How to Remove a Broken Bolt
The best method for removal of stubborn / broken bolts is to drill them out using a left hand drill bit and a reversible drill. Use a good quality, variable speed drill. The best would be the 3/8 INCH models, which produce good torque at low RPM. High impact drills may result in the opposite effect. Also make sure you use American drill bits here folks. As always with drilling holes, drill a small “pilot hole” or use a center punch first, then drill a larger hole through the broken fastener.
It’s easier to drill centered and straight by using a small drill first, but be careful not to break the small drill. A pilot hole or center punch can be skipped if you are using a drill bit with a high enough split point. The split point eliminates the need for a “pilot hole” or center punch. Anytime you drill metal you should use a little cutting oil if you want to keep your drill bits sharp. You also want to stop every 1/16 of an inch or 2mm to make sure you are drilling straight. A little penetrating oil may be helpful here as well. Most bolts will come out before the drilling operation is finished!
If you don’t get lucky enough to have the bolt come out when you drill with the left hand drill bit, don’t start kicking anything because great things come in small packages. I also don’t need you sending me a hospital bill for a broken foot. Next step would be to use your screw or bolt extractor which comes in a variety of sizes. Insert the tip of the bolt extractor into the hole and begin drilling in reverse or counter-clockwise. Make sure you are drilling into the center of the screw or bolt. This is very important. If you are not, just angle the drill in the direction you need in order for it to be on center. If you do everything correctly the extractor should automatically engage and begin to remove the bolt. It will be like magic before your eyes. If for some reason it stalls during removal, use some more penetration oil and let it sit for a minute. You can either try again or continue removing the bolt by hand.
Now if you’re STILL having trouble then you pretty much have the same luck as I do. First, I recommend never going to the casino. The only other option would be to use some kind of blow torch to heat up the bolt. This will make it much softer and may loosen it up. Obviously be careful and don’t do this if the bolt or screw is fastened to any flammable material. American Made Drill Bits has some great, inexpensive, left hand drill and bolt extractor sets. They are also 100% Union Made in the USA.
The Gold Standard Worldwide
Gold is rightly considered one of the most precious metals available on the market today. It is by no means a rare commodity but it has a special place in the hearts of most people. People talk of the “Gold standard” and it is typically associated with wealth and opulence. This is not surprising considering that gold is a very versatile metal.
Walk around most cities in the world and you are bound to find at least one person whose business it is to sell gold. From the Gold Souk in Dubai to the streets of the “Place of Gold” – Egoli (Johannesburg) you will be able to buy gold in almost any place in the world. More often than not, you are not going to be offered gold ingots for sale. Those that sell gold have long since realized that most people cannot afford a full gold ingot and that most people want to be able to wear their gold or admire it. There is something so alluring and luxurious about gold jewelry and those that sell gold understand this.
Let us face it; if you are buying gold as an investment, it is much easier to invest through a brokerage that will sell gold shares than actually investing in a solid gold block. Investment in gold as a commodity is generally a sound business decision rather than an emotional one and so images of the old miser sitting at home counting his hoard of gold coins are by and large out of date.
Most people who buy gold pieces nowadays are looking at them as gifts for loved ones, etc. It can be difficult to pick out the ideal gift for someone but a piece of gold jewellery seldom misses the mark. Gold jewellery has the added advantage of conveying warmth and affection and, if it is real gold, appears to be expensive.
Several people, in fact, look to their stores of gold jewellery when financial distress hits. The people that sell gold jewelry will often buy gold jewelry because gold can easily be melted and formed into something else. If you are in a position where it becomes imperative to sell your jewelry, remember that you are not likely to get anywhere near the replacement value of the piece and will be awarded an amount based on the weight of the ring rather than the design – except in the case of antique rings. Consider any offers carefully before accepting and make sure that you truly want to sell. Resort to this if there is no other way out or if the piece contains no sentimental value for you.
Using the Cd Command to Move Up and Down in Linux Directories – Linux Commands Quick Tips
Moving “Down” in Linux Directories
The Linux cd command can be used with “spacebar directoryname” to move “down” into a directory below the current directory without having to type in the full path to a directory that is below the current directory.
Moving “Up” in Linux Directories
You can use “spacebar ..” to move up a directory (level) to go to the “parent” directory of the current directory.
Linux Commands Training Tips: You can use a ; (semicolon) between Linux commands to run more than one command on the same line. And the pwd command shows the fill path to your current directory.
Examples of Using the cd Command To Move Up and Down Directories
The Linux cd command below changes into the directory named man, below the path of /usr/share.
The ls command below uses the -d option to show the directory names (only) in the man directory and not the contents of the directories (which are subdirectories) of the man directory.
The filename “pattern” of man? used with the ls command below causes the output to show only the directories beginning with “man” and ending in any other single character (only), due to the single ? wildcard character.
These directories can be referred to as the manx directories, where x is a number from one to nine.
$ cd /usr/share/man ; ls -ld man?
To change into the man2 directory below the current directory, use “cd spacebar dirctoryname”, where the directoryname is a man2 directory.
$ cd man2 ; pwd
The full path to the man2 directory is: /usr/share/man/man2
Now, to easily change up one directory “level” use “spacebar ..”, instead of typing in cd and then the full path of /usr/share/man.
$ cd .. ; pwd
Now change into the man5 directory below the current directory.
$ cd man5 ; pwd
Now combine the two dots with a directory name (and use a slash between the two dots and the directory name) to go up one directory level and then down into the man7 directory!
$ cd ../man7 ; pwd
The Linux commands covered here apply to ALL Linux distros, including Red Hat, Ubuntu, openSUSE, SUSE, Debian, Fedora and Slackware Linux.