>>Hi David, >> >>There is a screw extractor that is a tube with reverse saw >>teeth at each end. Put it in a reversible drill and it will >>go through the rail and leave a .250" hole is rail and >>dowel. Plug with a plug or dowel, redrill and put in a new >>screw. > >Hi Newton, > Thank's for the tip, it sounds like a better way to go, >than how I've been doing it. >I like it, as I am always worried about the stress on the rail when >punching those critter's thro'. >No accidents to date, but??????? >Roger That's why I suggested the modified tubing, folks. It makes a smaller hole. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about trying to come up with a cross grain plug to fit. A dowel, or whittled maple scrap will work just fine in this case. Having the grain parallel to the screw isn't a big deal here because 1: You aren't putting a sharp deep thread into the hole you drill in the plug, like a flange screw, so you aren't doing much damage to the long fibers (that's fibres, for Roger). 2: The letoff screw isn't going to be taken in and out of the hole repeatedly - it's going to be in there for the duration, so any damage done to the you know what, won't get worse than it was at installation. 3: It's a relatively low stress application, compared to a flange screw, lyre screw, etc, so it doesn't take all that much to hold it in place. It doesn't need to be able to sustain 100"lb of torque. 4: You can always saturate the dowel plug with CA if you want, via the handy dandy wicking action of the easily accessible end grain, prior to drilling the pilot hole. That will plasticize the whole mess so it doesn't much matter WHICH way the grain runs. 5: There are many many much more potentially disastrous things to worry about, which will become obvious only after it's too late to prevent them. This just ain't a real high tech sort of fix. Ron N
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