Broken front sight drill

[krehmkej]

Mucho bad mojo here. Installing my new CZ Custom FO front sight.
All fitted and in the vise. Started to drill...snap. Broken bit.
Only fix I can imagine right now is to just beat out (& likely destroy)my new sight.
Although I'm likely the first ever klutz to do this ham fisted trick just checking if there might have been another unlucky soul who's done the same and devised a brilliant fix?

[Tok36]

Is part of the broken bit still in the front sight pin hole? Edit: i just reread you post and it seams that the bit is still in the hole. I don't know about beating it out. Beating and gunsmithing typically do not mix well. How about tapping it out. if you can get it to move enough to get a pair of pliers on it you may be able to twist it out by hand. There are broken drill bit extractors but ill bet you can do it without one. Do not get frustrated and the sight may live! 

I am interested to hear what other forum member have to say on the conundrum.

[krehmkej]

Tiny drill (#42) in there. No pliers or drill extractor could help.
Maybe EDM?

[doc171]

In my humble opinion, you are probably going to have to destroy the sight to get the broken piece out. ( Did you get thru the sight any?) Also, did you use a large power drill? I use a small Bosch lithium battery powered one that has a really low speed rpm for my front sights. And if I remember right, Dawson ones are predrilled/slotted.

[Tok36]

Interesting, it sounds like i may have misestimated the situation. A call to CZC or CGW may be worthwhile. Please let us know what happens, i hope you get it out.

[rhart]

If your drill is reverseable, you may try to back it out using the broken end of the bit using friction on low speed.

Revised: Probably not a good idea because of high likelihood of slipping and messing up your slide...

[1SOW]

Wonder if applying a moderate amount of heat to the area and then tapping the bit out might work?  Maybe a heat gun?

[rhart]

Wonder if applying a moderate amount of heat to the area and then tapping the bit out might work?  Maybe a heat gun?

A soldering iron might work for heating the bit without heating the slide too much. Then maybe break it up with a pointed punch?

[rhart]

I wonder if you could drill it from the other side - the drill bit turning to the right from one side would turn the stuck drill bit to the left whrn it makes contact with it.

Man, I'm coming up with some dumb ideas today...

[cntrydawwwg]

I wonder if you could drill it from the other side - the drill bit turning to the right from one side would turn the stuck drill bit to the left whrn it makes contact with it.

Man, I'm coming up with some dumb ideas today...

   May at least be able to drill thru from the other side enough to at least fit a small punch in?
     See, I have dumb ideas too. [emoji2]

[rhart]

I wonder if you could drill it from the other side - the drill bit turning to the right from one side would turn the stuck drill bit to the left whrn it makes contact with it.

Man, I'm coming up with some dumb ideas today...

   May at least be able to drill thru from the other side enough to at least fit a small punch in?
     See, I have dumb ideas too. [emoji2]

That's actually not a bad idea. I wonder if you could find a small end mill with a flat cutting surface - if that would be better to get closer to the broken bit and it may also grab hold of the more pointed broken bit and turn it out. See, there I go again.

[whitecap]

If you can have someone assist you and hold the slide only against a soft (pine) wooden block right where the roll pin hole is. You may be able to use a punch no larger that the bit and drive it out from the opposite side that it entered from. The piece of bit will bury itself into the soft wood but the block of wood is important to support the slide. If you try to redrill this hole, stone the cutting edge of the bit first. Why that will dull the bit you say. Yes, it will remove the curved cutting edge that is digging into the material and causing the bit to snap under the torque of the power drill. It still cuts but without that grab and snap that besets small bits under these types of torque overloads.

[1SOW]

I suggest you ask schmecky here on the forum.  He is very good at coming up with workable solutions to tough problems.

[M1A4ME]

My son broke the first drill bit I bought.  Wound that drill up and snapped it right off when it bit in.

I used a sharpening stone to resharpen the drill bit by spinning the broken tip against the stone till I removed the broken end and reshaped the point.

I got lucky, the broken piece was sticking out enough to grab it with a pair of those little hobby needle nosed pliers.

If you drilled from the left side of the slide (so the drill bit wouldn't push the front side back out of the dovetail) could you drill from the right side of the slide to finish the hole and maybe push the broken piece of the drill bit back out?  Since the broken piece of drill bit is acting like a pin it should keep the front sight from moving, shouldn't it?

Or, would something like a dental pick be small enough to reach through from the opposite side and push the broken piece of drill bit out?

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

Or, would something like a dental pick be small enough to reach through from the opposite side and push the broken piece of drill bit out?

The dental pick should work or a good punch small enough to fit under the sight should be able to drive it out the other side. If nothing else I'd grind a punch to fit and drive out the broken drill bit.
The thing you DO NOT want to do is try to drive out the sight with that hardened tool steel piece of drill bit in there because you will not only damage the sight you can damage the slide/dovetail and possibly the barrel bushing as well.