I installed all of the hardware on my new Doug Fir exterior doors to make sure I had the mortises right before finishing them. When I removed the hardware, the two screws that hold the deadbolt into the edge of the door snapped off at the head.
Now what? I have seen the screw removal tools for when a phillips head is stripped, but they won’t work because there isn’t a head on the screw. I have considered trying to drill out the screws and find a larger screw that would fit in the (now bigger) hole. I decided to ask here first because I have no idea if that would work and don’t want to make things worse.
I posted this to Breaktime as well, but was curious if the suggestions would be different here.
-Rich
Replies
EZ out screw extractors. They're like self-reaming-taps with reverse threads. As you drill ( in reverse) into the shank of the screw (even if there is no head left) the tapping threads engage the screw metal. When the resistance of the threads cutting into the metal excedes the friction holding the screw in place the busted screw backs right outta the hole. Any good trim carp has a set as hardware manufactures use the cheapest softest metal they can dig outta the dirt and put some shinola on. Properly sized pilot holes help and also use the clutch on your screwgun, keep it low. If the hardware seems loose a half turn by hand will do the trick without shagging the screw,hopefully.
I read an idea once where somebody used a plug cutter to cut around the broken screw. Then you can back out the screw with pliers and glue in a wooden plug.
TFToolfanatic (a.k.a. The man formerly known as "Toolfreak")
That sounds good in theory and I've tried it with the following caveats:
1-the plug cutter only goes in an inch at best, leaving plenty of screw in the wood especially in door hinges. Now when twisting the screw out the pliers tend to mar everything around. If this isn't a problem then fine.
2-the plug rarely fits as well as I would like and I have to wait for the glue to cure before running a new screw. time is $
A simple $25 extractor set has worked for me often. I run a screw, thrash the head (forgot to change the damn drill clutch again), can't back it out. I curse, grab the extractor set, drill the buggered screw out. Toss the offending POS screw across the jobsite at a buddy when he's not looking at me, continue with my work. When charging $40 some an hour my client doesn't want to watch me jackass around with some stupid hardware screw. He wants doors hung (in frames he buggered with a busted level) and trim up on his wavy walls.
Every one has a few never use 1/4" deep sockets. You can file or cut an edge (teeth). There strong, long and have a 1/4 drive.When was the last time you had a 1/16" nut anyways!Ron
hey Ron, great idea. I once had to grind one down in it's diameter to have it access an electrical component on my old Crown VicForgot what component it was,but still have that tiny socketDon't you hate it when you're fixing your car and you have to have a special tool that's only available by special order from the manufacturer?
By the way, I also keep around the 'offset' open end craftsman wrench my (Then) teenage son heated and bent for a similar predicament
Steinmetz
My father often created his own tools. One of which he showed too a salesman who came in weekly. Several years later they were being manufactured by the thousands and still are. That was late 1940's.I have a draw of some of his custom tools. There long since obsolete, Necessity is father of invention.Ron
Ron,Your dad isn't by any chance THE Ron Popeil guy who sells those kitchen gadgets and juice squeezers on late nite T V? ...Is he?
Seems every week he comes up with another doo-dad.I just googled up Ron Popeil, http://www.popeilfamilystore.com and the first thing that appeared was his two gorgeous daughters'Are THEY your sisters? But seriously, I myself have a drawerful of ju.... (stuff) that I dreamt up and made for home use. The latest is an aluminum slide/cover that I use to replace that stupid cardboard top on Sara Levy pound cake tins.Another is a good substitute for those flimsy cardboard 12 pack soda can dispensers you put in the refrigerator.
I made it from the same sheet aluminum.By the way Ron, I'm in the process of converting a thin wall socket into a hollow screw extractor. Do I need permission from you to use your design? I'm only making just one, so any royalties you'll charge shouldn't break me. After I finish the prototype (Knock-off) I'm shipping it off to China, where they'll manu FRACTURE millions of them from old soda cans. Steinmetz
Edited 2/21/2006 4:28 pm ET by Steinmetz
I have a whole set of 5-6 different sizes. Just in case. They work on plastics and composites just as well.Ron
rfarnham ,
I take a real small gouge and circle around the broke screw . Relieve the wood around the screw , first try a wire cutters or a needle nose to untwist the screw . You may need to plug the old hole with a slightly larger plug .
good luck dusty
You might also check with a machine shop supply house I have seen twist drills that run opposite the usual direction so you drill with the drill in reverse often these will back the screw right out.
