Help all ye Triplanar Gurus

Ouch!

The proper method to remove a broken off screw is to grind the butt end flat, drill a hole (by hand) into it, tap reverse threads into that hole and insert a matching, reverse-threaded rod. Screwing the rod in (counter-clockwise) will safely back the broken screw out without damaging the original hole or threads.

The two challenges are the small diameter of the cueing height screw and the difficulty of clamping the piece it screws into without damaging the arm. This is do-able for someone with the right tools and skills, but don't try it yourself unless you've done similar work before. You might turn an annoyance into a disaster. Worst case is having to drill out the entire screw and re-tapping the hole for a larger screw.

You need a good machinist or (better) a skilled watchmaker who still uses traditional tools, like Herb Papier was. My partner's dad would have enjoyed helping you. He was a master tool and die maker and a wizard with small tools. The obvious choice is Tri Mai himself. If he doesn't respond to your email try calling him.

Doug

P.S. Not to salt the wound, but that screw just presses against a rod. It needs to be snug, not tight. As Frank Schroeder likes to say, the next step after really tight, is really loose. :-(

Doug, He says he broke "the screw that adjusts the height of the cueing platform", not the set screw, which stabilizes the vertical shaft in place, once one has adjusted VTA, and which seems to be the one you describe. Fixing the set screw would be a piece of cake compared to fixing the actual VTA adjuster. I hope I'm wrong for Sunnyboy's sake. But in any case, I would guess that Tri can fix it.

Absolutely a no brainer. Send it to Tri. Maybe someday I'll send mine to him to replace the stock arm rest. Or, maybe not. ;-)

My read is that we're all talking about the set screw which locks in the cueing height bar and not the knurled VTA tower locking screw.

No matter ... Sunnyboy speaks of a set screw, and even if we're misunderstanding him, the procedure for backing out any stripped or frozen screw is as Doug describes. Furthermore, he needs someone with the tools and skill level to do this for him.

The exception to the above involves a total disaster which would involve having to enlarge the hole and either replacing the existing screw with the next larger size, or alternatively installing a helicoil (if they exist in such small sizes) in order to use the same size screw.

What town do you live in, Sunnyboy?

There might be someone on this list with a connection to a good machinist. You might well save a whole lot of time in shipping and such.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Dear Thom, Just where in his post does Sunnyboy use the words "set" and "screw" consecutively? I do have to admit that as I re-read the post it does SOUND like he broke the set screw. I just want to be sure I'm not losing my marbles.