In this video I'm going to remove some broken
screws that have snapped inside of wall plugs this is a very common problem and
it is relatively easy to fix the one at the very left hand side though is actually
snaps and it's just below the surface which of course makes it more difficult
the first thing we're going to try is using a pair of pliers or locking pliers mole grips Etc
the ones I'm trying first are Vampliers and they are specifically designed
to be used in situations like this these are especially good for screws with rounded heads
Etc I have done a review on these which I'll put a link to in the description
or of course you can use a pair of mole grips or locking pliers or vice Grip Pliers as they are
known in some countries this should always be the first option if there is some of the screw
sticking out the only problem with using these is that if the screw has snapped it's probably
because the screw is incredibly tight and no matter how good your pliers are or your vice grip
pliers you're never going to undo it you're just going to start chewing up the end of the screw
and as you can see we can't actually get this out using the pliers but it's always a good idea to
try that first because you may get lucky and you may be able to Simply unscrew the broken screw
by far the most favorite method is using a diamond coated hole saw and here I've got a few different
sizes and as you can see one of those is very thin walled and that's the one that we're going to use
you do need to ensure that the screw can go down the center of it obviously or else you
are going to struggle so with the diamond coated hole saw it's very easy you simply
put that into the drill chuck you can go in a forward direction or a reverse Direction
it doesn't really matter and basically what you're going to do is you're going to grind away the plug
and once the plug has been ground away sufficiently you'll then be able to grab
a hold of the screw using some pliers and unscrew it and pull the plug out
so by far the most favorite method is this another advantage of the diamond coated hole
saw is that you can actually use this on a tiled surface so if you have a tile and the screw that's
broken just below the surface are sticking out you can use one of these to get the screw out
another method you can use is a blow torch now I do have to say that this comes with some risk
obviously you can't do this in all situations here we're actually outside and this is concrete so we
are relatively safe if you're doing this you definitely need a good pair of safety glasses
and you do not want to use too much heat there is a chance if you get the concrete or the substrate
too hot it will actually blow and that can be quite nasty anybody who's ever used burning
gear on a concrete floor trying to burn bolts out Etc will be well aware of this occasionally
you can get the concrete exploding so you do have to be very careful when you do this
so I'm going to set the blow torch to a very low heat and I'm just going to
heat the screw up and the plug and that should melt the plug
sufficiently so that we can simply unscrew the remainder of the screw
and as you can see that has worked absolutely no problem at all
another thing you can try if you don't have a diamond coated hole saw or a blow torch is
a small diameter drill and you can use that to drill some relief holes around the screw
so I put a very small drill bit in the drill it's probably a two millimeter bit
and I do have to say now that there is a chance that this will break
and as you can see that has broken so I'm just going to
pull that out and I will get another drill bit
this drill bit is a three millimeter drill bit and this is a slightly better make
so basically you need to drill as close as you can to the screw and
drill away the plug using the small drill bit it is very awkward and it
is very difficult controlling exactly where the drill bit is going to go
but if you have nothing else and you need to get the broken screw out this will definitely work
once you've drilled out the majority of the plug again you can grab that using a
pair of pliers or vice grip pliers and you can simply unscrew it and pull out the plug
the last broken screw is the most difficult because it's actually just below the surface
to get this out you really only have one option and that is to use the diamond coated hole saw
so I'm simply going to put that in the drill grind away at it
and of course when you're doing this it does help if you've got a pair of long nosed pliers
once you've drilled away a sufficient amount of the plug you can then use the
long nose pliers grip the screw and simply undo it