Seattle, WA
Quoted from kevmad:Please help! I was screwing in a post into my new Sorcerer playfield (CPR), and the post sheared off, leaving the threaded part in the wood!! The post on the right is what a new post looks like, the post on the left is my sheared off post. How do I get the broken threaded part of the post out of there??? I pre-drilled the hole before screwing in the post. I did notice this CPR playfield wood is harder than what I am used to. Please, help, I"m about to cry or scream or...
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Ironic this should come up just now. I only yesterday discovered that a High Speed I've own for 25 years has a similar problem. A previous owner broke the screw holding a plastic part, and "fixed" it by cutting a different plastic, doing a lame paint job on it, and mounting it using a different post. I'd always just assumed the plastic was replaced because the original broke, and finally got around to buying some reproduction plastics for the machine and discovered the broken screw when I went to install the new plastic. So I'm in the same boat, figuring out what to do.
Anyway...
I've never heard of the hollow bits described in the other reply. Would be great if someone could post a link to a supplier.
Other methods:
* Screw extractor. These are special tools, come in spiral- and straight-fluted varieties, used like a tap, but backwards. You have to drill out the interior of the screw first, with a small enough bit. Best to use a center punch on the screw first, to make sure the drill is centered and cuts out exactly the part you need. Once the screw is drilled out enough -- doesn't take much, just enough to get the extractor in -- you use the extractor, twisting it counter-clockwise onto the screw so it can turn the screw out (the spiral-fluted extractor has reverse cut on the flutes, so that it digs deeper into the screw as you turn it).
* Drill four holes directly adjactent to the screw, to make room for needle-nose pliers and to loosen the wood around it, then you can just pull the screw out. You will need to then select a large enough dowel, drilled a new hole just the right size for the dowel, glue the dowel in the hole, cut it flush with the playfield, and then once that's all dry you can start over drilling a new hole for the part that's supposed to go there. If done carefully, this can even be done from the topside of the playfield; mask around the area to work with tape, make sure you only drill into areas where the post will cover, and when it's all done, the post will hide everything.
* Variation on the above is to come at it from the bottom. This can be tricky if the screw doesn't penetrate all the way through the playfield, which of course is the case for most screws. If you can locate the screw's position with a high level of confidence, you can drill carefully into the underside of the playfield with a larger bit, stopping as soon as you hit the screw, and then from there you can use the "drill on the side" approach to get the screw out. Depending on how deep you had to go, you might not even have to fill the hole, because there will be enough solid wood at the top to hold the new screw. But if not, you can do the whole "drill a bigger hole, fill with a dowel" thing, and since you're coming from the bottom, the playfield will look like nothing happened. Just be careful to not drill too far; I suggest the old trick of marking the depth on the drill bit with masking tape.
Here are some web pages I found useful when I was researching my options:
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/broken-screw-on-playfield.27550/
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.pinball/c/-nrSQi8PO0c/m/w8i0j2iHGQMJ
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.pinball/c/KwBfN1pJplM/m/Nn5YiqWCMiEJ
