I did a thing today, worked better than expected.

[RaisedByWolves]

Broke off a 5/64th Allen wrench in a 10-32 flat head cap screw and could not for the life of me get it to shake loose.

Tried a pick, a punch, foul language, sacrificed a chicken, nothing doing.


Then I remembered something called (I think) hydraulic impact jacking and tried it as a last resort.

My clearances were too large (.010 on a .063 drill) to use bread, so I soaked some paper towel in heavy oil and stuffed the hole with that.

End result, broken portion of the Allen wrench came out and was stuck on the shank end of the drill.

Everyone looked at me like I was a magician.

 

[silverhawk]

Oh, my. Why have I never heard or thought of this? Limited minds like mine, eh?

Thanks for posting!

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[markba633csi]

Never heard of using bread on a pilot bushing- heavy grease yes. Modelling clay would likely work too.
Must have been sunspot activity for you to snap off an Allen wrench flush like that- I've never had the pleasure
Rounded off a few though

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Never heard of using bread on a pilot bushing- heavy grease yes. Modelling clay would likely work too.
Must have been sunspot activity for you to snap off an Allen wrench flush like that- I've never had the pleasure
Rounded off a few though

I’ll admit I had to work at it.

The screw was trapped longitudinally by the forces of other components and I didn’t realize it at first.

The wrench twisted out and I refaced the hex key to get a better bite and choked up on the short end with a special designed pipe.

The pipe has a slit in the end to allow the Allen wrench to engage inwards past the end of the pipe trapping it and lessening side load.

Gives you maximum rotational torque with little side load to prevent camming.

Then all you need to do is snap the tip off.


As far as the medium to make this impact jacking trick work, anything is a liquid if you put it under enough pressure.

 

[benmychree]

Or, just own a clutch pilot bearing puller!

 

[Eddyde]

I guess that's why they call it "Wonder Bread"...

 

[markba633csi]

Ah! Forgot peanut butter- choosy mechanics choose Jif
Although I like the kind you have to stir..

 

[pontiac428]

Nice work! And drilling cleanly through a little 5/64 bit of hex key, no less- that part was surely where the magic was.

Grease would have worked too.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Nice work! And drilling cleanly through a little 5/64 bit of hex key, no less- that part was surely where the magic was.

Grease would have worked too.

That thing was harder than woodpecker lips.

I wiped out one end of a center drill to get a spot, then used a carbide #52 drill to drill through.

I half expected the drilling action to loosen it enough to come out, but as you can see in the pic it started to twist in the head of the bolt before snapping off.

I probably should have dressed the end of the wrench at the first sign of difficulty, but my eyes aren’t what they used to be.

Once I got the broken wrench piece out I still needed heat to get it to turn.

 

[Janderso]

heavy grease yes. Modelling clay would likely work too

+1, I've heard of this method but bread??