Tip For Removing Broken Drill Bits Or Easy Outs

Long story short, I broke off one of the carb holder bolts on my 77 kz650. I was a machinist for several years so I thought this would be an easy enough fix......it wasnt. I tried multiple easy outs, but like most people with this issue on the forum...it failed horribly. My next step was just to drill the darn thing out and retap the hole. Im fairly confident in my ability to drill a straight hole so I went for it. Needless to say the smaller drill bit I was using to drill a pilot hole broke. At this point I was ready to take off the head and take it to the machine shop. However before that I wanted to try and drill that bit out using a solid carbide bit. Wouldnt you know it, my budy has my carbide bits (he lives 200 miles away). I head for lowes looking for anything that is carbide. I ended up coming home with a rotozip bit that was carbide. I threw it in the drill and fired away. As soon as I got started I heard a snap. The snap was the smaller bit shattering into pieces. A little wd40, a few blasts from the air hose, and a couple more passes with the rotozip bit and I was home free. Pulled out my titanium bits and an m6 tap now we are good to go. Just wanted to share this because it may save someone a trip to the machine shop in the future. Ill post a link to the bit that I used as well. Oh and by the way your going to want extremely high rpm's so I would either use an actul rotozip if you have it or use an adapter for a dremel

www.lowes.com/pd_123166-353-XB-TC1___?pr...&Ntt=rotozip+bits#3d

Thanks! I didn't know about carbide bits

They work wonders but solid carbide bits are between $40 and $60 a piece, that's why I'm glad this rotozip bit worked. Definitely going to have my buddy ship mine back asap

Thanks for the tip, but it's MUCH easier to use Kroil to break the bond between the screws and engine than it is to deal with broken fasteners. The carb holder screws on mine had not been touched since the bike was new, and after about 30 years did not want to budge. I soaked them for 3 days with Kroil and used a JIS screwdriver bit, and they came out without a problem. That stuff really works, and I would not work on my bike without it. Ed

Yeah I actually just ordered some per your advice. I used pb blaster but it clearly didn't work. Worst part is that it was the very last one I took off the bike. All the others came off no problem

Recently I had to remove a snapped screw that held the tank badge on , first I used oil and a tiny bit to center drill a hole , I have been down that road with easy outs and didn't want to try it again. :whistle:
I was going to try to beat a small flat blade in there to spin it out.
Like you all I have is PB blaster on hand and I know that the instructions tell you to tap the part and respray so I decided to try using my engraving tool to vibrate it first.
When I touched the tip to the busted screw it shattered the screw and I was able to fish all the pieces out with a dental tool

That's good to know about carbide Dremal bits

If any of the broke off part is sticking up, weld a nut to it and turn it out.

Tune-A-Fish wrote: If any of the broke off part is sticking up, weld a nut to it and turn it out.

LOL. Not on my gas tank ...

I've used a concrete drill bit to break out broken drill bits in similar scenarios with success.

I've tapped on them to loosen them enough to pull out with a magnet. PITA but it can be done.
Steve

That works really well, but it also works better when after you weld it walk away and let it cool down before you extract it. Heat makes everything swell so let it cool down.