technical advice

Icyseanfitz

well lads i have a question that ye guys might be able to help me with, on my bionicon there is a little metal plate around 5 mm thick on top of the forks that i have to remove in order to fix them, now the problem is that there is two tiny star screws holding it down onto the forks and one of the screws is shot (the thread in the head is gone so i cant unscrew it), i have a spare metal plate as well as screws so i can feck the ones on it up no problem so long as i dont ruin the fork just below the plate...could be a bit tricky :rolleyes:

ive been in touch with a bionicon rep and i was told to use a drill starting with a small drill bit and slowly work down through the screw head with bigger and bigger drill bits until i can just take the plate off and remove the remains of the screw by hand or pliers, any advice on how i should proceed with this as i really dont want to have to buy a new fork and this seems tricky enough

Lemag

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

well lads i have a question that ye guys might be able to help me with, on my bionicon there is a little metal plate around 5 mm thick on top of the forks that i have to remove in order to fix them, now the problem is that there is two tiny star screws holding it down onto the forks and one of the screws is shot (the thread in the head is gone so i cant unscrew it), i have a spare metal plate as well as screws so i can feck the ones on it up no problem so long as i dont ruin the fork just below the plate...could be a bit tricky :rolleyes:

ive been in touch with a bionicon rep and i was told to use a drill starting with a small drill bit and slowly work down through the screw head with bigger and bigger drill bits until i can just take the plate off and remove the remains of the screw by hand or pliers, any advice on how i should proceed with this as i really dont want to have to buy a new fork and this seems tricky enough

LBS. You've had so much trouble with it at this stage and could run in to yet more if you start going at you fork with a drill.

Icyseanfitz

yeah the bike is currently at my lbs but im not sure if he is too sure about how to go about it im just trying to get all of yer ideas to put by him when i call over to him, i was also thinking of getting a flat head screw driver and a hammer and trying to put a new thread into the head so that i could screw it off

Lemag

THis is beyond my know how and this might sound a little crazy but if you know of a welder they could carefully weld a new head or the like on top of the worn one. You could then remove it by conventional means or the welder could do so. (but perhaps by using some other jiggery pokery magic)

kona

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

yeah the bike is currently at my lbs but im not sure if he is too sure about how to go about it im just trying to get all of yer ideas to put by him when i call over to him, i was also thinking of getting a flat head screw driver and a hammer and trying to put a new thread into the head so that i could screw it off

Hate those Torx screws, they are the most retarded design Ive ever seen, all my bikes had them changed to allen head bolts, they seem to be a favourite for disc brakes, Ive had them roung on the hub and Drilling them out like the rep metioned is the way I do it, you have to be very careful and sometimes it doesnt go right, which leaves you in a bigger mess.

If the bolt is big enough another option is to use a easy out like these:

http://www.brokentap.com/easy-outs.html

They cost about a tenner in any tool shop, but they would be a last resort, Id try the drilling first ;0

Another option would be to mill it out, a engineering shop can do this cheap. or just drill and retap to the next size up. Plenty of options

Icyseanfitz

bloody things are right annoying, why cant everything just be a flat head screw or an allen key screw im sure my lbs will figure it out its just a bit of a pain in the arse tbh

kona

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

bloody things are right annoying, why cant everything just be a flat head screw or an allen key screw im sure my lbs will figure it out its just a bit of a pain in the arse tbh

I think they are kind of security screws to stop newbs or idiots messing with them, you see them on alot of cars too. Also I think they are capable of high torque at you have 8 points for the tool to act on, the issue is that I think the smaller ones are made of poor metal and the points the tools act on are too small for the applied torque and so they fold. Havnt had issues with bigger ones, just the Disc brake ones. I wish they would just use allen heads, and not use loctite, no need for it on the hubs.

Icyseanfitz

well the one thats stuck on my fork must have been made out of play dough, i tried to turn it a good 5 times before the thread gave way and i was left with a nice semi circle shaped screw :rolleyes:

kona

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

well the one thats stuck on my fork must have been made out of play dough, i tried to turn it a good 5 times before the thread gave way and i was left with a nice semi circle shaped screw :rolleyes:

Sounds familiar allright, now imagine having a customer wanting it done in the next hour and that happens :pac: funtimes! First thing I do to all my bikes is get rid of them, they just suck.

Icyseanfitz

im going to look into getting some allen screws instead, hopefully il be able to

kona

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

im going to look into getting some allen screws instead, hopefully il be able to

Wont be a problem, they will be a metric thread , infact try and see if disc brake allen bolts will fit, just note if they are countersunk or not.

Lemag

kona wrote: »

Hate those Torx screws, they are the most retarded design Ive ever seen, all my bikes had them changed to allen head bolts, they seem to be a favourite for disc brakes, Ive had them roung on the hub and Drilling them out like the rep metioned is the way I do it, you have to be very careful and sometimes it doesnt go right, which leaves you in a bigger mess.

I have them on my Avid Elixir 3 brakes. Don't think that I can remove them though without releasing the fluid in them.

kona

Lemag wrote: »

I have them on my Avid Elixir 3 brakes. Don't think that I can remove them though without releasing the fluid in them.

Thats the Bleed nipple on avid, they are fine, well I havnt had a issue with them yet. Its the 6 bolts on the rotor Im talking about

Icyseanfitz

kona wrote: »

Thats the Bleed nipple on avid, they are fine, well I havnt had a issue with them yet. Its the 6 bolts on the rotor Im talking about

yeah the torx screw on top of my fork is actually smaller than the ones used for the 6 bolt unfortunately, will ask my guy at bionicon about them though

kona

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

yeah the torx screw on top of my fork is actually smaller than the ones used for the 6 bolt unfortunately, will ask my guy at bionicon about them though

You can still get them, try tucks fastners in Finglas, or any engineering supplies store

Icyseanfitz

will do, and thanks for all the help again lads i cant say this bike has been easy on me but il get the damn thing working properly if its the last thing i do

SomeFool

If you have one screw off the cap, can you turn the cap and release the screw that way?