RaisedByWolves said:
Better yet, if you have the spiral type give them to someone you dont like.
The fluted ones are great just dont hammer them in too hard or they will expandthe threads making them grip tighter and impossable to remove.:bang:
RaisedByWolves
About the only thing I ever see spiral EZ's work on are things like Ellen or Torex bolts or cap-screws. There not worth much.
Here is a good way to make your own task specific fluted EZ-Out. I live to make stuff like this, it's a little off-da-farm, but thought I would share!
I like these in most cases better then a store bought, as you can turn them with a wrench or socket.
Find the hardest bolt you can, generally the further you get into the middle of an engine, the harder the bolts are, like a rod cap or main brg, cap bolts are usually made out of a 4815 heat-treatable steel (the bolt your looking for usually looks like it's been blued like a gun barrel)
The first thing you need to do is anneal it, by heating it till a magnet wont stick to it, figure out how your going to let it cool the slowest way you can think of,,,, letting it sit in the coals of a wood fire and let the fire go out slow, is the best, but heat it to a good cherry red and cover it with floor dry or ashes will work.
Cut it to a good length to work with, and grind the end like a 4-cornered hand made nail, about that same taper also, Demerel tools or small cut off wheels can back-cut and sharpen the flutes, but a 3-cornered file will work better, keep sizing it so that it fits finger tight about half way up the flutes in the part your working on.
There are a lot of ways to do this better then I'm describing here, but this will work.
Vice-grip the head and buff the flutes, as glossy smooth as you can get it, point it right into a propane torch and slowly move the flutes into the the flame, inch by inch if you need to, you are looking for color as it heats up. As it will go from a pale yellow, straw yellow, yellow/brown and then some were in a yellow brown - deep purple, quench it in engine oil. (the thicker the oil, the deeper the purple you want) If it gets blue-hot, you need to air cool, re-polish it and start over, but as long as it just past yellow, you can repeat and quench it as many times as you want.
The next part will make it usable, there 2 easy ways to do it, one, wrap it in tin-foil and toss it in your oven, set it as hot as it goes, on bake, broiler heat will wreck it, you want 475 - 525 deg for at least an hour, but the longer the better.
Or take an old deep fat fryer, and just toss it in and set it as high as the oil will take it, again the longer the better.
just let it cool anyway you want from there.
This will give you an EZ-out that will just about start to twist before it snaps, it will have some feel to it, and if it did brake in the hole, wont say it would drill easy, but it will drill, as a file will just touch it.
Most store-boughts, if they brake, your screwed. But if you want it that hard, just take it past blue, till a magnet wont stick, and drop it in water , and repeat the bake, a file wont touch it.
Kevin
