Immobile Woodscrews!

Using left hand drill bits (a great addition to ones toolbox) for screw extraction, handy hint, lots of pressure and a low speed.

[Oldelectronics]

Hi David and the Philpot.Thanks to you both for the information great idea about the plug I had a bit of heart searching about what screw to use I do have From Wilcos some number 4. 5/8 countersunk brass screws I used brass plated cup washers similar to the original the screws I took out were number 4. 5/8 steel. In the end I went for number 6. 5/8 steel plated crosspoint as they are easy to get out and if I snap a brass screw head the resulting wear on the back trying to get it out outweighed the none originality of the screws which could be changed.The nostalga of the this type of equipment is particularly valid in this case as it was manufactured were I used to work. All be it about 16 years before I started work there. I got away with the draining board as I am allowed to use the one in the utility room!!!

[Oldelectronics]

Hi Merlinmaxwell I think some left handed drill should be on my next visit to my local tool shop!!

[Refugee]

I bought a set of those and screws just stopped getting stuck.

[Radio Wrangler]

Left-hand thread screw removers are sometimes referred to as Ezy-outs from an old brand name. Their steel is as hard as pot and somewhat brittle. When trying to remove a stuck bolt, it isn't unusual to break one, leaving a bit of hardened steel stuck in the hole which no drill bit will cut. Often they solve your problem, but if they snap off, they vastly increase it. The long ones with a gentle taper are notorious for this. Spark eroder machines were invented to save the day in just this case.

Dave posted a link to a plug cutter. For things like plug cutters, router bits etc, Trend is pretty much the best make.

For cleaning up screw slots and cutting them a bit deeper, the end of a hacksaw blade makes a good hand tool for scraping the slot deeper. You just use the end couple of teeth. If those teeth wear, grind a bit off the blade to use the next ones.

If you have a drill press, you can mount a screwdriver bit in the chuck, and with the motor unplugged turn the chuck by hand. The press lets you apply plenty of down-force and keeps the driver vertical and prevents it wandering and sliding out. It's a good way to start threading taps accurately vertical. Many taps have centre dimples at the top, and a pointed bit of steel in the chuck aligns them as you turn a normal tap wrench.

Heat is good for freeing seized things, where you can use it. Differential expansion is very powerful for craacking the initial seal.

WD40 does not much at all.

A proper penetrating oil provides lubrication for rusted threads for after the initial seal has been broken and reduces stripping and galling effects.

when grinding a screwdriver blade, you can use the curvature of the grinding wheel to make a 'hollow-ground' profile so the blade is not tapered at the part which touches the screw, so they don't cam out.

Also, a screwdriver bit in a carpenter's brace lets you apply pressure and a lot of torque with a lot more control than a power screwdriver/drill.

David

[stevehertz]

Some good points there David. And if the resultant hole has been enlarged by the procedure, then assuming we're talking about wood, using white wood glue I glue in some lengths of toothpick to fill the hole up. When dry, chisel the surface flat and re-drill a small pilot hole for the new screw.

[Refugee]

For extreme over size holes I have been known to use a mixture of builders sand and epoxy as a filler. Brick dust collected from cutting during wall building is another useful filler for finer work.
The fixture is permanent without applying a lot of heat to the screw to get it out again.
This works well on Victorian brick walls.

[emeritus]

I have used "Insert Nuts" ( external woodscrew thread, internal macine screw thread) to allow the use of raised countersunk 4BA screws to replace damaged correspondingly-sized woodscrews in relatively thin wood, but such inserts are difficult to find in small sizes. You can get ones for M6 screws from the likes of Screwfix ( £2.35 for 50 , M6 x 13mm deep), and I have used them for smaller screws by putting a cut-down plastic Rawlplug in the M6 bore and screwing a machine screw or woodscrew into that. I haven't tried it, but I see that there are metal plasterboard anchors that might be suitable. You could form the thread for the screw before fitting the anchor toavoid the need for excessive force on a thin wood panel.

[ms660]

I've not tried plasterboard curly whirlies in solid timber but I have used them in plywood, they worked ok.

Lawrence.

