Shopsmith Forums

Others have identified these and described their usage, now let me tell you my view.

They are things that increase you misery. Say it is a nice sunny day and you are working on something and your trying to remove a bolt. Suddenly the head snaps off, suddenly dark clouds move in and your misery begins. At this point you have two choices, drill the bolt out retap the hole and continue. Or use an easy out and .....

To use a easy out you have to drill a pilot hole, not easy but not real big problem, you then insert the easy out screwing it in backwards which is correct direction to remove the bolt stud again really no big deal. Once the easy out is firmly set in place you then apply pressure and immediately the bolt shaft seems to be turning. Your hopes soar, life is good, the bird are singing! Then the bolt stops moving, you apply a little more pressure, you think it might of moved, so you apply a little more. Things as still good, the birds are still singing. Now you have been sufficiently seduced and you feel safe in appling just a little more pressure. But then it happens! The birds stop singing. The sky darken and life quickly changes as the sickening crack of the easy out snapping off rings through creation.

First your startled, you can't believe what just took place. You look at what you have left in you hands. Sudden the realization of what took place sets into your mind. Your happiness is over, the birds are now dumping on your shoulder! A tear begins to form in your eye. You realized you have been seduced again.

You have been tricked into using an easy out even though the last time you swore you would never use one again. But you heard all the success stories of guys removing bolts that are 1000 years old and were welded in by the hands of time.

However this time was differnt you thought. You were sure you were living you life in such a way the easy out god would shine on you this time. BUT NO! Now you have a broken bolt stud with an easy out firmly imbedded in it. Now not only do you get to do choice one you get to attempt to do it by drilling through a hardened piece of metal that was once an easy out.

At this point I'm usually in tears and what happens next isn't really pretty or important. Let jsut say shortly I will be needing to buy somemore drill bits.

The next thing that happens is my wife hearing my morningful howls of anguish runs to my side. "What happened honey?" she asks. I can't talk all I can do is cry and point. She takes me in her arms and says "It will be okay. We will just get you a new one." I cry worst thinking she is talking about a new easy out but she quickly assures me she is talking about a new whatever it was that had the stupid bolt in that broke off to lure me into using an easy out that set up my misery to begin with.

Easy-outs are misery makers in my book.

In spite of Ed's eloquent description of his tribulation(s), I have had 'better luck'.

First and foremost, keep in mind they are intended to be used with a tap handle only(I am referring to the sizes 'we' will normally use - Not the gargantuan version in the first post of this thread).

They ARE hard(brittle) and WILL break if over torqued!

Older ones seem to have a twist like thost in post #1.

More recent(30-40 years ago) vintage have a shallower pitch(fewer twists/length).

Quite recent vintage(overseas source?) have reverted back to steeper pitch.(???)

Although I HAVE broken them, It was MY misuse that caused them to break.

A problem not mentioned that I have encountered is the tendency to 'strip out'(the shallow 'threads' created by the easy out. They shear off leaving a slightly tapered hole(in the stuck bolt/screw).

On really stubborn screws/bolts, I have had better success if I step drill the hole in the bolt/screw. This better accommodates the tapered shape of the easy out and allows the grabbing to be spread out along the length. This allows deeper insertion of the easy out.

If the screw/bolt is also corroded, expect it to be far more difficult(maybe even impossible). They be life-savers when they do work, but they are not a panecea!:(

In any event, steady torque will work better than shock(this tends to break them).

As Dusty said above(and I in other thread) a cutting torch works quite well on steel bolts/screws. But But But 'we' do not normally got one of them!

Ed in Tampa wrote:Others have identified these and described their usage, now let me tell you my view.

They are things that increase you misery. Say it is a nice sunny day and you are working on something and your trying to remove a bolt. Suddenly the head snaps off, suddenly dark clouds move in and your misery begins. At this point you have two choices, drill the bolt out retap the hole and continue. Or use an easy out and .....

To use a easy out you have to drill a pilot hole, not easy but not real big problem, you then insert the easy out screwing it in backwards which is correct direction to remove the bolt stud again really no big deal. Once the easy out is firmly set in place you then apply pressure and immediately the bolt shaft seems to be turning. Your hopes soar, life is good, the bird are singing! Then the bolt stops moving, you apply a little more pressure, you think it might of moved, so you apply a little more. Things as still good, the birds are still singing. Now you have been sufficiently seduced and you feel safe in appling just a little more pressure. But then it happens! The birds stop singing. The sky darken and life quickly changes as the sickening crack of the easy out snapping off rings through creation.

First your startled, you can't believe what just took place. You look at what you have left in you hands. Sudden the realization of what took place sets into your mind. Your happiness is over, the birds are now dumping on your shoulder! A tear begins to form in your eye. You realized you have been seduced again.

You have been tricked into using an easy out even though the last time you swore you would never use one again. But you heard all the success stories of guys removing bolts that are 1000 years old and were welded in by the hands of time.

However this time was differnt you thought. You were sure you were living you life in such a way the easy out god would shine on you this time. BUT NO! Now you have a broken bolt stud with an easy out firmly imbedded in it. Now not only do you get to do choice one you get to attempt to do it by drilling through a hardened piece of metal that was once an easy out.

At this point I'm usually in tears and what happens next isn't really pretty or important. Let jsut say shortly I will be needing to buy somemore drill bits.

The next thing that happens is my wife hearing my morningful howls of anguish runs to my side. "What happened honey?" she asks. I can't talk all I can do is cry and point. She takes me in her arms and says "It will be okay. We will just get you a new one." I cry worst thinking she is talking about a new easy out but she quickly assures me she is talking about a new whatever it was that had the stupid bolt in that broke off to lure me into using an easy out that set up my misery to begin with.

Easy-outs are misery makers in my book.

you were singing my song. i love it.

When I was having my frozen screw issues (I'm fully recovered now!!), I contacted the Irwin product support team to get an idea just how much torque can be applied before the extractor fails. The answer to that question is the key to not over torquing. Did I get an answer.....NO. They instead turned the question over to a product manager who never got back to me. Hopefully it wasn't because he had an AH-HA moment and realized they never thought of that question!!!

I am going to pursue the question again because it ultimately defines the limitations of the tool and I would think that they would freely publish that info.

There are too many varibles to get an exact torque. The first being that they are not of a uniform diameter. They are tapered. The torque would increase as you were able to get the extractor deeper.

mark-b wrote:There are too many varibles to get an exact torque. The first being that they are not of a uniform diameter. They are tapered. The torque would increase as you were able to get the extractor deeper.

Any estimate is better than no estimate. That is what I always tell folks that can't answer a question.

Any credible R&D group would have field studied the torque failure point to come up with some estimate. My experience with companies hesitant to provide such info is that they don't like the results and it make the product look bad........well, maybe it is!!

Thank you, thank you thank you. Now I know I am not the only simple minded soul who is incapable of successfully using easy outs. Now I can sleep better. Jim:mad::(:rolleyes:

A set of easy outs AND LEFT-HAND DRILL BITS will get you out of a lot of trouble.. the left hand bits will usually dislodge the broken bolt before usign the easy out

mickyd wrote:When I was having my frozen screw issues (I'm fully recovered now!!), I contacted the Irwin product support team to get an idea just how much torque can be applied before the extractor fails. The answer to that question is the key to not over torquing. Did I get an answer.....NO. They instead turned the question over to a product manager who never got back to me. Hopefully it wasn't because he had an AH-HA moment and realized they never thought of that question!!!

I am going to pursue the question again because it ultimately defines the limitations of the tool and I would think that they would freely publish that info.

As Markb has stated, the fail torque will depend upon what part of the tapered shank is resisting that torque, and the size of the resisting 'bite'. The best you could hope for is a minimum at which the smallest portion would 'fracture'. Me thinks if you restrict the torque application to a tap handle, that they do not shear!(ya gotta hold it straight also!)

JPG40504 wrote:As Markb has stated, the fail torque will depend upon what part of the tapered shank is resisting that torque, and the size of the resisting 'bite'. The best you could hope for is a minimum at which the smallest portion would 'fracture'. Me thinks if you restrict the torque application to a tap handle, that they do not shear!(ya gotta hold it straight also!)

Each extractor uses a single recommended pilot hole size which establishes fairly close the precise cross section of the extractor that experiences the max torsional stress. A max torque spec with a safety factor to account for application variables should be available. It's better than giving the consumer NO guidance.

I guarantee you that I can break the smaller 3 size extractors when using a reasonably small tap handle.