Recently got a couple hinges from HD and when I was putting the screws in, the heads to three of them broke off. I used the right sized pilot hole according to the manufacturer and I was using a hand screw driver not a drill.
Anyways, what are the methods for getting them out? I was able to get some new screws from my bin of spare parts and make the hinges work.
And a tip: When you get hinges like this that are the last step of your beautiful masterpiece – test them on a scrap of wood to see if the screw heads break off. I know I’ll be doing this from now on.
Replies
Brass? Brass does break easily. I make sure I drill a large enough hole, then if the wood is hard, I pre-insert a steel screw then back it out and install the brass. Bar soap or wax on the screw helps.
The best way to get the screw out if you can't grab the head with Vice Grips is to drill around it with a hollow bit. You can buy bits for just that purpose, though in a pinch you can make one from a bit of copper tubing. Cut and file your own teeth into the end. Then, clean up the hole with a standard bit, glue in a dowel, and redrill.
If you go to HD or such and get some "split pins" about the size of the shank of the screw or slightly smaller. File a couple backwards teeth and run them in backwards around the shank.
They will go in so far and grab the screw and screw it back out.
Or you can buy a whole set from McFeeley's for 39.00
After experiencing the same problem, I now always use steel screws until ready for final installation, regardless of how hard the wood is. If the steel screw is resistant, I'll re-drill with the next larger bit regardless of screw size, because I've even had #4 steel screws snap.
I've drilled out and glued in a piece of dowel several times, and have never had a problem with a screw in the dowel's end grain.
I've heard the advice about screwing in a steel screw first to cut the threads. That's something I do, but if you do break a steel screw (I've broken #4's too), it's worse than breaking a brass screw. With a drill press, you can usually drill out a brass screw, but with a steel screw, the bit would much rather drill through the adjacent wood than it would the screw fragment.
I've had success wit these screw extractors: http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=983 They're well-sharpened and cut a nice clean plug around the screw, that can then be plugged with a dowel.
One thing that I think causes alot of breakage is that the hole is drilled to the pilot hole size for the threaded part of the screw, but that's too small for the non-threaded portion near the head. When you try to force the non-threaded part into the wood, the screw will shear off. I like to use these to enlarge the top part of the hole: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=44708&cat=1,180,42240,42281 They will also countersink the hole if desired.
Bill, if you use brass screws it is essential to use a wax like parraffin wax-as important as drilling the correct pilot hole(s). My line requires a lot of solid brass slot aligned screws-I never have a problem now that I use wax.
Anyway if you are breaking screws you are at fault-it is only the screw thread that needs to cut into the wood- thereis no advantage to having the shank and body in very tight. A screw should not break if all it is doing is cutting it's thread-unless you over-tighten.Sounds obvious but in the heat of the moment things are forgot...
Edited 9/21/2005 7:12 am ET by philip
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