How to drill out a broken tap | drill out a broken screw extractor

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[nopleaseno]

God bless you, your wife, ex wife, children, siblings, mom, dad, grandparents, dog, cat, pets, house, garage!!!! So needed this video right now!!

[MrBscott]

YES! This worked for me. In the past I’ve used diamond hole saws on enameled cast iron, so I’m not sure why I didn’t try it immediately. Instead I tried the Dremel route, as recommended on many videos and discussion boards. The thing is, Dremel grinding stones wear away pretty quickly, and they aren’t all that cheap either. A 2-pack of conical burrs is $15 CAD, and I quickly went through about 4 of them grinding down maybe 1/3 of the broken EZ out. The diamond hole saw was $25, but it ate through the remainder in under 5 minutes! That’s with me being patient and frequently dipping in water as he does here. After that it was simple enough to drill out the sides of the hole, re-tap, and Bob’s your uncle. It’s also worth pointing out that multiple mechanics and machinists I spoke to didn’t offer any solutions to the problem. Kudos, man, thanks for the tip!

[Artur]

That cup of tea before the job gets on top of you makes the difference between smashing the whole piece, and continuing with the fine, slow and relentless spirit. thanks

[ashleyburton]

I can't believe you did this as a demonstration! You must love spending time in the garage. This situation is one of the worst

[uktony]

The sound of crying when you broke the tap was me. Very, very impressed as I have always considered a broken tap deep within a stud hole as being an unrecoverable situation. A HUGE thumbs up.

[mozzer]

I recall years ago being told the only way of doing this was via 'spark erosion' at a huge cost. This is a revelation. Thanks

[ultimatehandyman]

This video took a massive amount of time to film and edit, which is why there was no upload last Sunday (I’m also busy working and busy doing other things). Please like, comment and share the video (if you can), as it really helps me out.
I hope everyone has a great Sunday 😉

[GrahamDIY]

As always, great video 👏👍

In particular, your advice to “take a break” and “not to let it wind you up” is superb advice for someone who is learning about any jobs really.

Finally, I’d never even thought to use a “diamond tile hole saw” to drill out metal. I know I know, some will say it’s “obvious” - but it wasn’t to me. So thanks 🙏

[David-hmic]

There are many ways to remove broken bolts and taps and I've used many of them. THANK YOU for teaching me another way!

[Yawwee]

I really like that idea to have a hole in the center of a bolt to guide your drill bit in nice and straight and not ruin any threads when drilling in the broken bolt !!!! Ingenious !!!!

[rickguyevans]

What a great video...being a much more experienced millwright at a food plant in Canada, I am constantly being asked to remove broken bolts/taps/extractors from stainless equipment! The younger ones just don't have the patience or experience in removing their mistakes. Once worked with an expert in a steel mill who was able to remove any broken object in a threaded hole. Cheers and thanks for sharing.
Rick from Hamilton, Ontario:)

[peterfitzpatrick]

I love how the tap refused to play ball & break... & when it did, it broke in a place I have never seen a tap break in my 30 years experience as a machinist / repair guy... 🙄😂

If you could rig it so you were drilling vertically & had a continuous flow of cooling water, you would have speeded the job up... but thats not always possible.

Thank you for going through the whole effort to show the process involved...

Regarding tapping the hole or using an extractor... in situations like this particularly, I use a NEW tap, preferably a Presto spiral-point machine tap and use a good quality cutting oil like Rocol or similar, backing out, cleaning the swarf out & going in again ... patience is the name of the game.

I think its even more critical to use top quality extractors as they are almost glass-hard & very brittle. Presto brand was my favourite...and yet I have managed to snap even those... 😖

Carbide tipped masonry bits can be used in a pinch but need grinding to put a positive cutting rake angle on the tip...

There is a great sense of achievement & satisfaction in successfully doing a job like this, particularly if the part is expensive to replace or maybe even irreplaceable....

You've got a sub & a like from me based on this vid alone... good job mate 😉

From the Emerald Isle
😎👍☘🍺

[pavelsustr]

Kudos to your video and thank you for posting! I broke a bolt extractor, and your removal method was the only one that had worked. To make matters worse, the area was hard to access, so I had to get a right angle drill attachment and a quick release diamond hole saw. Turned out to be a two day job, but in the end I succeeded. Thank you!

[Bobby-fjmk]

Thanks for that.
I broke off an ezy-out screw extractor once and I eventually got it out by
using a spring loaded hole punch and breaking little pieces off the extractor
until it was all removed. It took about 4 hours.
It was a radiator hose thermostat manifold on a car engine.
One bolt came out OK.
The other bolt snapped when I undid it and then a screw extractor snapped off inside it.
I tapped it later for an oversize bolt from a metric to an imperial size.
It worked perfectly and saved a whole car engine.
Hot water from the radiator system had got down and
seized the threads of the aluminium to the steel bolt.
It should have had copper eze on the threads but of course it didn't.
Changing from metric to imperial or vica versa can allow a similar size bolt to be used without
having to use a Helicoil insert.

[icespeckledhens]

Thanks for demonstrating a procedure which most of us try to avoid but sometimes you have to do it. As you showed, it's very time consuming and patience, care and persistence is essential.
Thanks

[boomhower]

I used this method as a last ditch effort and it worked!!! Broken bolt on a boat motor wouldn’t break loose after welding a nut on, heat, broke an extractor off in it, but this got it out. Took 45 minutes or so using his exact method! THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS!!!

[mikef]

Thank you so much for uploading this video. I broke an ez out off in a transmission pan bolt and was able to remove it using your method. Your knowledge is greatly appreciated

[ewzm]

I started out with the diamond hole saw bit method you demonstated here but became discouraged with the slow going. I picked up a Milwaukee carbide multimaterial bit (4 or 5 inches long and looks like a masonry bit) at a home improvement store for about $8.00 US. With this, the broken extractor was completely drilled out within 10 minutes. I still needed to tap new threads as you demonstrate in the video. Thank you.

[hpt]

This has to be an Ultimate Handyman platinum edition video. Pure gold at any rate!

[lincolnengland]

Great video yet again....As a compulsive fixaholic I love to see stuff coming back from the spent a tenner to fix stuff worth a fiver just because I can! Keep up the good work!