you need to drill the
correct sized hole very accurately in the centre of the screw and then
you need to use a decent tap wrench to keep them square to the screw
being removed. If you can do this then you'll be ok, otherwise keep
away. They've got a bad name because of monkeys using them and getting
into shit then blaming the tools.

 

Are they any good on a stud that's seriously seized up? I'd have
thought they only worked well if you hammered them in until they
raised a bit of a ridge they could grip against.

 

oo oo

yeah u gots to be careful as they do break, use largest possible and drill a
good pilot hole, use loadsa penetrating oil round thread and then *dont* go
at it like bull in china shop.

Last time i used one successfully I gripped it with monkey wrench and bingo,
but I soaked bolt well with penetrating oil first

 

Back-to-Front Jones wrote

with posting conventions in ukrm

Go away and read the ukrm cbt and the ukrm ffaq. Come back a wiser
person.

 

oo oo indeed!

 

Leave the monkey alone you ****.

 

Drill the head off so you can remove whatever. The get the screw out...

 

Err, no, if it's got a head (of sorts) then by definition that's
something to (try to) get a grip on. Unless it's holding the cap on ...
yes. ISWYM now.

It's snapped off heads, leaving a stub flush with the thread is where
i'd have a go with an easy out (if I couldn't dremel a slot in it)

Anyway what do I know, I spent 3 hours drilling, plus-gassing, heating
and butchering a fork leg to try and get the mudguard mounting bolt
stub out (I hadn't sheared it, I got it like that, honest guv)

I did actually manage to get a thin drill all the way through the stub,
but the fucker would not move, so it's still in there.

Cheers

Paul.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique,
typed

You need a LH drill bit, you do.

I've got a set here if you want another go at it.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - There are few things in life more sinister than a
public toilet with the lid closed.

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I'll have to retreive it from the far corner of the garage where I
lobbed it with a enormous expletive that rattled the windows.

<confession mode>

This was after i'd bashed an allen bit into the little hole in
desparation, which then also broke off ;-)

How i larfed ....

Paul.

 

I've seen the following done and if I remember right someone else on
this group has mentioned it too. I don't know how safe it is regarding
the bits that remain but it did work. In this case it was a snapped off
steel stud in aluminium casing, blind hole.

Get an arc welder and with a fine rod and low current 'stick' the rod to
the end of the bust off stub, turn the power off immediately. Turn the
current setting up high and give it a very short blast by turning the
power on and off. Done by a foot switch in this case.

The stub of screw goes splat! Loads of sparks and what's left winds out
no problems. I looked at the thread and it 'seemed' OK.
I don't know it *I* have the nerve to do it and I only have a MIG welder
now anyway.

Someone who knows or has done this will be along in a minute.

 

It's something I'd do to remove a broken drill or tap because they're
HSS and will literally explode when you hit them with the big amps. I
wouldn't do it to normal steel like bolts because I'd expect them to
melt and leave a nasty mess.

 

I think the theory behind what I saw done was that the current pulse was
long enough to destroy the alli oxide and rust that was bonding the two
together but short enough not to melt the alli or steel.