Comments on: Broken Screws Unscrewed

By: Donny B

Donny B — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:57:57 +0000

todd:… go to harbour freight, by a pneumatic drill…..

out one of these bad boys in it and swim on down and drill away….

By the way, if you come back up and run oil through it and some clean air you will have this tool for a long time….

By: Toolaholic

Toolaholic — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:51:39 +0000

These things never work, and I am a handyman for a living. Irwin has a great set of bits that fit over the screw and work great. I just drill them out if its too close to grab with the irwin bits, otherwise they work every time, and every size.

By: eschoendorff

eschoendorff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:42:34 +0000

Mr P:

The key with these tools is to use a lot of pressure and go slow.

By: fred

fred — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:55:14 +0000

Re bs Says:

As you note, left hand driills - especially the cobalt-alloy kind work better than most easy outs.

By: bs

bs — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:56:06 +0000

I have used left hand drills for years to get out messed up screws and bolts.
Call them what they are, left-hand drills!

By: Putnameco

Putnameco — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:27:40 +0000

Re:
Todd Says:
OK… I have a broken screw that I need to replace, but have no idea how to get it out… it’s under water.
—————————–
If it is just a stripped head
Get yourself a hammer and a 1/4″ cold chisel and drive it out by putting the chisel over half the screwhead and drive it in at an angle towards counterclockwise.

If it is broken off , grab a cheap cordless drill (yes, it will work underwater) and prepare a hole for an easy out. then use the easy out.

Or as an alternative, just drill it out oversize and install a Heli-Coil.

If you break the easy out in the screw, call you local underwater welder and be prepared to spend $$$ or if you might be happier draining and refilling the pool, call a pool repair pro. again $$$

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:11:07 +0000

@ Todd - You can use a bit brace with one of these to get those out without draining the pool. Be sure you get one that has a 3-jaw chuck, the 2-jaw versions might not hold the bit securely enough. Garrett-Wade sells one that will work.

By: Mr P

Mr P — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:15:18 +0000

I haven’t had any luck with any of these gimmicks. I just use a dremmel to cut a slot in it. Works on almost every type of screw

By: Old Donn

Old Donn — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:59:27 +0000

Guess I’m doing something wrong. I’ve got the Craftsman version of these and haven’t had much luck with them, either hand-turning or in a drill. All they did was tear up the screw head worse than it already was.

By: ToolFreak

ToolFreak — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:13:57 +0000

The Craftsman screw-out is the same thing, and Sears usually has them on sale once or twice a month for $9.99. The bolt-out sets for stripped bolt heads too.

As for getting out screws where the heads snapped off, your best bet might be a reverse cobalt drill bit. Depending how well it’s screwed in there, the bit, if smaller than the screw and if you can get it about dead center, will either back it off to extract it, or at least tear it up so you can drill it out completely for a new screw. You’ll have to drain the pool to use a drill, obviously.

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:53:06 +0000

OK… I have a broken screw that I need to replace, but have no idea how to get it out… it’s under water.

This screw is one of two screws that hold down one of the drain covers in our pool. The drain is about 5′ below the surface, and is snapped off flush with the fitting that is placed in the concrete at the bottom.

It’s a safety issue, so we turn the filter off, but I need to get this fixed. Anyone?

By: eschoendorff

eschoendorff — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:52:15 +0000

Funny that these tools came up today - as I just got done using the #2. I had some deck 3″ screws that were heavily painted over and my phillips bit dug in, but the screws were too soft…. ended up using the tools above and those pulled the stripped out screws in a big hurry….