Very often, an old bolt that has not been unscrewed for a long time becomes almost “tightly” stuck to the thread. If you apply excessive force when unscrewing such a bolt, it may simply break. Quite appears a difficult situation, which can baffle even an experienced master. How to get a broken bolt if there is nothing to grab it with?
First, you should fill the broken bolt with some kind of lubricant, and, if necessary, a rust dissolving agent. After this, the bolt is tapped several times well with a small hammer so that the liquids better penetrate deep into the threaded connection. Such simple processing will make removing the bolt much easier.
So, a broken bolt cannot be grasped by any tool if it breaks below the surface or flush with it. In such a situation, you can drill a small slot for a screwdriver. To do this you only need a small drill.
Using such a drill, a series of holes are made, and then the partitions between them are broken out. The result is a groove where a screwdriver is inserted and the bolt is unscrewed with its help. At the same time, there is strong pressure on the screwdriver from above. And to make it easier to unscrew the bolt, the screwdriver can be clamped with a key.
If this method is not suitable, you can glue it with an aggressive glue based on strong acids or weld a metal rod, handle or other bolt to the broken bolt. This will make it quite easy to unscrew, but it is not always possible to glue something to it with sufficient reliability, and welding may not be available, so this method not used too often.
The third method is to first drill a hole in the bolt, then make a thread inside it (reverse orientation), and then screw another bolt inside. The other bolt will be slightly smaller, but that doesn't matter. The most important thing is that now you can easily unscrew both bolts.
And the last thing you can do if all else fails is to completely drill out the bolt. To do this, use several drills. They start drilling the bolt with a fairly thin drill, but gradually move on to an increasingly larger one.
As a result, the walls of the bolt will become thin and they will simply break. It is not a problem to remove pieces of a broken bolt using tweezers.
This method of coping with the task always works. But there is one subtlety that should be kept in mind all the time. A broken bolt must be drilled strictly in the center.
If the hole is offset from the center, then by the time the bolt is almost drilled out, the thread will be damaged on one side, and on the other side there will still be a rather thick wall that is not so easy to break. If you drill the bolt strictly in the center, such a problem, of course, will not arise.
No matter how durable metal is, we all know that even it sometimes fails and fails at the most unnecessary moment. One of these situations may be scrapping fastening element, in particular bolts and studs. There is nothing worse for a person with wrench see a broken bolt, part of which remains in the screwed-in element. And then the extractor comes to the rescue, do not be alarmed, its name is much more complicated than its design. Let's talk in more detail about working with it and its features.
There is nothing complicated in the design of this tool. In appearance, it is a steel rod at the end of which a left-hand thread (or wedge) is cut; the shape of this miracle tool resembles a beard or a puncher. There are quite a lot of sizes, the larger the bolt being removed, the larger the extractor. I advise you to always buy this tool as a set, because you never know in advance which bolt or stud will fail. The most commonly used sizes are from M1 to M16.
By design features extractors are divided into:
If you have read the description of the types of this tool, then you can already imagine the whole simple procedure for removing bolts. But without systematization, this material will be incomplete, and let’s look at everything in more detail.
The first step is to mark the center of the broken bolt. For this we need a center punch and a hammer.
Then we drill a guide hole for the extractor. When drilling, be careful and do not move the axis of the hole to the side. Experienced craftsmen it is recommended to drill into three deep drill diameters.
Insert the extractor into drilled hole and tap it with a hammer to securely fix it. After this, use the tap driver to begin screwing the extractor into the broken bolt. When it goes all the way, it will begin to unscrew the bolt. When working with the extractor, rotate only around its axis, and in no case shift the axis, otherwise you may break the tool.
Once you have unscrewed part of the bolt, you can use pliers or a clamp to continue unscrewing the broken element more quickly.
Personally, I have repeatedly encountered the problem when a bolt or stud breaks at the root. Moreover, I am not some kind of auto mechanic or mechanic. I say all this to mean that this quite happens with an ordinary person, who periodically deals with technology or other technical parts.
Well, since you find yourself in such a situation, then don’t despair - everything can be fixed. I offer you seven ways to get out of this situation and free the thread from a broken pin or bolt.
Car repair is not the best simple work, a machine, regardless of the country of manufacture and the name of the manufacturer, is constantly subjected to loads, so it is not surprising that it is prone to breakdowns. However, a situation often occurs when one or another malfunction is complicated by the appearance of a new one. Such situations include the situation when you, while repairing your car, while unscrewing a bolt, broke the thread or completely broke it. A lot of questions immediately arise: what to do in such a situation, how to continue repairs and most importantly - how to unscrew a broken bolt? You will find answers to these questions in our article today. Let's move on...
Most often, a bolt breaks when you are a “big guy”, and your bolt, well, the one you broke, is very stuck or rusty. As you understand, we're talking about not about cars that “just” rolled off the assembly line. This problem is usually encountered by ancient cars or those whose storage or operation left much to be desired. More specifically, we are talking about threaded connections that were often in contact with moisture. For example, it regularly comes into contact with moisture (rain, etc.), so it is not surprising that something is rusty somewhere.