Good luck
Troy
Here's a trick I saw in a mag (FHB?) some years ago that works really well. Get a rolled split steel pin (I can't remember the correct name for these) from the hardware store with an ID a tad smaller than the screw shaft. File one side of the split a bit to make a sawtooth (to cut in the counterclockwise direction) and pry the split open a bit at that end. Chuck it into a drill set on reverse, and drill into the workpiece so it pin goes around the screw shank. It'll pretty quickly grab the screw shank and back it out with minimal damage to the workpiece. Takes about 10 minutes stem to stern and costs about $.15.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
I have seen what looks like a small diameter hole drill, that you use to drill around the screw, use a screwdriver to snap it off and then fill the hole by gluing in a piece of dowel, so that when when dry, you can rescrew (with a pilot hole this time) the area.
rocker woodworking had one it is a 3/8 cutter that cuts around the broken screw and then you can get the broken screw out and instll a plug and reinstall the screw wit ha pilot hole
They work, but they're basically a tube shaped saw. The teeth can really scar up the wood if you dont go really slow and easy getting the hole started. Once you're in, you can speed things up a bit. They'll usually do the trick when all else fails, but like a hand saw you've got to go real easy getting the kerf started.
If you build it he will come.
The roll pin trick works like a champ.
doug the first time I put in a drill press I turned the chuck by hand to score a kerf once I got a good kerf then i turned on the drill.If you are not careful it will walk and do more damage to the surface. If you are like me right after you break off the screw is not the time to try to remove it I wait a day or so to relax before removing $#@$%^%# srcrew
If the shank of the broken screw is close to the surface, I use my dremel tool with a thin cut off wheel to make a slot across the sunken shank Then I back out the screw with a HAND screwdriver The wheel is about 1" in diameter when new, but once it's worn down, it will do the job with only a small kerf showing in the wood.
I,m assuming the dead bolt is mortised into the door, so when it's reinstalled, the small 'slit' won't show.
As pointed out by others, It is important to drill pilot holes before attaching the screws. and lay off the power screw drivers.Also rub a bit of soap on the screw. Steinmetz.
Any time you use a hollow hole saw (Without a pilot drill) make a small hole the same size as the hollow drill through a square blank of wood to serve as a guide bushing for the hollow mill when starting the boring.
Edited 2/11/2006 9:59 pm ET by Steinmetz
Woodcraft has really nice cylinderical extractors (the type that cut out a cylinder of wood around where the screw is). Pricey, but they have sharpened teeth that cut real well.
EZ-outs have got to be the most poorly named thing around. Most of the time they seem to snap off. While I'v had luck drilling out screws broken off in metal, especially using left-handed drill bits, when I try it in wood the drill bit usually walks off the metal screw and drills into the adjacent wood instead.
BarryO.I'm a retired locksmith and somewhat of a machinist, so I have many special tools on hand. One trick I've used to extract broken screws
on metal objects is a device I made from a auto starter relay,a momentary contact switch and a motorcycle battery. A length of coat hanger wire is sharpened at it's point and wrapped in heat shrink tubing and attached to a small jumper cable clamp.
One cable from the battery is clamped to the metal object and the "probe" is attached (via the switch and relay)to the other cable.By deftly centering the point of the probe onto the stud or broken screw,( Being careful not to touch upon the surrounding metal,) I give it a ZAP with the push switch. That spot welds the rod onto the screw and (When cooled and disconnected,)it can unscrew the stud/screw.Also great for removing 'one way'or tamper proof screws on some locksets Steinmetz.
After predrilling holes for box hardware (usually tiny soft brass screws) I drag the screws over a beeswax candle to ease them in without torking them off in the hole. Supposedly soap draws moisture if you use it to lubicate the threads, I dunno - just something I read somewhere. I will definitely be trying the split roll pin dealie... but with my luck I might have to pass on the do-it-yerself spot welder!
Back before they came out with those screw extractors I used to use a 5/16" or 3/8" plugcutter and cut over the screw then I would chip out the wood around the screw shaft then use a pair of needle nose vise-grips to grab the screw and turn it out. Then (because I had a very wide assortment of them) I would cut a large plug to glue in the hole the plugcutter made.....works like a champ. I Think the extractors are the way to go, though.
When all I did was doors, I would use a larger VIX bit (used to cost around $35 for this larger one) for the pilot holes....VERY essential when using the commercial 4x4 hinges and in oak or walnut and mahogany. I haven't broke one in aggggeeesss. When it's all you do you just know what it takes
Old post But I have made/fixed MANY old doors...
two screws that hold the deadbolt into the edge of the door snapped off at the head.
I would get out my 'good' punches and just knock them down to 'who knows where inside'
I would get my 'good' chisels and 'go to work'.. Fit and glue a plug and NEVER had a 'callback' on it..
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