Irwin Tools 53625 Straight Flute Screw Extractors, 4 Piece Set

This set is amazing.I rounded off the head of an external Torx bolt in my engine. This set worked exceptionally well to remove it.Here is my process.First, I cut off the head of the bolt using a dremel.Second, I made a point in the middle of the bolt with a punch tool and a hard strike of a hammer (a heavy one works best). Alternatively, if you don’t have a punch, you can make a starter hole with the smallest drill bit in this set. Or, you can create a slot (like a flathead screwdriver slot) across the bolt with a dremel tool. That will give enough indentation for the drill bit to grab and penetrate the bolt.Third, this set has a chart on the inside cover where you match the drill bit with the bolt you’re trying to extract. Pick the correct bit and start drilling at dead center of the bolt. Make sure you drill straight because if you hit the threads, you’re screwed. Since these are left handed bits, you have to drill in reverse for it to go in. I recommend you practice on a piece of scrap wood or cardboard to see what direction you need to drill for the bit to penetrate. In short, it is reverse on your drill.To drill the bolt you’re trying to extract, I recommend pulsing your drill to make sure you are keeping the bit center and not angling it into threads. You do not need to go super deep. Once you have drilled out about 1/2 cm to 3/4 cm, then get the bolt extractor that matches the bolt size.There are two types of extractors in this set. T-type extractors and socket type. The T-type require a T-tool or vice grips to manually turn the extractor. The socket extractors (shown in my pictures) are easier to use. They require an SAE 1/2” socket attached to a 3/8” ratchet.Take the extractor of your choice and use a hammer to hammer it into the hole you made with your left hand bit. A few hard blows should suffice. Then, attach the socket (or if you used the T-extractors, use vice grips or other tool) and slowly twist in a counter clockwise direction. Once the bolt loosens, you may often remove the rest by hand. If it, keep using your tool until you can pull out the bolt.Finally, to remove the extractor from the damaged bolt, you can use two vice grips or a socket and vice grips. Twist in opposite directions to loosen.Finally these tools are Made in USA.

Spectacular!Yesterday, I screwed up... I was assembling a new big brake kit for my car and I mis-read the instructions and overtorqued a bolt... so far that I snapped the head of the bolt right off. It was a small (1/4") stainless steel sucker. To make matters worse, I had just used red LocTite on the threads, so that sucker was going to be in there hard and fast. I drilled through the screw w/ a 7/64" bit and screwed around for over an hour yesterday with an extraction tool from my local auto parts store... the best I could do. When the threads on that extractor did nothing but turn dull and flatten together, I came to Amazon. 20 hours later, these arrived at my door.I walked out to the garage, took out the #2 extractor and dropped it in the hole I had drilled yesterday. I tapped it with a hammer a few times, attached a T-shaped tap handle and gave a slow 1/4 turn. I tapped it 3-4 more times and gave it another 1/4 turn... the screw started coming out! Probably 2 minutes after I unboxed these tools, I had removed the stub of the screw and my project was back on track.Now I've got a nice set of extractors in a sturdy box, waiting for my next screw-up.--------------EDIT: I remembered a rusted off bolt on a valve cover I needed to fix, so I pulled the box out a week later. I drilled out the bolt (someone else torqued off the head this time), dropped the tiny extractor in the hole, tap-tap-tap, unscrewed the fastner with no problem! 2 for 2 wins!

Awesome set of extractors and left handed (reverse) drill bits. Reading some of the reviews here, people are saying that the drill bits couldn't put a dent in whatever they were drilling into, I'd bet dollars to donuts that those folks making those claims didn't realize they were supposed to be drilling in reverse. I use these in an industrial setting on the regular and they work almost all the time. With the left-handed bits, about 1/3 of the time you don't even need to use an extractor because the bit spins the broken bolt out. Using a standard right-handed drill bit on a right-handed thread runs the risk of actually tightening the broken bolt, THAT is why left-handed bits are ideal for extraction of broken bolts. So remember, run your drill in REVERSE with these drill bits, and you won't have any problems.

I used this kit for extracting a badly stuck, badly corroded sheet-metal type screw from a bbq. The idea is you drill a hole into the head of the stuck screw you're trying to extract and then insert the spiral extractor. The Irwin cobalt drill bits didn't make a dent in the sheet metal screw. Surprising. Cobalt alloys are supposed to be good for this kind of drilling. I gave up on the cobalt and switched to a titanium alloy drill bit (not part of this kit). That went into the screw head like a hot knife into butter. Again surprising that the Irwin drill bit failed. After that the Irwin screw extractor worked OK. So in my experience half the kit works, the other half doesn't.Incidentally although the product is marketed on Amazon as made by Irwin, the outside of the box says Hanson, the inside label says Irwin.

Finally got around to using these this week.They work great so far.Extracted 2 broken nose bolts on pneumatic tool.Most import to remember is they are left hand drill bits so drill must be put in reverse.ie:counter clockwise.I read the bad review here and laughed,sounded like drill turning in wrong direction.Any way worked great for me.

Had to remove two broken exhaust manifold bolts from a 4th gen hemi. Each stud took about 4- 1/8th inch titanium nitride right hand drill bits (makes drilling a little easier/ would have used TiCN drill bits but couldn’t find them). After the 1/8 inch holes were drilled I used the #3 left hand cobalt drill bit, the first stud came out after quite a few attempts using the extractor, the extractor just wouldn’t bite into the second stud, frustrated I ended up hammering a torx bit with a 3/8 ratchet adaptor inside the stud and it came out. I’m guessing if I would have given the extractor a few love taps into the stud it may have also worked, I was just to paranoid about breaking the extractor off inside the stud.

I've heated the broken stud like it was recommended in the instructions and after inserted the extractor.The heat was applied with some Mapp gaz torch for about a minute, nothing to extreme... The heat immediately made the extractor become overheated and the treads broke off.Very disappointing lasted me for two stud removals.However, the drill bits are not bad of a quality.

Nice tool. The extractors work really well. However the drill bits get blunt easily when dealing with grade 8 bolts. I've switched to using a regular right hand drill bit for the starting holes on the bolt, then gently tapping in the left hand extractor till its firm in the hole and then turning anti clockwise with any adjustable wrench available. Hasn't failed yet