Bolts can break in different ways, the most unpleasant “bolt break” is when it is cut flush, in such a situation it is simply impossible to unscrew it without special devices(drill, welding, etc.). You will be more lucky if the bolt breaks already at the exit from the thread and a little “body” remains on the surface. Firstly, in this case you have already “broken” the bolt, which means it will be unscrewed, which is important, and secondly, such a torn bolt can be manipulated, for example, using pliers, a screwdriver, welding, etc.
There are several ways how to unscrew a broken bolt, however, before starting work you should complete preparatory work. Such work means:
Handle threaded connection WD-40 liquid or at least machine oil. Alternatively, you can hit the piece a couple of times with a hammer or heat the bolt with a soldering iron or lamp, provided that this is possible and others will not be harmed by the heat important details(, plastic, fabric, etc.).
1. If you have already managed to “break” the threads of the bolt at least a little, that is, if it has already begun to unscrew, you can try to unscrew the broken bolt using pliers or a good adjustable wrench.
2. The second option will require you to use a hacksaw or a grinder (depending on the size of the bolt); sometimes a chisel also helps, the main thing is not to overdo it. The principle is as follows - make a transverse hole for a screwdriver and try to unscrew the bolt with a screwdriver.
3. Option three - welding. As you understand, this method requires a welding machine, everything is done as follows - take a bolt with a head of approximately the same diameter, and weld it to the fragment, then using a wrench, carefully without applying excessive force, trying to unscrew the broken bolt. Rumor has it that there are so-called “aggressive adhesives” that can supposedly perform the role of welding. However, this method has not been personally tested, so we will not claim its effectiveness.
The principle is as follows - you need to drill a hole exactly in the center using a thin drill, after which a thicker drill is installed, and the procedure is repeated. The most important thing is to drill the first hole exactly in the center. When there is practically no “body” of the broken bolt left, and the walls are thin enough to break, try to very carefully break the remaining threads using a thin sharpened wire or tweezers. If you do everything correctly, you won't have to cut new threads or "drive" old ones. If you have an “extractor” with a left-hand thread, you can use it to unscrew the remaining debris, see the view at the end of the article for more details.
And lastly, if after several attempts you notice that something is not working out for you, there is no need to act rashly, as you will only complicate everything, it is better to entrust this work to someone who has already encountered this problem many times. We wish you good luck in your hard work, we hope the article was useful to you and helped resolve your issue. Until we meet again - Question Auto.
When repairing a car, many problems arise. One of these is the question of how to drill a bolt without damaging the thread, a video about which can be found on a number of resources. Therefore, it is always useful to know how to drill out a broken bolt, what needs to be done for this, and how to unscrew a broken bolt without serious and unpleasant consequences for mechanisms and structures.
Usually this is the simplest type of breakdown and can be fixed without radical measures, which can sometimes harm your car or other unit. However, before unscrewing the broken bolt, you need to treat the breakage area with kerosene. This will help eliminate waste and reduce surface contact. Next you need to follow the following recommendations:
This type of failure is considered the most difficult to repair, since it is very difficult to determine the diameter of the hole, especially when cutting fasteners. Therefore, in order to drill out a broken bolt of a certain type, it is necessary to clean the surface. This will allow us to determine the gaps we need.
The following unpleasant situation often occurs: the break point has curved shapes that are very difficult to process and straighten. And it is categorically not recommended to drill a product in such a state, because there is a risk of completely ruining the structure. Therefore, you first need to use a core, which is used to prepare a place in the center of the drill.
Further procedure allowing to drill a bolt broken in one way or another is similar to the option for a surface break. After creating the hole, the remaining threads are removed using a hook.
Complex failure, especially for a soft metal part. Therefore, it is very important to unscrew the broken bolt without damaging the threads in the hole. The procedure here is as follows:
If the last point could not be achieved, then the tool can directly become a bolt. However, you should not make excessive efforts, as there is a possibility of breaking it. As a result, you can remove the old broken part and screw in new elements.
However, the surest option to help unscrew a broken bolt is to use special tool for this operation. It's called an extractor, it's sold in a set tools of different diameters. Outwardly, it is similar to a tap, but it does not have longitudinal slots and has a conical notch for cutting.
You can use the extractor after drilling a hole in the center with a diameter that will allow the tool to go several turns. Turn it until it stops, and then until it is completely unscrewed.
So, here are some ways unscrewing broken bolted elements. Each of them should be used depending on the complexity of the breakdown and the availability of appropriate tools. But the most practical and the best option is to purchase a set of extractors. They are quite practical and allow you to work with bolted parts various sizes and with any types of threads.
It is imperative to treat the surfaces, this will eliminate unnecessary contact and contamination. Good job for unscrewing broken ones bolted connections , because it depends on this full-time job the entire mechanism, especially for cars! You can learn more about how to unscrew broken bolt elements using videos on specialized websites or forums!
