# ah shoot - or worse...



## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

so I'm making these side cabinets - red oak.

down to mounting the door hinges and ka-blewy - screw snaps off.
predrilled holes; this the the 4th of 4 doors; apparently a high quality Chinese screw.....

the (polished solid brass) hinges came with both brass and steel screws. having snapped brass screws I thought that was really kool - fit up & pilot with steel, use brass for final mounting.

these are #6 x 3/4" - it snapped roughly quarter inch in.
my first thought is to drill it out - it's too small methinks for a stud extractor approach....
drill to the side & hope to bring out the broken bit on a flute? plug & glue . . .

open to any ideas / suggestions! 

it's the stile of a 24h x 36long x 22 deep carcass. setting it up on the drill press is not especially practical....


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## Pineknot_86 (Feb 19, 2016)

That's enough to make a preacher cuss! Have no suggestions and hoping someone else can help.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Man, you're really screwed there

Okay, I'm going to go back to my corner now. Drilling the screw out would likely be the best approach, brass drills pretty easy. Just use a sharp bit and make sure you get the pressure in the right spot


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

yeah - but it's not the brass - it's the steel one . . .'

argggggggh!

push come to jumping off a high building . . . I suppose I could chisel out the back and glue in filler block.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Here's my method*

Get a 1/4" thick steel plate, drill a 1/4" hole through it. Center it on the screw hole, clamp it down and using a new, or sharp 1/4" HSS twist drill, make your hole into the wood and on top of the screw. You will drill the head off this way.

Now you can either continue as you were and drill the screw entirely out and plug the hole. Or use a short piece of 1/4" OD stainless tubing, like a brake line, file some teeth into the end and drill around the screw until it's loose enough to come out. Keep the plate in place to avoid having the drill or the tubing wander.


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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

Got a picture of the hinge?

I had that happen to me. I don't know if my repair will work on your project but it worked perfect for me.

I use a plug cutter to cut around the broken screw, and dug it out. Then I cut a plug and glued it in place. After re-drilling the hole with a slightly larger pilot bit, and better screw, all went together and there is no evidence of any problem or repair.

Here are the plug cutters I used...the smallest to cut out the screw and the next larger one to cut the new plug.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Kobalt-3-Pc-Self-Centering-Plug-Cutter-Set/50041692

Hope this helps.
Mike


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I sometimes use a dremel tool and go around the screw until I can dig it out and then drill out the hole bigger and insert a European hinge dowel.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

TomCT2 said:


> yeah - but it's not the brass - it's the steel one . . .'
> 
> argggggggh!
> 
> push come to jumping off a high building . . . I suppose I could chisel out the back and glue in filler block.


Huh, you really are screwed...

How many screws are in the hinge? If theres 4 holes, you could get away with only having 3 screws...


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

the hinge is the no mortise type - so two screws to the stile and two screws to the door. probably a tad unwise to ignore it... the single bright spot is this the bottom hinge - so it's being pushed not pulled by the weight of the hung door...

the stile is a full 3/4 thick, the screw is not dead center - I need to check the outer diameter of the plug cutters to be sure I can stay in the lines - that would be an eas-y-ier fix - thanks for the tip!

the Dremel is "up next"


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

I came, I Lowe'd, I conquered.

the smallest Kobalt bit as linked by MT Stringer was the right size to drill slightly off center and 'capture' the #6 screw diameter within the plug. a little side pry and kablintz, it popped out.

mercy buckets MT!

the only downside was the biggest plugger in that set does not produce a plug big enough to fill the hole of the smallest plugger. so I would up tapering a dowel on the edge sander to fit.

which means screwing into end grain.... not my favorite option.... but the entire muck-up will (almost) be hidden under the hinge itself. I stood it on end to work on it - so this pix is rotated from 1st pix....


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

Good job on the repair. 
That's the best way to remove little broke-off screws like that. 
I own a set of reverse drill bits that can work well on larger screws, but they are still not good for the little screws. 
The reverse drill bit can catch the screw and cause it to back out like using an ease-out. 
A regular drill bit can catch and cause a screw to bore deeper and You don't want that.


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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

TomCT2 said:


> I came, I Lowe'd, I conquered.
> 
> the smallest Kobalt bit as linked by MT Stringer was the right size to drill slightly off center and 'capture' the #6 screw diameter within the plug. a little side pry and kablintz, it popped out.
> 
> ...


Good job. There's no charge for our friendly service! :grin::grin::grin:


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