[The Philpott]

Just reminded me, i have had a certain amount of success with seized screws by nipping the shaft of the s/driver at the far end with mole grips/self grip wrench. The amount of twist in the average screwdriver shaft is surprising- they act as a torsion bar- ie exactly what you DON'T need

[Station X]

I agree, but I've seen the opposite view put forward!

[David G4EBT]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

Left-hand thread screw removers are sometimes referred to as Ezy-outs from an old brand name. Their steel is as hard as pot and somewhat brittle. When trying to remove a stuck bolt, it isn't unusual to break one, leaving a bit of hardened steel stuck in the hole which no drill bit will cut. David

Quite so.

From the 'Mechanics Glossary of Terms':

E-ZEE OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any
known drill bit that snaps off in bolt holes that you couldn't use anyway.

MOLE-GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available,
they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your
hand.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large crow-bar that inexplicably
has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite from the
handle.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style
paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; but can also be
used, as the name implies, to strip off Phillips screw heads.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, nowadays the hammer
used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts not
far from the object we are trying to hit.

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes
until you die of old age.

EXPLETIVE: A balm, usually applied verbally in hindsight, which
somehow eases the pains and indignities that follow our every
deficiency.

A well trodden path we've all journeyed along!

[Oldelectronics]

Excellent David and could be very true!!

[emeritus]

The way to use extractors of the E-ZEE OUT type is to treat them gently. I have managed to release the sheared-off remains of steel bolts from steel car suspension members by, after drilling a hole in the remains, flooding the area with a highly searching solvent such as petrol lighter fluid or Plus-Gas, and see-sawing the extractor to and fro, using a tap wrench. The fluid turns rusty as rust is pumped out of the bore by the see-saw action, and repeated flushing with fresh solvent eventually allowed the remains to be screwed out. As steel is not infinitely rigid, at first there is only movement between bolt and bore at the top of the bore, but as more rust is pumped out, so the solvent can penetrate further. Just applying brute force in an attempt to get the entire length of broken stud out at one go without using solvent will not normally be successful. It helps if the item can be arranged with the surface with the broken bolt lying horizontal so that the solvent stays put.

[Oldcodger]

Just seen this, and I'd echo the warning on E-ZEE OUTS. But there is another method of wood screw removal . JMB were advertising it on TV for a while, but TOOL STATION also do a kit
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p387...CREW%20REMOVAL

although I've not had much success with this. Possibly as I was trying to take out screws into wall plugs. In theend I found that using a blunt drill melted the plastic plug and the screws could be prised out.

[Refugee]

That looks like the kit I showed in post#24.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Station X

I agree, but I've seen the opposite view put forward!

It's not just a question of the torque bar effect, it's the fact that the 'driving edges' of the screwdriver head start to lose their 90 degree angle wrt the screw slot, thus lessing their ability to 'bite', and tending for the screwdriver to rise up and out of the slot. For that reason I would never use a screwdriver that flexes along its length on a seized screw, and similarly I would apply mole grips as near as I could to the screwdriver head, not on the handle end. I don't see any advantage in using a flexy screwdriver at all.

[ms660]

For screws stuck in a rawlplug just use a claw hammer and a batten, that'll pull the screw and the plug out together.

Lawrence.

[Station X]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

It's not just a question of the torque bar effect, it's the fact that the 'driving edges' of the screwdriver head start to lose their 90 degree angle wrt the screw slot, thus lessing their ability to 'bite', and tending for the screwdriver to rise up and out of the slot. For that reason I would never use a screwdriver that flexes along its length on a seized screw, and similarly I would apply mole grips as near as I could to the screwdriver head, not on the handle end. I don't see any advantage in using a flexy screwdriver at all.

One advantage of a long screwdriver is the fact that a small radial displacement of the handle, which inevitably occurs when rotating the handle, results in less angular displacement when compared to a short screwdriver.

[kalee20]

With brass screws, definitely a hot soldering iron!

You can tin the head with a good blob of solder, which will help heat transfer into the screw. And you can keep the iron pumping heat down as you wield the screwdriver.

Steel screws don't conduct heat anything like as well down the shaft, but it might still be worth a go.