Thanks for the advice, one and all. I drove to the local Woodcraft Supply and purchased the Snappy brand Drill Adapter Set Mike Spaulding recommended. And since it was there, a pair of GraBit Damaged Screw Removers. The GraBit won't help with this job (space too tight) but hopefully it will be useful in the future.<div>
Thanks,</div><div>Patrick Draine<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 6:00 PM, Mike Spalding <<a href="mailto:mike.spalding1@verizon.net">mike.spalding1@verizon.net</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Patrick,<br>
<br>
google on "insty bit". products include hex drive drill bit adapters (<br>
a set of hex drive collets, each one sized for a common drill size from<br>
1/16 to 1/4) and extensions. I bought a set at the local Woodcraft<br>
store a couple years ago, and find them very useful for getting into<br>
tight places.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Mike<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
J Patrick Draine wrote:<br>
> Sure, sometimes it's EZ, but other times it's hell. The customer has a<br>
> big (7 ft or so) old (ca. 1889) H F Miller grand, and there's a popped<br>
> off agraffe at the note just above the top treble section strut. A<br>
> couple weeks ago I was at the customer's home, at which time I tuned &<br>
> voiced their Yamaha G3. After finishing that, I took a look at this<br>
> big ol' relic. I tried the "tap a snaggle toothed screwdriver into the<br>
> stub remnant & back it out" routine. Also the "see if you can tap it<br>
> counterclickwise to back it out" scenario. No go.<br>
> Well, I knew my left hand bits were back at home, so I packed it in<br>
> for the day. Made a follow-up appointment for earlier this morning.<br>
> Set my high torque drill and left hand bits down, opened the piano up<br>
> & took another look at that agraffe stub. OOK, it's RIGHT NEXT TO a<br>
> massive (3" or so tall) strut! The chuck on my drill is way too fat to<br>
> center the bit into the stub. So my plans to drill a hole into the<br>
> stub & spin it out were thwarted.<br>
> So what's my best option? I don't think I'm going to find a set of<br>
> superlong left handed bits. A very skinny flex shaft? Anyone have a<br>
> preferred brand? A while back my local hardware had a very lame<br>
> looking (no name China made) version -- I would prefer to get<br>
> something others have had success with.<br>
> Thanks in advance,<br>
> Patrick Draine RPT<br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>