Whilst rummaging through a box of old Meccano awaiting refurbishment, I came across a brass coupling, part number 63, that was attached to a rod by a broken grub screw. The previous owner had obviously had a go at removing it and given up. By now there was no evidence of a slot ever being there. A trip to the workshop was in order...
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| Heat treatment |
Applying heat to the coupling. With a bit of luck, they usually just fall off - If it does DON'T pick it up! With the pressure released on the grub screw it can often be carefully tapped round and unscrewed using a sharp tool such as a scriber. In this case the grub screw had been abused and was still stuck in the thread. To extricate the little blighter without damaging the thread of the coupling the best way is to drill a hole down the centre of the grub screw deep enough to get a screwdriver to wedge in.
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| The hand that should be holding the coupling is holding the camera! |
Use a screwdriver to wedge in the bottom of the hole and screw the shell of the grub screw through into the body of the coupling. This is much easier that trying to unscrew it.
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| The remains of the grub screw falls through into the body of the coupling |
The remains will now just drop out and I now have a perfectly usable coupling - mow all I need to do is straighten the rod - But that is another story.
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| Gotcha! | |
This method is fine if you can get the part off the rod. If that is not possible here is another way to remove it, over on my Workshop Blog. Click on the picture below to see how.
Ralph.
