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As above really. Utilising my enormous man strength I managed to somewhat hamfistedly round an Allen bolt on my stem. I’ve tried to use Araldite to fix an old Allen key in the bolt so I can try to loosen it but I can’t get the glue to set properly. Even after leaving it overnight in the garage it was still not rock solid and the Allen key just came out. I’m mixing it 50:50, thinking maybe it’s too cold in the garage?
Hammer a slightly larger torx bit in.
Probably too cold, warm it up with a hair dryer or heat gun on low.
And as Marko said a slightly larger torx bit is better than a loose hex bit.
Araldite won't work. Failing the above, get a set of LH drill bits and extractors. Thus - https://amzn.eu/d/2YYkbC q"> http://Keyohome 10PCS Screw Extractor and Left Hand Cobalt Drill Bit Set, Damaged Screw Remover Drill Extractor Combination Set https://amzn.eu/d/2YYkbCq
Araldite really needs a minimum of 24h to set decently, and that's indoors. Ideally in a warm airing cupboard. As said, not really going to cut it for this use case.
Always worth having a set of 'removers' in your tool box.
It often won't stick too well to certain metals too I find or it may need some mechanical aspect to it.
Not sure if tl certain parts are coated in something or contaminated with oil maybe, but yeah, some don't stick well.
Is it the last bolt you've tried to remove? Nipping the others back up may take some strain off the one that's rounded.
Thanks all, I’ve got some extraction bits on order, it’s too far gone for anything else now I think. ****ing annoying as I was wanting to get out this weekend!
Depending on how tight the stuck bolt was you could try carefully tightening the adjacent bolt. This will reduce the torque of the rounded bolt making it easier to undo.
But if it was rounded because it was done up too tight then I wouldn't as there is a risk of stripping the thread on the stem
Epoxies (/amines) don't tend to work at 10C or lower. The cure just stops.
Bring it inside.
Some good suggestions.
Depending on size I've sometimes found an imperial Allen key will work if it just slightly bigger and you can force it in.
But as you have the right tools on order...
Don’t use Allen keys as they have a greater opportunity to cam out of the bolt head, you need to use vertical pressure to maintain a good application of torque, with hex bits in a suitable holder it is easy to maintain pressure without the fear of cam out.
The old superglue and baking soda trick works better than araldite, sprinkling baking soda on superglue let's you built it up into a solid lump like set araldite but stronger, hammered in torx bit or using bolt extractors is the best option, they should definitely work in a stem, bolt extractors have only failed for me when overzealous threadlock untouched for years was the culprit.