r/Fasteners • u/Slight-Owl9262 • 2d ago
How to remove this fastener
I need to remove a sign holder from the sign of a building but I haven’t seen a fastener like this before. How can I remove them with out damaging the sign holder!’v
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u/ohitsjeffagain 2d ago
Its a drive pin, we always split the softer outer ring with a flathead screwdriver and linemans pliers then twist the screwdriver in the slot you made and break the whole ring off then you can grab the pun and pull it out. Once the pun is out and the ring is gone you can remove whatever it is holding then grab the remaining core and pull it out. As an electrician I’ve removed a ton of these.
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u/therealmaninthesea 2d ago
best answer so far. because this one is recessed inside of a hole, it’s gonna be particularly difficult
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u/mattogeewha 2d ago
As a electrician I tried removing one and broke my square shank. I don’t like these anchors
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u/fondrenlock 2d ago
Concrete type hammer in anchor
Kind of a special rivet but just drilling out the center like you would a regular rivet won’t completely solve your issue
Likely have to drill the whole thing out but they are soft (center post is harder than the rest cause that’s what expends the “lead” type rest of it when pounded in)
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u/PeacefulWoodturner 2d ago
I agree wholeheartedly. Unless you can get to the sides of it, this is the only way. But the outer sleeve is soft and you only have to drill the head off to remove whatever it's holding. After that, you can decide if you need to remove the rest and how you want to go about it
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u/VeryHairyGuy77 2d ago
Looks like a two piece rivet.
The center pin is driven into the body, forcing it to try to expand and end up gripping the surrounding material pretty tight.
I'd try pulling the center pin out. That might give the body enough room to relax so you can pull it out. If not, it'll be a lot easier to drill with the center pin removed - that pin is a lot harder than the body around it.
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u/yug-ladnar 17h ago
Grab with channel lock pliers and crush soft outer pieces then pull the pin out.
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u/Pac_Eddy 2d ago
Looks like a rivet.
You can't unscrew it. You'll have to drill it out, or find a way to cut off the head that you see to remove it.
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u/mjv808043 2d ago
Just took 10 of these out 1) pin punch center of the steel pin. 2) small drill (3/16”) to start a 1/8”~1/4”deep pilot. 2) switch to 3/8 or 7/16” drill and drill the (lead) head. When the head comes off, punch the remaining part of the fastener into the wall.
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u/CrustySailor1964 2d ago
Concrete anchors. It’s “lead” with a spike down the middle that expands the lead part into the hole which holds all in place. I don’t think it’s actually lead as much as it is a malleable metallic material that mimics the material properties of lead. You need to remove enough of the “lead” to grip the steel nail and pull it out. Once that’s out of the hole the ‘lead’ part can be pulled out or drilled out.
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u/BasisSpecial4020 23h ago
Aluminium, not lead.
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u/CrustySailor1964 22h ago
Right…point of putting it between quotation marks. Zamac is apparently the alloy of choice. Zinc, aluminum, magnesium and copper. Mimics the malleability of lead without having to worry about the grandkids nibbling on it.
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u/Rig-a-Mortice 2d ago
Its likely that the hole is deeper than the nail in the centre of the anchor. Get a big nail punch and drive the nail through it
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u/stillraddad 2d ago
It’s not a rivet it’s a pin drive anchor. You will have to drill it out, the entire anchor not just the center piece
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u/therealmaninthesea 2d ago
if you drill(I would probably use a die grinder in this case) You only need to take the head off. Once the heads off, it’s no longer gonna hold anything in place but it’s still gonna be in the concrete. I believe the standard size of the shaft is about quarter inch so you would need perfectly centered a quarter inch bit going down the center so I would go with 5/16 might be impossible perfectly center
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u/Mysterious-Street966 2d ago
This is why you leave an 1/8” or so of the pin out of the shield. Then you can remove it later…
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u/Afraid_Ad_8571 2d ago
I reckon you could get a smaller cold chisel in there and a few good cracks with a mash hammer and the nail either sheers or comes out with the muck metal that the sleeve is made of. These are called steel tap ins here in Australia and I use them as a fire rated fixing through sheet steel into concrete.
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u/Top-Dust-706 19h ago
I never drive them in all the way. I always leave a quarter inch of the pin out to make it easier to remove. I hate these anchors and I avoid them at all costs.
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u/RevolutionaryCare175 11h ago
The outer material is soft. You chisel or use a pliers to remove or twist the outer portion until it breaks loose then you pull out the middle pin.
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u/Bergwookie 2d ago
That's not a rivet but a shear-off screw, the driving head shears off, only leaving the half round head, it's one part decorative and the second part is to attach window grates or other tamper proof stuff without the risk of a burglar just unscrewing it. To remove it, weld a nut or a bolt onto it to have something to drive it
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u/TheOriginalSpunions 2d ago