MendonMafia
Member
I really messed up! Hoping things can be salvaged.
I was cleaning my carbs and the return orfice was plugged in one of my carbs. With much effort, time, fine needles for cleaning 3d printer nozzles, and many different solvents and oils, I managed to get it cleared out, yay!
Went to do the same process on the other carb that was not plugged and the needle broke off in the hole (fml). It was raised about 0.5 mm where it broke off, but the recessed hole is too small to allow any pliers into the recess to grab it. I tried compressed air, plugging the return line and filling it with water then super heating with a torch to build more pressure and hopefully expand the aluminum enough to blast the steel needle out but none of this worked. I eventually tried to push the needle through into the brass line with a small drift but it only managed to reach the surface and not push all the way through. Pretty sure it bottomed out and embedded into whatever is on the opposite side of that hole, I presume carb body. Nevertheless I tried to use an all to push it through further but I was unable to get the sharp point of the all to rest on the steel needle and made a few indents in the aluminum instead as seen in the pictures.
Is there anything I can do besides buy a new carb? I've considered drilling it all the way through, filling with solder, and then redrilling a small hole into the solder. My issue with the latter is that idk what solder sticks to aluminum and I would need to put something down the brass line to keep the solder localized where it needs to be and everything I can think of to use would melt or burn during soldering (I would likely need to heat the entire carb body to soldering temp for this to work assuming solder exists that would work for this). Maybe I can drill it out, tap the hole and insert a jet instead? Seems like it should already have a jet since the hole is so small I'm not surprised it got plugged to begin with. And servicing a jet would be much easier. Could I just drill it out and use a larger hole the size of the recessed hole or does it need to be so tiny? Could I use a micro bit and drill a new hole next to the plugged one or does it need to be centered perfectly?
Thanks in advance!
I was cleaning my carbs and the return orfice was plugged in one of my carbs. With much effort, time, fine needles for cleaning 3d printer nozzles, and many different solvents and oils, I managed to get it cleared out, yay!
Went to do the same process on the other carb that was not plugged and the needle broke off in the hole (fml). It was raised about 0.5 mm where it broke off, but the recessed hole is too small to allow any pliers into the recess to grab it. I tried compressed air, plugging the return line and filling it with water then super heating with a torch to build more pressure and hopefully expand the aluminum enough to blast the steel needle out but none of this worked. I eventually tried to push the needle through into the brass line with a small drift but it only managed to reach the surface and not push all the way through. Pretty sure it bottomed out and embedded into whatever is on the opposite side of that hole, I presume carb body. Nevertheless I tried to use an all to push it through further but I was unable to get the sharp point of the all to rest on the steel needle and made a few indents in the aluminum instead as seen in the pictures.
Is there anything I can do besides buy a new carb? I've considered drilling it all the way through, filling with solder, and then redrilling a small hole into the solder. My issue with the latter is that idk what solder sticks to aluminum and I would need to put something down the brass line to keep the solder localized where it needs to be and everything I can think of to use would melt or burn during soldering (I would likely need to heat the entire carb body to soldering temp for this to work assuming solder exists that would work for this). Maybe I can drill it out, tap the hole and insert a jet instead? Seems like it should already have a jet since the hole is so small I'm not surprised it got plugged to begin with. And servicing a jet would be much easier. Could I just drill it out and use a larger hole the size of the recessed hole or does it need to be so tiny? Could I use a micro bit and drill a new hole next to the plugged one or does it need to be centered perfectly?
Thanks in advance!
