How to get a hexagonal nut out of a round hole

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In summary: How big is the tank? Can you get inside it? Where's the outlet go?In summary, someone stuck a hose with a 3inch pipe nut into a tank with a round gland, and has been trying to get the nut out for hours without success. They added boiling water to the tank and it is so close but not close enough. They tried getting the nut perpendicular to the hole, and aligning it so the sides and not the vertices are lined up with the edges of the round hole, but it didn't work. They tried grinding the corners off with a Dremel or some such device, but it didn't work. They then tried getting the nut off by either tapping it
  • #1
wolram
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Get a hexagonal nut out of a round hole, some clever person stuck a hose
with a 3inch pipe nut into a tank with a round gland, i have been trying on and off for 2 hrs to get it out but it seems impossible, it went in some how,
the round gland is not damaged so it was not forced in, but which ever way i turn the nut it is about a 1/16 inch to big to come out of the gland.
 
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  • #2
Are you sure you're taking it apart in the order it was put together? Does a larger piece need to come off so you can get the nut off from the other side of it?
 
  • #3
Moonbear said:
Are you sure you're taking it apart in the order it was put together? Does a larger piece need to come off so you can get the nut off from the other side of it?

I can not get to the other side Moon B, it is a sealed tank, this is driving me nuts, i can usually work things like this out, but this one seems impossible, and they want to use the tank in 1hr.
 
  • #4
Try cooling it down?
 
  • #5
Rach3 said:
Try cooling it down?

I just went the other way Rach and put boiling water in the tank, it is so close but not close enough, i have tried all sorts of leaver and moved the nut every which way, the tank never gets any way near to the temp of boiling water.
 
  • #6
Try getting the nut perpendicular to the hole, and align it so the sides and not the vertices are lined up with the edges of the round hole as you try to remove it. You may need a coat hanger or some type of grabbing device to get the nut horizontal while it's still attached to the hose.
 
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  • #7
If you can reach it, I'd suggest grinding the corners off with a Dremel or some such device. The nut can then be unscrewed by either tapping it CCW with a drift punch, or drilling a couple of holes in it and using two punches clamped in a Vise-Grips as a 'screwdriver'.

edit: Since I saw Jeff's post after I'd written this one, I went back and reread the original question. Is the nut not actually screwed onto something? If so, then Jeff's approach is probably the best.
 
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  • #8
Put it in a fridge (or better yet, freezer). It might shrink enough to come loose.

edit: Apparently that's impossible I see, try adding ice-water.
 
  • #9
wolram said:
this is driving me nuts
No pun intended? :rolleyes:

You've probably already considered this too, but is the nut supposed to stay where it is and the hose unthreads from it?

It's tough to help much when we can't see exactly what's going on. :frown:

Or maybe some idiot really did install the hose and nut before the tank was finished being built without any consideration that you might need to get it off to replace or repair it at some time in the future.
 
  • #10
wolram said:
this is driving me nuts
Well that'd be a long trip. :rolleyes: Half a teaspoon of petrol, and you wouldn't have time to put on your seatbelt. :-p
 
  • #11
Danger said:
Well that'd be a long trip. :rolleyes: Half a teaspoon of petrol, and you wouldn't have time to put on your seatbelt. :-p

What's a petrol? I thought it was some kind of seabird?
 
  • #12
Rach3 said:
What's a petrol? I thought it was some kind of seabird?
:smile: It's British gasoline. :biggrin:
 
  • #13
If you can imagine a round cylinder tank with a domed end, on the domed end a threaded pipe gland sticks out 2 and a 1/2 inches, normally a 3inch pipe nut is screwed on to this gland, but some how some one has inserted
a hose with a smaller pipe nut attached into it.
we only have 20mins left so i might have to detach the pipe and let the nut fall to the bottom, omg.
 
  • #14
Jeff Reid said:
Try getting the nut perpendicular to the hole, and align it so the sides and not the vertices are lined up with the edges of the round hole as you try to remove it. You may need a coat hanger or some type of grabbing device to get the nut horizontal while it's still attached to the hose.
Ah, that sounds more promising! I'll bet you the manufacturers even sell a nifty, but expensive, tool just for doing that to get this hose and nut apart. :biggrin:
 
  • #15
Okay, so one end of the hose is sticking out the top of the tank, and the other end (with the 3" nut on it) is stuck in the gland at the botom?

How big is the tank? Can you get inside it? Where's the outlet go? What might happen if you yank real hard on the pipe?

What are the : 1. hose OD, 2. Nut flat-to flat dist (or OD, whichever), and 3. gland ID ?
 
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  • #16
wolram said:
If you can imagine a round cylinder tank with a domed end, on the domed end a threaded pipe gland sticks out 2 and a 1/2 inches, normally a 3inch pipe nut is screwed on to this gland, but some how some one has inserted
a hose with a smaller pipe nut attached into it.
we only have 20mins left so i might have to detach the pipe and let the nut fall to the bottom, omg.
Oh, so normally it gets attached to the outside, and someone has instead shoved a hose on the inside? Is there much room to reach around the hose if you can get a narrow tool down just to grab and hold the edge of the nut (something like those long pliers you use to get a fish hook out of a fish that has swallowed it whole) while you detach the hose, maybe you can hang onto it enough to pull it out the way Jeff suggested, but without the hose still attached, and avoid it dropping to the bottom.

