Thread: Hammer A3 31 Torx screw problem - won't come out

And my very slightly larger torch did nothing either. Pretty sad when you actually touch the surface after torching it for well over a minute.

I seem to recall that the one time I made Creme Brulee (for which I bought it) it took bloody ages. Perhaps Sous Chefs should also be using MAP torches? Or Oxy?

Originally Posted by woodPixel

The bit broke!

When in doubt, hammer!

Did you do your training as a RAN Apprentice at HMAS Nirimba....

The rest of that saying/order was if the smaller hammer isn't working get a bigger one!!

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

And my very slightly larger torch did nothing either. Pretty sad when you actually touch the surface after torching it for well over a minute.

I seem to recall that the one time I made Creme Brulee (for which I bought it) it took bloody ages. Perhaps Sous Chefs should also be using MAP torches? Or Oxy?

That MAP Gas burn temperature is something like 2000deg"C"....
Oxy/LPG is nearly 2800
and Oxy/Acety is well over 3000

I'm sure your "creme brulee" might not survive!!!

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

I was very pleasantly surprised that with the exception of the problem cutter, everything else was like glass again.

That was before replacing the problem cutter. For the smashing procedure I took out two cutters either side, for obvious reasons. Apparently something remained under one of the two cutters on one side, despite much vacuum, CA blowing and wiping (or NCA dropped a micro chip of TC in one just to aggravate me..... ). Anyway, when a wide board went through there was a one cutter wide groove a couple of thou deep. Not much, but could be felt and seen. Not a huge big deal to sand it out, but.....

Took the two cutters out, cleaned up again, put a 305mm wide piece of Blackwood through (offcut from the table) and all is well again.

Now all I have to do is work out why a snipe problem has developed 60mm from the back end of almost every length board that goes through. Never used to happen.

I now have a permanent 400mm outfeed extension on the thicknesser table, and that has slightly reduced the occurrences, but it's still there (and dammit, I was talking to the Felder guys at Sturt last weekend - forgot about it). I can sometimes workaround it (longer than necessary board, send a following board through, but it shouldn't be happening...)

Originally Posted by crowie

Did you do your training as a RAN Apprentice at HMAS Nirimba....

The rest of that saying/order was if the smaller hammer isn't working get a bigger one!!

As a "Tin-Basher" Tiff I was taught that anything smaller than a 7lb maul was a precision instrument! Well, we had to work to a tolerance of +/- a Naval dockyard...😉

A brief follow up. I had to go to Felder in Emu Plains today to get 2½m of 120mm hose (it's polyurethane and the part that is outside the shed (in perpetual deep shade) has been catastrophically kangarooted by UV). I will wrap the new length in silver tape.

Anyway, I was describing the last cutter problem to Stefan, and he said "well, seeings how you had to smash it, here's a box of 10 replacements" for which I imagine they charge around $70-80. An excellent gesture!

He wasn't very happy to hear that I had 4 years out of the first face of my cutters (and after kilometres of hardwood), and even less happy to hear that I have buzzed somewhere around 100 nails with (almost) no disastrous results - just a couple of tiny raised ridges in the timber, and three cutters have had to be turned. "No wonder we don't sell many replacement cutters" he moaned.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that I had a 9/10 full box of spares at home (from original purchase), along with a full replacement set from SJ Tools which was a fraction of the Felder price.

Bob Jalillian (one of the guys that was at Sturt) did a quick demo of some of the machinery. He sat on the slider of a Felder saw and said "Now push it with one finger" then he actually stood on the extension table of one of the Felder Thicky/jointer combos. Pretty impressive I have to say.

Oh, Tony, I got a spare new screw to replace that now slightly dodgy one. After giving me $80 worth of cutters, they had the cheek to charge me $3.04 for the screw.

Glad to see you've got it sorted. Haven't gone through the entire thread but did you try one of these?

https://www.bunnings.com.au/trojan-i...r-set_p6060262

I've got a similar one that came with a socket set, i've never had a screw that i couldn't remove with one of these. Have never used it on a car before but loads of times on machinery with rusty screws. I find them better than a powered impact driver as they often provide too much torque that it'll snap the screw off before you're able to loosen it. The manual tool provides much more control over the hammering/torquing required to loosen jammed bolts/screws

FenceFurniture you've got no shame! The way I figure it, at the current rate of usage, you now have sufficient replacement cutters to last you until you're 125 years old.

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

Glad to see you've got it sorted. Haven't gone through the entire thread but did you try one of these?

https://www.bunnings.com.au/trojan-i...r-set_p6060262

NCArcher had one of those with him on Saturday, but we didn't have the right interface to get down to a bit holder from a ½" square drive.

You could try warming in an oven, that way there is not chance of heating too much to damage it. Cooling in a freezer and repeat.
I wouldn't use an 'electric impact'( too harsh ), I would try and use a manual impact driver, if you can.
Applying torque as you tap it with a small hammer may help.....
Buy some more torx bits and take your time....
Steve

Originally Posted by Sterob

You could try warming in an oven, that way there is not chance of heating too much to damage it. Cooling in a freezer and repeat.
I wouldn't use an 'electric impact'( too harsh ), I would try and use a manual impact driver, if you can.
Applying torque as you tap it with a small hammer may help.....
Buy some more torx bits and take your time....
Steve

Well thanks Steve, but you're a week late!

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Post #56
We have news!
Bottom line? Bloody thing was still giving a two finger salute,
"Rightio, get me a Centre punch!"
Snapped it off and the screw undid with fingers only, so it was clearly just over torqued in the factory.

And I'm pretty sure the A3 31 won't fit into either the oven or the freezers that I have.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

I decided that after 4 years of Yeoman service that it was time to rotate the TC cutters from the first edge.

Most of them were able to be unscrewed with a power drill on Clutch 9 setting, but some required a little more. They were re-tightened on 9. The problem I have is that there is one solitary screw - RIGHT IN THE BLOODY MIDDLE would you believe - that will not unscrew for rotation. This is of course leaving a mark on the timber, but the rest of the head
is doing a superb job on timber.

I have broken three S20 Torx bits trying to get this sucker out. The bits are obviously designed to have a deliberate fail point so that they don't damage the screw. None of the 16 clutch settings are strong enough, and when I set the drill to "Drill" (rather than clutch) the bit just fails and the last 3mm snaps off (easy enough to get that out of the screw head). These are Suttons bits, and are all that are available up here.

I have put WD40 on it which seemed to get absorbed (but I dunno if it went down into the screw thread). Left that for an hour or so before I tried, but the bit just snapped again. Have resprayed to leave it overnight, but I have a suspicion that it won't work.

What to do? Try and heat it up with as fine a flame as I can? How much heat to give it? Will that bugger the cutter in the process? What about the cutters next to it, which will cop some heat as well?

Get new torque bit place in head of screw get assistant to hold bit with pair pointy nose pliers whilst you place good solid steel drift on head of bit the give it a few really good whallops with a solid gimpy then screw out with 1/4 drive socket. guaranteed to work. DO NOT HEAT AS YOU WILL MAKE IT TOO HARD TO DRILL AS LAST RESORT.& IT MAY BEND SHAFT.