I noticed the license plate screws on our trusty 2001 Accord were rusty and picked up some stainless replacements. They are number 3 Phillips and my 1/4" electric impact zipped one out fine and hammered away on the other. Eventually the head broke off to my surprise since I didn't think that impact had the power to do that.
I commenced drilling not sure if I'd use an easy out or if I'd have to drill it completely out. Since the threaded hole wasn't blind, I hoped it would crack loose and go out the back while drilling. Sometimes you get very lucky.
The remaining bolt was fairly hard and difficult to drill. I stepped up the drill size and used a carbide drill and the tip snapped off in the hole. Pretty much a worse case is having something harder than a drill stuck in the bolt you are drilling. I decided to use a small carbide burr to eat it out, but didn't want to mess up an expensive burr trying to eat up carbide.
I found some small pointed Dremel Christmas tree stones and went to work on the center of the bolt with it in my drill since I couldn't find my Dremel tool. It was probably good I didn't find the Dremel since sometimes using one in a tight hole causes crazy vibration and burr or stone breakage. Maybe it wouldn't have done that on the slowest speed.
Eventually the little stone ate away the broken carbide drill tip, enabling me to resume with a drill which cracked loose the bolt and it screwed out the back. But the takeaway is what you can do with the little pointed stone during bolt removal.
When drilling out bolts it is very difficult to get the drill centered, with the small pointed Dremel stone in a drill, I was able to relocate the hole I started to center it. Start a hole with a drill, then massage it to center with the stone, then finish drilling.
I commenced drilling not sure if I'd use an easy out or if I'd have to drill it completely out. Since the threaded hole wasn't blind, I hoped it would crack loose and go out the back while drilling. Sometimes you get very lucky.
The remaining bolt was fairly hard and difficult to drill. I stepped up the drill size and used a carbide drill and the tip snapped off in the hole. Pretty much a worse case is having something harder than a drill stuck in the bolt you are drilling. I decided to use a small carbide burr to eat it out, but didn't want to mess up an expensive burr trying to eat up carbide.
I found some small pointed Dremel Christmas tree stones and went to work on the center of the bolt with it in my drill since I couldn't find my Dremel tool. It was probably good I didn't find the Dremel since sometimes using one in a tight hole causes crazy vibration and burr or stone breakage. Maybe it wouldn't have done that on the slowest speed.
Eventually the little stone ate away the broken carbide drill tip, enabling me to resume with a drill which cracked loose the bolt and it screwed out the back. But the takeaway is what you can do with the little pointed stone during bolt removal.
When drilling out bolts it is very difficult to get the drill centered, with the small pointed Dremel stone in a drill, I was able to relocate the hole I started to center it. Start a hole with a drill, then massage it to center with the stone, then finish drilling.
