Lock question

[mowolf]

Have a couple of questions for the group, I have a lock plate off of my
Traditions KY pistol that the seer screw snapped on. Traditions has sent
me a new screw, my question is, does anyone know how to get the broken
part out of the lock plate? I have been unable to find a screw extractor
small enough.

:what:Thanks,

Waya

 

[roundball]

Have a couple of questions for the group, I have a lock plate off of my
Traditions KY pistol that the seer screw snapped on. Traditions has sent
me a new screw, my question is, does anyone know how to get the broken
part out of the lock plate? I have been unable to find a screw extractor
small enough.

:what:Thanks,

Waya

You might be surprised at how easy it is to take a very tiny punch and hammer...or better yet something sharp like a scratch awl...and gently start tapping the edge of the screw piece in a counter-clockwise direction to unscrew it...when I worked on mechanical business machinery in an earlier life, I did that a number of times...the key is using a tiny sharp tip that will catch in the edge of the metal and not slip...just lightly tap-tap-tap and work the screw around and around till it unscrews all the way

 

[user 2647]

Another trick you can use is to get a drill bit smaller than the broken screw, sharpen it in the reverse angle than normal. This turns it into a left hand drill bit, secure your lock plate in a vise, run the dill bit in your hand drill in reverse and gently press the bit to the screw. 9 time out of ten this will spin the screw right out. If you have a reversable drill press this works better in it. Just watch the pressur on the bit cause the screw will spin out quickly and snap your bit if you're not careful.

 

[Zonie]

Then, when the screw still won't come out, you can use it as an excuse to buy a Dremel with a little cut off wheel arbor and some cut off disks.

Use the disk to cut a small screwdriver groove across the end of the screw and use a little screw driver to remove the screw.
(do this on the inside of the lock because you may end up cutting into the lockplate a little.)
Get the little thin red cutoff disks to do this job. The bigger, tougher black wheel is too wide. It works very well for actually cutting off hard steel parts though.

 

I snapped a tap off flush in my Jaeger lock:shocking: and I ended up going to two machine shops before somebody was able to remove it. I believe they welded a bit of metal to the end of the tap so they could get a tool on it to turn it out. This cost me about $20 but it was worth it to me. That taught me how important it is to be patient while tapping a hole. I pay for my learning as I go.

 

For cryin' out loud! Why didn't I think of that? (If I had read your post first, Zonie, I wouldn't have told on myself so quickly)