Broken screws

[rwappleton]

I am refinishing and cleaning hinges on the aft deck of our 43DC. There is a small cabinet that I took home to do there. while taking the doors off 7 of the small screws (#10X3/4 maybe) the heads broke off. What is the best way to get these out? They all broke about 1/8" under the screw head leaving all the screw in the wood. They are stainless.

Thanks!

 

[Nonchalant1]

try a screw remover. You need a really good drill to drill down the center of the broken screws and then insert the screw remover, which has a left hand thread and tightens itself in as you turn it counter clockwise to back out the screw. Both the drill bits and the remover need to be sized for those screws. You can get extremely small tungsten carbide drill bits that will drill anything, including stainless, but be careful to use oil and stay drilling very straight because they are brittle and if they break off in the screw, you can't drill them out.

 

[z28jimi]

If the screws are that short, you might have better luck with a screw extractor. It's a piece of tubing slightly larger than the diameter of the screw, one end is chucked in a drill and the other end is serrated and is placed over the stub of the screw. Use it like a mini-holesaw, and when you've gone as deep into the wood as the screw goes, pull the extractor out, and then snap off the wooden plug you just made, with the broken screw inside. You'll have a larger hole to deal with, but you can plug it and then redrill for a new screw. Usually easier than trying to drill into the center of a small screw like that.

 

[rwappleton]

Where can you get the extractor? That is just what I need! These screws are waaay too small for an easy out.

 

[z28jimi]

Here are a couple sources:
http://woodworker.com/14-screw-extractor-mssu-118-323.asp?search=extractor&searchmode=2

http://www.rockler.com/screw-extractor

http://www.woodcraft.com/search2/search.aspx?query=extractor

If you have a Woodcraft store nearby, they'll probably have them in stock.
I've never had any luck finding these in Lowes or HD, but you might want to try them just in case.

(I think the teeth on these are cut so they work best when run "backwards" in your drill…test on some scrap wood first)

 

[rsmith]

Harbor freight has them.

Here are a couple sources:
http://woodworker.com/14-screw-extractor-mssu-118-323.asp?search=extractor&searchmode=2

http://www.rockler.com/screw-extractor

http://www.woodcraft.com/search2/search.aspx?query=extractor

If you have a Woodcraft store nearby, they'll probably have them in stock.
I've never had any luck finding these in Lowes or HD, but you might want to try them just in case.

(I think the teeth on these are cut so they work best when run "backwards" in your drill…test on some scrap wood first)

 

[rwappleton]

Thanks to all!

 

[bigbill]

russ, if the hinge will hide the damage, i have dug around the broken screw enough to put a pair of needle nose vice grips and unscrew the rest of the screw. worked good on rubrail screws and wing door hinges.