best way to remove severed allen wrench ball heads?

[Roach]

I broke a shoddy ball-head allen wrench off in my seat collar. It's sheared
off below the actual outer edge of the bolt, so I can't get it with
needlenose pliers at all. I've tried levering it out with paperclips,
knives, and screwdrivers, but no go on any of them. What methods have
worked for everyone here to get one of these little buggers free?

--
rooch

[Paul Southworth]

In article <ZCSM7.218$gd.226479@news20>, Roach <not...@nothing.com> wrote:
>I broke a shoddy ball-head allen wrench off in my seat collar.

Ball-head (eg, Bondhus) wrenches aren't for tightening. When you
use them that way, they break off. Oh, you noticed. :-)

If that's what you did, then it wasn't the tool's fault.

> It's sheared
>off below the actual outer edge of the bolt, so I can't get it with
>needlenose pliers at all. I've tried levering it out with paperclips,
>knives, and screwdrivers, but no go on any of them. What methods have
>worked for everyone here to get one of these little buggers free?

I would probably try to drill a hole in it and tug it out with the
tip of a screw.

Or you could cut the bolt.

Or you may be able to tap the collar up and off the seat tube, depending
on how tight it is. That may allow you to unscrew the bolt by
turning the section in the middle with a needle-nose plier once it's not
under tension anymore.

[Mark]

Paul Southworth wrote:
>
> Ball-head (eg, Bondhus) wrenches aren't for tightening. When you
> use them that way, they break off. Oh, you noticed. :-)

So are they just used for the spin-up to get the screw snug, then switch
to the other end for final tightening?

[A Muzi]

Ahh, an ongoing problem here too.
First, resolve to use the ball end for spinning bolts home and then use the
other end for your final torque. But you discovered that already. My employees
seem to need several of my wrenches in their first year to fully grasp that.

Anyway, we use a sharpened spoke for opening cable casing and such work. You
might try that as a spoke is fairly tough. If not, you could use a visegrip on
the head of the bolt to get it out and replace with a new bolt.

Roach wrote:

--
Yellow Jersey, Ltd
http://www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

[Paul Southworth]

Correct, especially when driving the screw at an angle is helpful.

[Frank]

Try putting Super Glue (be careful not to get too much that it seals the
seat collar) it on the end of a spoke or something and let it bond to the
head, then pull both of them out.

"Roach" <not...@nothing.com> wrote in message
news:ZCSM7.218$gd.226479@news20...

[Ben Coleman]

I have successfully removed one by supergluing a cotton bud (cotton tip?
Those ear cleaning things) onto the broken stub.

Ben

"A Muzi" <am...@yellowjersey.org> wrote in message
news:3c04049b$0$30973$272e...@news.execpc.com...

[Jon Isaacs]

If you can get to the other side of the bolt, you could try tapping with a
hammer and punch. Impacts can work wonders in moving something stuck.

Good judgement is required to avoid damage to other more important components.

jon isaacs

[Bluto]

joni...@aol.com (Jon Isaacs) wrote:

> If you can get to the other side of the bolt, you could try tapping with a
> hammer and punch. Impacts can work wonders in moving something stuck.

I second that, but I would try a centerpunch directly against the
broken-off bit. (You might even try biasing it against the direction
of the torque that broke it.) I bet the stub is only "cammed in", and
if this tension is interrupted, it will probably just fall out.

Chalo Colina

[John Albergo]

Roach wrote:

A dremel tool often comes to the rescue with stuck or buggered fasteners. Tool
steel is very hard but with high rpm and a light touch the dremel can cut slots
or holes that let you get screwdrivers or screw extractors into the bad
pieces. Or cleave the thing so it falls out. If you dont' have a dremel and
haven't tried this already, apply a bit of penetrating oil and then try the
levering/impact stuff again. A bit of lubrication might be all that's needed
for your previous strategies to work. The basic routes with stuck fasteners
are lubrication/torque/leverage/impact/reshaping/heat. Deciding on which
combination of these to use in which amounts is the result of many hours spent
cursing small pieces of metal. A good way to learn about removing hopeless
fastners is to work on cars in a place where they put salt on the roads.

[Dennis P. Harris]

>I broke a shoddy ball-head allen wrench off in my seat collar. It's sheared
>off below the actual outer edge of the bolt, so I can't get it with
>needlenose pliers at all. I've tried levering it out with paperclips,
>knives, and screwdrivers, but no go on any of them. What methods have
>worked for everyone here to get one of these little buggers free?
>

you could try drilling a small hole in the stub and using a screw
extractor to remove it...

[Savoirfaire]

The hardened steel that allen wrenches are made of are extremely tough
to drill. You would need a cobalt drill bit to do it. It will just
laugh at a regular bit.

SV

[John Everett]

In article <ZCSM7.218$gd.226479@news20>, not...@nothing.com says...

Here's one of the more creative solutions I've seen, but it requires a TIG
welder and someone with a very steady hand. Using a very fine wire you start
welding to the piece to be removed and slowly build a "stalagmite" of welding
material. When the stalagmite is long enough you grab it with a Vise-Grip and
pull out the part.

--
jeverett<AT>wwa<DOT>com (John Everett) http://www.wwa.com/~jeverett

[Matt O'Toole]

"John Everett" <jeve...@wwa.DEFEAT.UCE.BOTS.com> wrote in message
news:cOON7.222$Bf....@ord-read.news.verio.net...

Here's a good example of why one shouldn't use a ballhead unless it's really
needed- like when there's an access problem. Ballheads aren't for everyday
use. They're for special situations.

Matt O.