[Vwdiesel] Broken Bleeder Valves

[Al Stumbaugh]

Many, many years ago I worked with a machinist.
He would drill the biggest hole he could in
the broken bolt/screw/whatever, then use a
tiny set of chisles with a "U" shaped
cutting edge. He called them "Caping Chisels"
to cut a groove into the hole he had drilled.
This groove would releave the pressure and
sometimes that was enough.

He would stop before he got to the threads
cut into the metal the screw was threaded
into. Then he would take a small punch
and tap the edge of the screw on one side
of the groove. Most of the time the metal
would crack at the bottom of the groove
and the stub would thread right out.

When I lived overseas and had to do this,
I would take a fine toothed hacksaw blade
and grind off the back side of the blade
to make a tiny saw just long enough to
reach the bottom of the hole I had drilled
into the stub of the bolt. Used a cup of
ice water and dipped the hacksaw blade
into the water every few seconds to keep
the blade from overheating. In a few minutes
I had a poor man's caping chisel. It
usually worked for me.

The square easy outs are the best, but are
hard to find. The kind with the tapered
left hand screw thread are almost useless.

An alternative is a left hand twist drill
bit. Industrial Supply houses often carry
them.

My two cents for today.

Al
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