Broken Screw

[Tinca]

Hiya everyone

I have just moved into our flat - not much floor space so i tried to put up a shelf I drill the holes and fitted the plugs (plastic). Whilst screwing the shelf into position a screw broke off in the plug.
Has anyone got ideas as to how i can remove it?

 

[breezer]

if their is anything left of the screw you can use pliers to turn what is left.

if not oh dear

 

[phil_ballard]

There are things called (I think) Eazy-Outs (or something similar) these are a bit like chunky self-tappers with a LH thread; as they bite into (what's left of) your screw they turn it a/c and pull it out.

Alternatively, burrow around the plug 'til you can get hold of it and pull it out screw and all. You can then fill the (now oversized) hole and start again.

 

[MANDATE]

If I was faced with your problem, I would concentrate on the plastic plug as against the screw. I would heat up a piece of coat hanger wire with a blow lamp and melt away the plastic plug until the screw is loose.
Although I wouldn't need to because I have a miniture soldering iron that would do the same thing. Or you could place a larger soldering iron on the screw itself.
Mind you I've never been faced with this problem, but I'm confident it will work. If you try this let us know the result.

 

[IanDB]

Can I also make the observation that if you managed to break one screw I would throw the rest of them away and buy some "proper" ones that will support your shelf properly and not shear when you tighten them up.

Make sure your screw driver isn't too big for the job as you can put some amazing torque onto screws if you try hard enough. The correct size screwdriver will minimise the possibility of this happening.

Good luck.

 

[masona]

This normally happens when using wrong size rawlplug.

You could try using a metal drill bit to drill it out ? won't be easy...