Small screws require patience, skill and luck to remove. That being said, it is probably not in there that tight and I would say the best way to remove it is with an easy out screw extractor. I prefer the square tapered ones that sears sells, you drill the approprite sized hole after you make a mark with a prick punch, tap the easy out in and hopefully back the screw out. They catch in the left handed direction. I may be better left to a machinist friend if you have no experience in this sort of thing.
David Toppin dave@pelletizer.com http://www.pelletizer.com <see our complete, searchable inventory
The Pelletizer Group, Inc. 4 LaChance Street Gardner, MA 01440-2476
(978) 669-0060 (978) 669-0061 fax
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Bob Hanson Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 6:55 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Help! Screw broken off in fork eyelet.
My friend got his newly repainted bike shipped back to him this week. Today he attempted to fit mudguards onto it. Three screws went in snug, but okay. However, the last snapped off inside the front fork eyelet.
I saw the bike today. The screw had snapped off flush with the eyelet, after almost reaching through to the other side. He said it was going in tighter than the rest, but he just kept turning it harder, figuring it would simply "clean out" any excess fresh paint that may have built up in the threads.
Before either he or I try to come up with a "solution"... Could someone PLEASE advise me on the best way to remove the broken screw. He just had the bike painted, so he definitely does not want to mess up the frame. He also wants to keep the threads from being damaged.
This is something I've never encountered before so I really would not know how to proceed. I assume the screws are a standard 5mm metric, however, I don't recognize the fork tips - they're definitely not Campy.
In fact, this raises another question. The frameset is British (Sorry, can't remember the name and decals were not re-applied). So, could there have once been a very similar sized, but perhaps Whitworth or BSC thread rather than metric, used to tap the eyelets? Maybe a "close but not quite the same" thread would account for the metric screws really fitting too tightly... or rather, perhaps not a suitable fit at all.
I would greatly appreciate ANY advice. I know he's going nuts over this. I am pretty steady handed with a drill, but would not even know how to proceed to try to extract the screw. I would like to at least give him some responsible advice - before he simply jumps in and does the absolute wrong thing.
Thanks much.
Bob Hanson, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA