Adjustment screw stuck in dropout

[Ed no-more-lemons]

Snapped the bloody thing twice in me impatience. tried pliers on the few millimeters that are visible and thought about having a go with a drill(a bad idea?). But I suppose I am just going to have to live with it as it is?

 

[mickle]

Ouch. That's bad news.

 

[Ed no-more-lemons]

Yes I am Adrian
Only it happens to be a Compagnolo dropout, fortunately the frame has a couple of other flaws so I will be keeping it for my own personal use.

 

[MichaelW2]

Soak in WD40 for a few days.
Do the bolts have a screwdriver slot. Can you make one?

 

[Ed no-more-lemons]

Snapped inside and out, Doh. I have been trying to clamp some needle pliers on a short internal stump. I was dreaming about some sort of needle nosed mole grips.

 

[Ed no-more-lemons]

What about a reverse thread screw extractor?

A what

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Drill a hole in the end of the screw, soak the threads in Plus Gas for a day or two to break up the rust then tap a torx bit firmly into the hole and you should get enough purchase to turn it.

 

[gbb]

I can't offer anything that hasn't been suggested other than taking care and accuracy if you do try to drill the broken stud.
What I can suggest later is copperslip. I had barrel adjusters sieze in an alloy frame, devil of a job to fix, I ended up drilling them out completely and re-tapping them, then copious use of antisieze to prevent recurrence.

 

[midlife]

Nightmare people have tried all sorts including spark erosion but usually it's a question of drilling them out and re-tapping. Or glueing them in if the hole gets too big.

Not a job to do with the frame resting on your lap and holding the black and decker by hand.......

Shaun

 

[Poacher]

While it might be nice to retain adjusters as an original feature of a cherished frame, whenever I've had this problem (1<n<7) I've ended up calling it quits, sawing/snapping/snipping the adjuster as close to the dropout as possible and filing it flush. It must take me, ooh, 4 seconds longer to centre the wheel, compared with possibly many hours trying to extract a broken one. I can live with that!

 

[BorderReiver]

Is this the same frame with the stuck stem? I'm thinking it might be easier to chuck it in a skip and start again?

 

[Tim Hall]

If it's a steel screw in an aluminium frame you can use Science and cooking to harmlessly disolve the steel. @zigzag did this a couple of years ago.

 

[Ihatehills]

If it's a steel screw in an aluminium frame you can use Science and cooking to harmlessly disolve the steel. @zigzag did this a couple of years ago.

Dissolving steel stuck in aluminium ? I like the sound of That, can you link to a thread or provide some more info ?

 

[robgul]

As suggested - just cut the rest of it out - they really serve no useful purpose - pull the axle fully back in the dropout and align the wheel in the rear forks by eye before you tighten the QR (or nuts if it's an older wheel/hub). Simples.

Rob

 

[Ihatehills]

@User, thanks, that made for an interesting read.