Butchered Allen bolt

[Vara]

Various people have tried to undo this, including me.

Too enclosed to cut a slot in it, dismounting and working on in workshop, difficult/impossible. Welding in situ outside my skill set.

Any ideas?

 

[pvb]

Drill it out until the head drops off?

 

[nigelmercier]

Cut slots or notches with a Dremel. If you don't have one, buy one, very handy on a boat.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0078LENZC/dolcetto-21

 

[Vara]

Drill it out until the head drops off?

Can't do that, the whole bolt has to be removed, lopping top off,would leave shaft and thread.

 

[Vara]

Cut slots or notches with a Dremel. If you don't have one, buy one, very handy on a boat.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0078LENZC/dolcetto-21

Head too recessed to get Dremel near it.

 

[MoodySabre]

Can you find a Torx head bit that is a bit bigger than the hole in the allen bolt head and hammer it in to cut new grooves.

That or drilling very slowly.

 

[vyv_cox]

Impact driver seems the most likely, with a straight screwdriver bit that will dig into the bolt. Drilling it would be difficult due to its hardness - not as hard as a carbon steel one would be but still harder than as-cast.

 

[mrangry]

You could try an impact driver with an oversized torx bit but to be honest the bolt head looks soft and you will probably have to remove the hatch and have it drilled out.

 

[Rossynant]

However the bit is called in English (heard an "easy-out" ) there is a special tool to get damaged bolts out, looks just like threading tool with opposite thread - you just drill small hole into the screw and the tool having opposite thread screws into this while unscrewind the bolt. Ask some machinery shop, this is used on rusty engines and such.

 

[Reptile Smile]

Something like this..? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-PIECE-P...t=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item257258d770

 

[Rossynant]

Big Thank You for the name

 

[Talulah]

How did it happen? Story to tell?

 

[Zagato]

A 'Damaged Screw/Bolt Remover Set' is always handy to have in the garage. Buy a decent set, cheap ones just get chewed up!

 

[Poignard]

This is another type:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...roup_ID=675451&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

Whatever tool you use, make sure it is the best quality you can get. A cheap easy-out is likely to break, leaving you with a hole filled with the hardened steel remains.

Good luck anyway! A s/s screw seized into an aluminium casting can be a nightmare.

 

[dunmor]

if the bolts tight dont use the easy out they snap off and very difficult to drill out.
if you can take the whole thing off and take to an engineering shop where they will
have the tools and skill to do it.

 

[skip50]

Something like this..? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-PIECE-P...t=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item257258d770

That's what I was thinking of.

 

[pvb]

Head too recessed to get Dremel near it.

You could use a small grinding stone in a Dremel to cut 2 slots in the edges of the head, then use a big screwdriver.

 

[JSYmartini]

I have a set of these:
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...roup_ID=675457&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog
They work really well

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

If that is a stainless into aluminium I had a similar one once and impact driver, slot cutting etc all failed as the thread has basically become one with the hatch.

 

[Boo2]

You could use a small grinding stone in a Dremel to cut 2 slots in the edges of the head, then use a big screwdriver.

+1. If this doesn't work it would leave the most head left for trying the other methods, my dremeloid came with some small cylindrical burs that might work instead of a small stone.

After trying that and the big Torx bit then the Snap-on extractors Parsival linked in post #14 look the biz. I echo other people's remarks here about the cheapo "Easy-out" style of extractor - completely useless IME, don't risk it.

Boo2