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Posted by D. Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 18:58:51 :
I finally figured out the easy way to get shaft keys out. After all these years of trying to tap and pry them out with small cold chisels, screwdrivers, etc, and always bunging up the ends and having to grind them flat again if they're even usable, I tried something different and it worked amazingly well. I just grabbed the shaft key straight on (perpendicular to the shaft) good and tight with vise grips, and then used a light hammer to tap the vise grips away from the shaft. You obviously can't get a straight shot at it, but hitting anywhere more or less in line with the handle works fine. It's worked every time I've tried it on shafts and keys that were clean enough to re-use, even when they were in pretty snug. I suppose a guy could get fancy and weld a nut on the back end of the vise-grips to screw a slide hammer into. Maybe it won't work on a really rusty one, but if the key's that rusty, mangling it up by using a cold chisel is fine.
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