yoclick

Hi,

Was trying to remove the dreaded washer from my LST when i hit a problem. There were 4phillip headed screws, two came out easy and two are completly stripped!

Wondering if anyone knew how i could remove these two screws without having to buy a screw extractor (preferably a method with costs nothing!)

Thanks!

palmdaleDriver

Depends on how bad it's stripped. If it's counter-sunk, you're probably going to have to buy something and then get lucky.

[8D]

SS Nitro

My Feedback: (-1)

ive never heard of a screw extractor, well this isnt free unless you already have one. What you can use is a dremel, and saw the screw flat so that you can use a flat head screw driver to get the screw out. Dont cut too deep

nickd

try to use a flat screwdriver larger then the philips head and slowly try to twist it out you have to push in very hard but I find that this often works when the screw is made of soft steel. This way you dont risk scratching or cutting what ever is under the screw by cutting a slot in it with a cut off wheel (plus this works with counter sunk screws as well.)
I have even done this with hex head screws
Nick

bbs53

I think he means an easy out, I have heard them refered to as screw extractors. The slot method works pretty well if they are not frozen in by corrosion. Use a small diameter dut off wheel to try and stay within the screw head diameter. If they are like most RC screws, they are soft or even alloy and drilling them out isn't that hard. Use a drill that is the same diameter as the root or bottom of the thread and try and get it as straight and close to the middle as possible. Since they were Phillips, this should be rather easy. If you have a drill press, it will do a lot better job than trying to do them by hand. Once the drill is 3/4 of the way through turn the press off while keeping pressure on the handle. Then turn the chuck in reverse and let up on the handle at the same time. A lot of times the drill bit will bite into the screw and allow itself to be turned out. If not, you can then insert a 4 flute easy out into the hole and turn it out that ways or even a left hand easy out. Good luck, I have been a machinist and engineer for 30 years and pulled a lot of broken screws

raceme

umm the end result will be worst than normal but i did when i accidentally(sp) used to much red loctite was i made a handle with solder and used a vise grip with locking teeth and found that usually works for these small screws..cant really use this method in small tight spaces but it works...probably $9 for a gun at radioshack..and 1 or 2 for the solder.

bbs53

Heat will break loctite. The red stuff is tough! If you can put your soldering gun on the screw without melting any surrounding plastic, you can heat it until it smokes and smells horrible. Then it will usually release its death grip on the screw. I have also inserted an Allen wrench into the socket head and put the torch to the wrench to burn off the loctite, it takes about 550 degrees to burn it and release its victim. Unless you have some basic shop tools or know someone that does, there really isn't any "free" method of removing destroyed screws. I would hazzard a guess and say the driver didn't fit the head all that well and that was the start of the problem. Cam out ruins more screws than anything else. Spend a little extra cash on a really good set of screwdrivers in the number sizes and this will happen far less frequently.

yoclick

Yup cheers everyone!

I tried heating it up before i took the screw out but didnt wait untill it smoked and smelt bad? Il try that later and see if i can use a flat head to take it out. If that fails couldnt I drill the head of the screw out, takethe plastic cover off and use some pliers to grip and turn the screws out?

Hmm need to go into city today and buy some replacment screws....heard the M3 80mm screws fit quite nice into there. I also need to get a decent 3/32" and 1/16" hex screwdrivers lol! The philips one fit OK and it was removing them slowly but it splipped and bang it will went wrong [:@], only got like 1-2 turns out on each though!

yoclick

Just tried heating it up for like 10minutes using a soldering iron placed on the screw head and nothing. No smoke or smell! I then put a tiny bit of solder on the iron and re-did it and there was a very very very light smell but nothing much. Also that didnt help either!

I think down to my local hardware store....maybe they'll do it for me lol, somehow doubt it!

Thanks

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I'm assumimng it's a countersunk screw
I always just drill them out until the head falls off, then use pliers, works every time

using heat around plastic parts is a bad idea

pawraith

one lil trick i learned as a mechanic in the US Army was to put scouring powder like Ajax or Comet on the tip of my screwdriver. it will give you a little extra grip on the screw head. of course this all depends on how bad the screw is striped, but its a good tip to have for future use.

bk2racer

My Feedback: (2)

try getting some left handed drill bits ,, i got mine off of the snap on truck but most parts stores should be able to get them.... how it works,, the bit cuts going left instead or right so when you go to drill it graps into the screw and twist it right out

yoclick

Ok, Problem fixed but this was done by a mate who works in a workshop.

What he did was take the head off the screw but keeping the shaft intact. This meant he could then UNSCREW the head off the shaft! Once done, the housing was removed and due to the long piece of shaft available, he was able to use some pliers and unscrew it off. He replaced them all with some HEX screws and its 100% fine now.

Not sure how, but he must of made a new thread in the middle of the screw, which then allowed him to unscrew the head off.

I am now enjoying many a day with my good ol' LST

St3f4N

Yep me to works everytime but before u drilll the head of make sure that a bit of the screw will be stickin out once u drill the head off, if u know wat i mean... otherwise u wont be able to take it out with pliers

vindicator65

Use A T8 torx screwdriverfor awkward allan bolts....works a dream and can get them for about 50p

Nitro212

there is screws extractor they are like a drill bit but instead of going clock wise is counter wise ( how ever it says )

u can always use a dremel and dremel out the head of the screw thats what i did with one of my screws

kdz76

also try just a little heat and sometimes a tap on the end of the driver with a hammer helps to loosen them up. If all that doesn't work make the slot for the flat head but as it has been said dont cut too deep and the final option that i know of is the easy out / screw extractor method where you drill a small hole inside the problem screw then slip in the easy out which is reverse threaded to back the screw out

Devin66

Take the phillips screw driver and hold it on the screw. Then take a hammer and hit the end of the screwdriver. It might not work if the surrounding is made out of plastic.