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Stuck drill bit

MrFlyTrap2

OMG h8 pings
I'm desperately searching for a handy crowd, so I'm dropping a note over here.

I'm working on getting my house wired with cat6, and of course the 3rd run tanked my day. Currently, I have a 4 foot drill bit stuck in the wall, and I can't get it to budge at all. This stupid bit cost $36 so I don't want to call it quits yet.

I'm not used to bits that have a self guiding tip, and I think that it was boring too quickly for it's own good. Especially since this is an old house made of hard wood. The bit made it through the floor board, but I can't see it in the basement, so it's either angled and tipped into the cement wall, in a beam, or caught a nail. There is no insulation wrapped around the bit, and I've tried 3 drills to try and reverse it. (two being 5amp AC powered)

Been debating tapping the top with a hammer, but I don't want to gnaw up the self drilling head which probably got me into this mess in the first place. I've also tried to back it out with vice grips, but they eventually slip and sparks fly everywhere. A friend might have a large pair in the morning, but if that fails I'm out of ideas. Any installers have another trick I can try?

Thanks,
Nate
 
I'm an electrician and I used these bits all the time when I was wiring houses. I never got one stuck though. We used a high torque/slow speed drill. You may want to get one
http://www.mytoolstore.com/milwauke/1854-1.html
You may be able to rent one, if you have a tool rental place nearby.

Be careful though, those things will break your arm if you're not careful.

If you can't get one or it doesn't work, I would try getting a smaller bit, 1/4 or so. Drill around the the drill bit that's stuck to weaken the wood around it. Keep doing that until it's loose enough to be backed out.

Another trick is to drill forward a tiny bit, then reverse the drill and drill backwards. repeat until bit is free.

Good luck.

If everything else fails , there is one sure fire way to get the bit free.

pour one gallon of gasoline around the bit. Light the gas and wait a couple of hours. The bit should be laying on the ground where the wall used to be.
 
Better to poor liquid nitrogen on it, maybe it shrinks enough so you can pull it out ;)

Edit: what about using some sort of pipewrench to reverse the drill out ?
 
If the large vice grips don't do the trick, my vote is with Ozzy's suggestion. :-D
 
If torque alone seems ineffective, then maybe a hammer drill might back it out... or maybe use a slide hammer ???
 
If it's stuck in wood hammering won't help afaik.
 
it if loosens up the grip of the wood it might
much like an impact wrench will loosen a bolt when a regular drill would be ineffective

just a thought ;)
 
Before trying Ozzy's childish suggestion... I vote get a nice grip on it with your teeth and yank.

Is it somewhere it could get cool by letting it sit over night and have a window open nearby (if it's still cool there) maybe that will cause wood to shrink a bit away from the bit. ???


(Note to kids and those who know no better... NEVER use your teeth on anything but food. :nono: )
 
  • #10
rather than vice grips try a pipe wrench, it will give you a lot more torque
 
  • #11
For reference, after a few hours of brain storming an steaming with anger till 1am, the idea of spraying WD-40 into the shaft of bit worked after 10 mins.

-Warm regards for the help!
Nate
 
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