Drill out hole plugs

[CaliBrit]

Never done this. Seems viable to reuse old holes right? Planning to drill out with a smaller bit then run a tap in them.

Thoughts?

[~mikey b]

yes

go

[Core Shot]

Yes. Plastic plugs come out by themselves with a slightly smaller bit without damaging the core. If it’s epoxy plugs don’t even drill them out just drill new holes. Re screw with slow set epoxy. YMMV.

[XXX-er]

IME the plastic plugs come out by just driving a drywall screw into and pulling them out after which the hole should be good to reuse




I would suggest using slowset epoxy for the next mount and if any of the holes are spinners use the slowset/ FG method

[Blaster]

IME the plastic plugs come out by just driving a drywall screw into and pulling them out after which the hole should be good to reuse. I would suggest using slowset epoxy for the next mount and if any of the holes are spinners use the slowset/ FG method

Seconded, I found this to work better than drilling out the plugs.

[~mikey b]

yes

go


blah blah blah

[HukuTa_KydecHuk]

just a small screw into the plastic plug, then pull out with pliers

[XXX-er]

I have also drilled right thru the middle of the plug and left it in there which also worked

[Wes Mantooth]

Yeah just did this recently and second the screw method. If you want to be really careful you can drill a small pilot hole in the plug, put a drywall or wood screw in a couple threads with a screwdriver, then slowly pull out with a claw hammer. Put a wood block on the ski at the right height to act as a lever so the plug pulls out vertically with the hammer. That way you can go nice and slow vs yanking it out with pliers. I did it on 16 holes and had no spinners

[CaliBrit]

Thanks all this is awesome.

[EWG]

I never got the screw method to work. I just redrill the hole. Works fine for me.

Or, in the words of mikey - yes go.

[coldfeet]

This is a bit tool-nerdy, I would be tempted to drill into it with a left-hand drill bit. So the threads from the previous hole would help back the remains of the plug out. I don't know if this is necessary or helpful; I think that the only time I did this, I just drilled the plug with a slightly smaller regular bit as suggested above.

[XXX-er]

It should be pointed out AGAIN that the hole can be reused BUT you don't really want or need to run a 3.9 or 4.1 mounting bit in the hole or you will kack whatever threads that might have been left


SO a DW screw or any sharp screw is sharp enough to go into the plastic plug and let you pull it out if you neeed to drill into the plug use the smallest bit in your set the one you already broke last year


to reuse the hole you will still very likey need to do the FG + epoxy fix