Broken bolt extraction???

Howdy,

One of my guys managed to break off a bolt in his chinsaw and I can't get it out. The bolt piece is stuck in aluminum. I know how to normally extract broken bolts (drill/extractor/etc) but this one is tricky: it's broken off about .5" deep and at a very steep angle (like 70*). My drill-press is too small to accomodate the width of the powerhead and there is no way to 'steady hand' a drill in there with it broken off at such a steep angle.

I'd rather not helicoil it becuse I've had bad luck with those before (aluminum/ excessive vibration) in chainsaws seems to work them out or get sloppy.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

with out being able to see exactly what you are dealing with i can't say for sure what to do but if it is broken off in aluminum you can drill it out and install a time-sert http://www.timesert.com/ they work much better than heli-coils. if you don't want to do that then what i have done in the past if you have time and patience is use a dremel with a carbide bit and cut the bolt out and run a tap through to clean the treads.

 

Just came across this again. Thanks for the link on the Timesert, that looks legit. I ended up just shelfing that powerhead until winter but I think I'll try out the Timesert when I get back to it. Thanks!