Broken action screw

BSimon1234@AOL.COM BSimon1234@AOL.COM
Tue, 16 Feb 1999 14:22:35 EST


Bill Kidd wrote:

<<Many years ago I bought a tool from Wurlitzer that worked great for 
removing broken action screws.  It fits in a combination handle.  
Possibly it is still available from Wurlitzer/Baldwin.>>

I agree.   Wurlitzer said they had the problem with breakage because the alloy
of the metal used in one large lot of screws was wrong and the screws were too
brittle.They broke rather than "spring" downwards.  They said that the proper
screws, right alloy, would never break. They said such things to avoid
admitting it was a stupid design.  When one complained to the company, they
sent out, free, four new screws and an extractor that bit into the end of the
screw shank, alowing it to be turned out, with difficulty.  The extractor
looks like a tube with four sharp prongs on the end, squashed toward the
center of the tube. The prongs bit into the shank in four places.

There has to be some of these things around, but if not, check with a machine
tools dealer. You are not the first one to have to retrieve a shank from a
hole, and there are specialized extractors to do this. Just exactly describe
your problem, with dimensions in thousandths of an inch. If you cannot find
another screw, I thnk I have a few here, the "good" kind.

Bill Simon
Phoenix.


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