BudBud

My clutch bearings on my old modded Picco wee rough, when I went to back the screw out of the crank, the center stripped. I tried tapping with a small chisel, cutting a slot for a screwdriver blade and that did not work. I clamped the flywheel in a big pair of visegrips, then clamped the visegrips in a vise. I clamped a small pair of visegrips on the outside of the screw head and tried turning with the screwdriver and small visegrips at the same time. The screw head broke out! Crap! As a last resort, I smashed the two havles together and thankfully it came out. I was a very happy boy! As you can see, the clutch bearing was destroyed, its time on this green earth had come and gone. Glen

spiftacu1ar

Next time use an allen cap screw , but still... DAMN. Glad you got it out. I almost had the stock phillips stuck in once, impact driver got it out, lol. Sicne then, I only use allens there.

BudBud

It was a hex screw, my wrench gutted the hex... that is when I cut the screw driver slot....

spiftacu1ar

That's insane. I haven't stripped one of those in years. Lay off the red loctite bub, lol jk. But seriously, that thing must have been tight as hell.

BudBud

I do get them tight, but no red thread locker in this mansion. I used to use blue on this screw, but I quit doing that when I got a really good set of hex wrenches. I think what happened here is the bearing got so hot, it rusted inside the nose of the crank. The end of the crank looks like it has been hot.

I thought I had a photo of a Tower Terror 25 crank that was blue/purple, but I cannot find it. This one did not get quite that hot...

jbooker82

My Feedback: (4)

Just a tip for you guys.

Get you some valve grinding compound or valve laping compound. When you have some thing that feels like it is going to round out, dip the tip of the hex wrench or philips screw driver in it. The stuff is really gritty and will give the tool traction so it bits the screw intead of strips it out.

http://www.permatex.com/products/Aut...g_Compound.htm

spiftacu1ar

oh, ya, that'd explain it.

fabrimacator21

IMO flatheads are better then allens. Pretty hard to round out a flathead screw. Easy to round a allen. When I strip stuff out the first thing I do is bust out the dremel and cut a slot in it for a flathead like glen said.

I think the only reason the manufacturers use allens and phillips is to sell new parts when noobs destroy a part trying to get out a stripped screw. Flatheads on everything would make a lot more sense to me.

Those little cut off wheels make a perfect cut for my "custom ground" flathead. Might want to try putting some heat on her next time glen. Even red loctite will soften up with a little heat and if you didn't use loctice she'll still be easier to pull out.

By the way that screw looks like it said screw you. Kudos on getting her out at all.[sm=shades_smile.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

ThunderbirdJunkie's take on that, fab, is that a high quality hex driver will never round out a high quality screw.

On ThunderbirdJunkie's Losi XXXNT AD2, his XXXNT RTR, his RC10B2, his RC10NTC3, and his RC10GT, he has never rounded out a screw or hex driver. They have only been wrenched on with Losi hex drivers.

The flip side of this, every time he works on his Savage, he rounds out one of his screws...be it an Integy or Dynamite driver. Losi and AE use much higher quality hex hardware than HPI. The Integy hex drivers are EXTREMELY nice.

jbooker82

My Feedback: (4)

A good set of allen wrenches wont round out nearly as easy. Those free bee allend wrenches you get with your parts are probably made up of a softer material than the scew that your using them on. Then you have people that try to use a metric allen wrench in a SAE socket or vise versa.

If I have an allen head rounded out, I pound a Torks (star) in to the socket. They grab pretty good too.

fabrimacator21

You think those are bad... try some from harbor freight. [:'(] I bought a cheapo set of ball end allens and the first one rounded off the ball almost instantly. Second one broke the ball right off the allen. [:@] I hate harbor freight sometimes.

Still, I don't understand why they don't use flatheads though.[sm=confused.gif]

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Because flatheads suck.

The only thing ThunderbirdJunkie buys from Harbor Freight is hammers and drill bits

fabrimacator21

Bah.... damn you thunderbird junkie! lol. No post. LIES!!!

jbooker82

My Feedback: (4)

I would say the #1 reason why they dont use them any more is because they are harder to use in machines that are designed for mass production.

They do round out pretty easly too. There again it just depends on the quaility of the scew and scew driver.

I think the name of the game is to get more surface area for the tool to grip. Like if full size cars. They started out with 8-12 splined shafts for the transmission out put yoke, and axle shafts. Yea they looked huge and beefy but they are not near as strong as say a shaft with 31 splines.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

ThunderbirdJunkie need not be damned, he is trying to share real information!

Just shows, TBH, that ThunderbirdJunkie on moderated status does more harm than good. However, he will also say that on more than one occasion, he has overstepped the bounds.

That being said, he really wishes he hadn't, because the number of times that he had the opportunity to help somebody, and it would have been helpful had a moderator not had to approve the post before it could be shown, which basically means ThunderbirdJunkie is making a public service announcement

As much fun as it is to make a funny, perverse/inappropriate joke, it is not worth the consequences here on RCU. There are too many newbs that need to be helped for anybody that is reasonably knowledgeable to (DESERVEDLY) be on moderated status.

So, basically, if you EVER have anything to contribute, do not get on moderated status. It does not help. The moderators/admin are more than lenient when it comes to bending the rules. When somebody is on MS, they have severely F'd up, despite MANY MANY MANY warnings.

RCU approves this message

spiftacu1ar

START RANT:
Firstly, they aren't called flatheads, flat head can have any type of driver (allen, phillips, etc), they are called slotted heads, and the driver is called a blade driver. Sorry, I get kinda anal about that sometimes cuz it can lead to some really confusing conversations sometimes.

Anyhow, the reason they don't use them is that they are harder to work with in practice. Sure they may be stronger (although they sometimes aren't for several reasons), but you have to center it manually, and more importantly, you can use them at any angle whatsoever. Also, you need to maintain a normal force, or else they slip out, so you can't L's and what not for better leverage and for tight spaces.

SLotted screw can be stronger when you are able to keep constant force on the screw, so the the driver doesn't slip up, and strip the slot little at a time.

Allens generally strip when either the driver OR the actual screw is low quality. If either one is out of spec, they will strip, so although they are theoretically stronger than slotted (since blade drivers have angled walls, and allens are perpendicular), they often strip easier when using low quality ones. Cap screws are really good since they have deeper allen holes, but low quality ones still have shallow holes, so they strip easy.
END RANT

Long story short, for this application, the slotted screw would have been better, but the allen is easier to use.

Regardless, he got it out, so be happy

bigwaltc

I just bought a set of EDS drivers very spendy but very nice!!! [sm=shades_smile.gif]

fabrimacator21

I call them flatheads becasue whens the last time you heard someone ask for a slotted screwdriver? I tend to think of the screws your referring to as countersunk screws. Technically you are right though.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Today

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

I call it a flathead myself. Never have i asked someone about a flathead screwdriver and had them confused.

I dont like flatheads too well though. They can be alright, but most of the time its a pain to keep the screwdriver centered, and flat in the head, especially if it is awkward.

I like allen wrenches/screws. As long as the allen wrench and screw head are good, you should never have a problem. Star bits seem to work well too, but arent very common for whatever reason.

Besides, you can always grind a flathead into something if you strip the original head.