Fishing - Bite Alarm Repair

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Mr BD has damaged one of his bite alarms by breaking the screw which screws into the bank stick. He basically screwed it in too tightly and the screw has snapped in half and he cannot get the bottom part out. He contacted the firm that he bought them from but they are less than helpful. They asked him to email a photo of the alarm to them, which he did, and they have offered to send him a new screw. That was on the 15th May and we have not heard from them since or received the replacement screw. They do not do repairs it seems and can only be contacted by email. There is no contact telephone number on their website. The firm is called New Direction. As the alarms cost nearly £200 we cannot afford to replace them. Can anyone advise us how to get the bottom part of the screw out or failing that can anyone recommend where in the Manchester area we might be able to get it repaired.

[SlackAlice]

Bite alarm Name and model no.?
Can you upload an image of the broken alarm via a hosting site such as tinypics

[BAKERS DOZEN]

New Direction Bluetooth Bite alarm set K9/R9. Don't know how to to do pics but could get grandson to do it tonight. The alarm casing is fine, it is just the screw in the base that has snapped and part of it is still in the casing.

[Buenchico]

I'd give up trying to contact the company. Although it's a legitimate business registered at Companies House, their registered office is just a firm in Eastleigh that provides a mailing address for businesses. They're trading illegally by not providing a physical address on their website and they're in contravention of the rules on UK domain names by not providing their contact details on Nominet's Whois look-up service.

Despite saying that it's a UK-based firm, it seems to be that in name only. (i.e. it's registered at Companies House but actually run from overseas). The guy running it is German and appears to live in Germany but the firm was originally set up by him and a guy in China (which is probably where their products come from).

So, if they want to ignore your emails, there's probably not much you can do about it.

If SlackAlice (or another ABer) can't help you, it might be worth seeking out the help of a local model engineering society (or even of the craft, Design & Technology department at a local secondary school), as someone there should have the expertise (and equipment) to solve your problem.

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Very helpful reply Chris. Thank you very much. He has just sent them another email to see if we can at least get the replacement screw.

[SlackAlice]

Without a look at the replacement screw fitting, it's going to be difficult to work out how the replacement can be fitted. I have suspicions that the screw was 'bonded' into the body of the bite alarm at manufacture.
I've looked on youtube and am assuming you talking about the metal screwed stud that has sheared off.

[BAKERS DOZEN]

If you look at this video at about the 50 second mark you can clearly see the long silver screw at the bottom of the bite alarm. This is what has snapped off with a section still left in the alarm itself. If it was bonded in then don't think we have a chance of getting it out. Our next door neighbour is headmaster of a secondary school so will ask him if his tech department could have a look at it. Thanks for all your help. Will let you know what happens.

[Hymie]

You could try a screw extractor:-

https://www.screwfix.com/p/screw-extractor-set-5-piece-set/1112V?tc=DB8&ds_kid=92700030952051369&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1249481&;ds_rl=1249796&gclid=CjwKCAjwxZnYBRAVEiwANMTRX85xz9wxrNzzbBpcJlrDR09fSemfv5k2pSoUBe_Zbj9lEdIMv-ahKhoCjG0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CImx-p-in9sCFQl00wodF18D_A

To extract a screw, first you need to drill a small hole in the section of the broken screw. Then screw in an extractor; they work by cutting a left-hand thread into the drilled hole, thereby applying an anti-clockwise torque on the broken screw.

The main problem with the use of such a tool is that you need to be able to drill a small hole (suitable for the extractor) into the broken screw. Often the screw might be made of hardened steel, making the drilling of such a suitable hole difficult using DIY tools.

[BAKERS DOZEN]

A quick thank you to all who have tried to help. Update is Mr BD sent them a very strong email yesterday and got one back today advising him to send the whole unit to an address in Rotherham and they will discard and it and send him a complete new bite alarm. Only time will tell. Watch this space.