Broken screw in a wah enclosure, any way to fix?

[Solidhex]

Damn!

  I was screwing the feet into a wah enclosure and a screw head broke off leaving the threaded section inside the screw hole. Not enough sticking out to get a grip on. I tried drilling the hole out with various drill bits/dremel attachments in the hopes that I could get some JB weld in there and maybe re tap it. I just seem to be burning through drill bits and not really getting anywhere. Anyone else find a way out of this situation?

--Brad

[BadIdeas]

You could glue the foot to the bottom plate and rely on the remaining 3 foot screws to hold it on, if I understand correctly.

[John Lyons]

Drill a new hole slightly to the side of the old hole.
Use a self tapping screw and some oil when putting in the screw.
Go slow and make sure the hole is the right size for the screw.
(sound familiar?) 

[pazuzu]

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-screw-extractor-set-40349.html

[.Mike]

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-screw-extractor-set-40349.html

Yep, that's what you want. They sell them individually at pretty much any hardware or auto supply store, as well.

I used to work at a machine shop in high school, and my job was to tear engines down, bore the cylinders, and grind the valves before passing the parts on for further machining. Engine blocks have plugs in them that, supposedly, you can remove. In reality, the repeated heating and cooling of the engine block made it so they pretty much never came out. I had to use those things on a daily basis, and they work great.

The process is simple. First you drill through the screw. Then, you insert the extractor. You tap gently with a hammer (maybe a screwdriver handle in the case of a wah shell), making sure to hold the extractor straight. When it feels like it is fairly well seated, you screw the extractor counter-clockwise. The flutes on the extractor cause it to grip the screw. If the extractor doesn't grip the screw, you tap a bit more and try again until it grips. Then, continue turning the extractor, and the screw comes right out. The key is to take your time, and keep everything nice and straight, or you'll break the extractor.

Good luck!

Mike

[pazuzu]

thanks. i am too drunk and lazy to do more than post a link.

[John Lyons]

Those will work if you have a flat or even the intact but stripped screw head but it you have a f***cked up, eaten up screw shaft
as seems to be the case, how will those bits extract that screw? Won't it just veer off and miss the part he wants out?

[pazuzu]

yes.

[runmikeyrun]

I've tried twice to retrieve broken screws out of crybaby shells, failed both times.  I'm no expert, but i've been a backyard mechanic for 17 years and graduated college with a degree in auto tech, so i've done it a few times  

It's tricky- screws often break off a bit of an angle, making step one (drilling a hole into the screw) very difficult with these tiny screws.  To use a screw extractor you need to try to get the hole drilled right in the center of the screw.  The bit likes to just slide right off to the side, and if you've never noticed the tiny drill bits bend when you put any sort of pressure on the drill making a straight, centered hole even more difficult.  Chucking the bit as far in as it will go helps, as will using a drill press if you have one.  If you can get a centerpunch on the screw or have those drill bits that self-center you're at an advantage.  If you don't drill right in the center it makes using the extractor difficult.  Use a brand new bit or one that you know is very sharp- a dull bit will slide right off and oval out the hole in the housing or drill into the screw off center, which sucks.

The next tough part after drilling- removing the screw with the extractor.  The extractor is pounded into the hole you drilled.  The extractor is very hard steel.  Small screws have small extractors that break easy, especially if you've drilled into the screw crooked or off center.  The one screw i actually did get drilled and get an extractor pounded into snapped off when i tried to remove the screw.  I've had this happen to me in many scenarios with small screws.  The extractor metal is too hard to drill out, unless you have a carbide tipped bit, and i don't think they make them that small.  If you have a small torch, heat the housing for a few seconds right before you try to extract the screw.

If i had mine to do over again, i would just drill out the entire screw and existing hole/threads, and tap it for a new, larger screw, eliminating the need for the extractor; plus you're less likely to snap a larger screw.  You'll have to buy a tap and die set at Sears or somewhere but it beats putting on a new housing or dealing with a screw you can't get out and trying to use tape, velcro, or something else that doesn't work well.

[Solidhex]

Oh the humanity...

  My preferred method would involve a time machine. Right now I have a large diameter, shallow hole with half a screw embedded in it. I think its probably beyond any screw extraction. I was thinking at this point of trying to drill just about any size hole deep enough to allow a screw in far enough to tap some new threads. So far even with oil it resists being drilled. Just smokes and eats drill bits. All this info is awesome though. Thanks guys. I'll be well armed next time this happens although I think I'm going to be careful as hell next time I go anywhere near a wah enclosure with a screwdriver.

[ACS]

Yep, you're at the "drill the whole lot out, fill the hole with JB weld and try again stage"

[flintstoned]

At the shop I used to work, the die makers had a much faster and easier way to get this job done, they'd use a vibrator (not the kind you're thinking perv!) It pretty much worked the same tho! Its an air tool and they probably have them at harbor freight also. It would shake the screw and it would just unthread itself and fall right out. If you're really good with it, it'd only take a minute or two. (Sorry, couldnt help it) Probably costs the same as an extraction set but way faster.

[Skruffyhound]

You don't say what kind of wah it is , but if the bottom is just a flat plate, can't you just take the other 3 screws out and then wind the whole plate around until it unscrews itself. Just tried it on my V847 to test, it works. Then you should have some length of screw shaft to get a grip on.
Good luck.

[Joe Hart]

Could you use a drill bit that's just the same size as the screw hole and carefully drill into the broken screw until you hit the sides of the screw hole (the actual wah casing metal) to create a little divot in the broken screw that's centered? Kind of grinding the broken screw end into a little "bowl" shape? Then it would be easy to drill a small hole that's centered for an extractor. I don't know -- I'm just kind of thinking out loud. Maybe?
-Joe Hart

[Solidhex]

I fixed it!!!!

  I got a set of good drill bits and went slow with lots of oil using a proper drill press. I took John's advice and tried to go a little offset although I don't think I really had much control over where the bit was going. Just trying to keep it straight and getting a deep enough hole and it worked! Glad I didn't give up completely as it was really just a matter of using better drill bits and not forcing it too much. Thanks again everyone...

--Brad