There are a number of surgical instruments that would be able to do this task, but I'm not sure what's available to you in tools.
 
  • #17
Sorry, Woolie, but I'm still confused about the set-up. I was thinking of something along the line of an acetylene tank with a shielded valve. Obviously, that isn't right. Do you mean that the valve (gland) is vertically oriented and in some sort of 'tunnel'? If so, how does the nut being smaller than standard cause a problem? I thought that it was oversized and that's what caused the problem.
 
  • #18
Uh oh! It's been more than 20 min, and no update. I hope Wollie figured something out in the nick of time!
 
  • #19
Danger said:
Sorry, Woolie, but I'm still confused about the set-up. I was thinking of something along the line of an acetylene tank with a shielded valve. Obviously, that isn't right. Do you mean that the valve (gland) is vertically oriented and in some sort of 'tunnel'? If so, how does the nut being smaller than standard cause a problem? I thought that it was oversized and that's what caused the problem.

If you look in cross section the pipe looks like a T, now imagin the upright
part of the T is a tube, and the cross bar is a thread, normally a 3inch female pipe nut threads on to this thread, what some has done is to put a pipe with a smaller pipe nut on (into) this T, i have tried Jeffs suggestion
with the nut in all three parralels, but with the nut in the center of the tube
an vertical, it is still to big to clear the tube.
 
  • #20
wolram said:
If you look in cross section the pipe looks like a T, now imagin the upright
part of the T is a tube, and the cross bar is a thread, normally a 3inch female pipe nut threads on to this thread, what some has done is to put a pipe with a smaller pipe nut on (into) this T, i have tried Jeffs suggestion
with the nut in all three parralels, but with the nut in the center of the tube
an vertical, it is still to big to clear the tube.
Is there anywhere near enough clearance to get something into just cut the nut? Bolt cutters or a hacksaw? Then pull it out in two pieces instead of one?
 
  • #21
One other thought...how is the gland attached? Is it welded on? Can it be cut off and reattached after the hose and nut are removed? Maybe that's what someone did to insert the tube after some half-baked repair job in the past.
 
  • #22
Moonbear said:
One other thought...how is the gland attached? Is it welded on? Can it be cut off and reattached after the hose and nut are removed? Maybe that's what someone did to insert the tube after some half-baked repair job in the past.

No Moon B this has been done today, it is just some plonker managed to jam
the wrong pipe into the tank rather than using the proper one.
 
  • #23
Do you mean that the nut is so small that it's wedged inside the externally threaded valve pipe?! If that's the case, the wanker must have hammered it in.
The only other thing that I can think of is that the whole valve assembly (over here, at least) is threaded into the top of the tank. Can you just unscrew the whole assembly and replace it?

edit: I really want to stay and help you out, buddy, but I have to go to sleep now. Just a few hours to sleep before another 10 hour shift. Hope you get 'er figgered.
 
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  • #24
Many thanks for all you help, Moon B, Danger, Jeff, i am home now and have worser problem
 
  • #25
The nut is out, no not me, the pipe nut, filled the tank with boiling water again, had two gas torches heating around the gland, and it came out with good tug :biggrin:
 
  • #26
wolram said:
The nut is out, no not me, the pipe nut, filled the tank with boiling water again, had two gas torches heating around the gland, and it came out with good tug :biggrin:
Good to hear you finally found a solution! Now the only nut we have to wonder about is the one who got it in there in the first place. Maybe they had more than a few hours to ensure someone (you) would have a busy night removing it eventually.
 
  • #27
wolram said:
The nut is out, no not me
:smile:

Quit stepping on my lines.

Glad to hear that it worked out, especially given your other hassles.
 
  • #28
Oh, i could laugh, but i am to tired, only another 3 1/4 hrs to go and i can go to bed :biggrin: I solved another mystery tonight, we have a detachable mechanism on the machine that uses rotory punmatic cylinders ,and we are all ways having to replace them, i found the cleaners
were putting them in the untensil wash
 
  • #29
Punmatic? That's a joke machine, right?
 
  • #30
Danger said:
Punmatic? That's a joke machine, right?
:smile: I caught that too, but wasn't sure if Wollie was in a good enough mood to pick on his spelling tonight. Sounds like a fun gadget to have. :biggrin:
 
  • #31
I am in a real good mood tonight, it is just a matter of keeping my eyes open, what is wrong with pnumatic?:confused:
 
  • #32
wolram said:
I am in a real good mood tonight, it is just a matter of keeping my eyes open, what is wrong with pnumatic?:confused:
I guess you need another set of toothpicks to prop your eyelids open. You wrote punmatic, not pnumatic. :biggrin: (The correct spelling is pneumatic, by the way, but that's neither here nor there.)
 
  • #33
It is this key board the keys keep moving, i know how to spell pneumatic,
or may be it is the computer, it is rather old and doddery:rolleyes: but then again it could be the electricity, i am sure it does not know if it is AC or DC. :smile:
 
  • #34
wolram said:
i am sure it does not know if it is AC or DC. :smile:
Sometimes I wonder about you in that regard, as well. :-p
 
  • #35
Danger said:
Sometimes I wonder about you in that regard, as well. :-p

It is lucky you are an endangered species, on the other hand science does need answers. :smile:
 

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