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Broken screw

Gary Beasley

Gary Beasley

Joined
Sep 12, 2017
Messages
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Location
Marietta, Georgia
I was turning the core I took from the rock hard burl, managed to break a concrete rated screw off in it while taking the faceplate off.
Plug cutters are your best friend when this happens. I mounted the cutter in my drill press and centered it on the screw stub and drilled down the length of the remaining screw. After that it was just a matter of tapping a screwdriver in beside the plug and breaking it off with the offending fragment in it.
 
Concrete screws are just about as brittle as drywall screws. There are "structural screws" now that are high strength and grip like, um, screws but are designed for use in light framing buildings where some flexibility and bounce are desired. Even though nails do not have the grip that screws do, it isn't just the cheapness and ease of installation that make nails the default choice for wood frame construction fasteners. The steel in nails is much superior to most screws in terms of being able to flex a bit and resist shear forces. The softer steel resists torque better too (shouldn't be a concern for nails, however), but torque just a variant of shear force. I have no experience using these structural screws (not nails) on a face plate, do your own diligence, YMMV etc., but I think these properties are what one would desire for this application if memory serves me correctly.

Tapcons and their ilk -- I've broken so many of those things trying to remove them or just get them sunk all the way in (the first piece of aggregate you hit or drag on often snaps them), I wouldn't consider using them. If I had to choose between drywall, deck screws, or concrete fasteners, I would choose deck screws and those are still inappropriate, but they are the least brittle of the three. Check out the structural screws, or their lighter cousins, "construction" screws. Maybe there is an untapped niche market here for something even better...
 
Over torquing, during install or removal, can be the origin of failure. Using wax on the threads reduces friction and does not effect holding power. It also prevents/slows down corrosion which can increase removal torque. Whatever screw you use, wax up the threads.
 
Gary Beasley said:
I was turning the core I took from the rock hard burl, managed to break a concrete rated screw off in it while taking the faceplate off.
Plug cutters are your best friend when this happens. I mounted the cutter in my drill press and centered it on the screw stub and drilled down the length of the remaining screw. After that it was just a matter of tapping a screwdriver in beside the plug and breaking it off with the offending fragment in it.
Click to expand...
That's a great tip Gary. Thanks for sharing that!
 
Over torqueing is a problem. The older screw guns have a clutch setting. Most just set it to max torque, which causes over torqueing, and screws breaking off or the heads stripping, though since switching to the star drive screws, that doesn't seem to be a problem for me any more, even if I pretty much never use face plates any more. I do have one of the newer DeWalt screw guns, and go easy on the trigger. I can strip out the threads in plywood if I go full bore. I do prefer the adjustable clutch.

robo hippy
 
I’ve got no drill press. Other solutions? I’ve used a drill with a small bit and drilled around the broken screw until I removed enough wood to grasp the screw with a pliers.
 
Alan Weinberg said:
my dad, who was a great woodworker, none of which rubbed off on me, would rub each screw against a bar of soap before using it. Works as well as wax.
Click to expand...
I keep a toilet bowl wax ring in my shop for this purpose. It’s soft enough to just push the screw into it and pull out. Comes out with a coat of wax in the threads and you’re good to go.
 
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