Removing recalcitrant screws

[Chris Campbell]

I'm trying to remove my traveller, and am having the dickens of a time getting the last three screws out. The rest came pretty easily, using a large bladed flat screwdriver. These last three are resisting my best efforts (pushing down hard, using a wrench for leverage, heating the screw with a propane torch).



Any good suggestions to stop me from stripping the screw and having to drill it out?

Thanks!

Chris

[Oscar]

You could try some gentle nudging with an impact screw driver.....

[Tim]

PB Blaster and an impact driver.

[Oscar]

PB blaster is the bomb...... I never have less than three cans laying around.

[Ryan]

Here is another vote for an impact screwdriver. I got a battery powered impact gun a year or so ago, and can't believe the difference it makes removing frozen fasteners. Plus, it makes it easy to loosen or tighten nuts without having to hold onto the other end (like when tightening deck hardware and you can't reach the top and bottom of the fastener at once).

[Duncan]

You could always try using a traditional "impact driver" (a hammer) on the end of the screwdriver.

[Drew]

If the impact driver and PB blaster do not work; I would try to drill off the screw head with a left hand drill. Don't drill into the hardware just drill the head off like you would a rivet. Sometimes the left hand bit will take the screw out as it drills, sometimes not. If not, the head is still gone and the hardware will come off. Then you can attack the shank with pliers to get out the rest of the screw.

Note: Remember to run the drill "backwards" with the left hand bit.

Drew

[Zach]

If you can get at the back side, a nut splitter or sharp cold chisel and hammer do a quick number on the 1/4 20 threaded stuff on board...

If it's got a nut on the back side and the screw has never turned... I try tightening, to see if I can get it to snap off. Either the nut end, or head... Wrench on a square shank screwdriver works well. Also, if you've got a bench grinder you can custom fit the screwdriver to the slot if you really don't wanna bugger up the part. File works too, but almost to much effort... grin.

If you've got a lot of room under, an angle grinder... or even a wee little cut off wheel on a dremel is quicker than drilling it...

If I have to drill out a small screw I generally smooth out the slot before I start. if its real small, I use a dremel with a cone shaped green silicone carbide grinding bit. Bigger stuff gets my die grinder.

If ya don't smooth out the slot, it's pretty easy to snap the small diameter bit if it gets caught in the slot at worst, or best case have it wander around in the slot till it gets started. I like a small bit to start so if it walks a little, it's still centered and doesn't booger up anything else. Once the pilot hole is started down to where I figure the screw head starts, i switch over to a big enough bit to take out the shank. (I'm lazy and don't like to tap stuff oversize...)

Good luck,

Zach

[Quetzalsailor]

Chris,

What's that screw in to? I presume 'glass. Have at it with an impact driver, I think preferably the hand-held hammer-driven type that motorcyclists are familiar with. These have internal cams that ooch the tip in the correct direction as the impact of the hammer makes the contact between the tip and the fastener quite firm. (My son, the budding car mechanic, swears by his cordless impact driver.) If you begin to destroy the fastener, stop and drill it out; it's much harder to center the drill when the head is partly broken and the aim then is to preserve the track from damage.

I have had occasional success running the drill in reverse and there are bits made for that purpose; occasional enough so that I do not often try it. The body of the screw is usually too small to be reliably drilled.

I have had good success removing corroded bronze (maybe occasionally brass) screws from mahogany using 'Un-Screw-Ums'. These are ordinary steel roll pins which have been ground into effectively hole saws. Buy a selection of them and choose the one whose interior diameter is just under the diameter of the screw body. It saws an annular hole around the screw, turning to the left, until the screw gives up and comes out. Usually, you get a grossly oversized hole that's still smaller than the head of the screw which can be patched in a concealed manner for the new screw (or dowelled; I replaced all the screws in the FD with mahogany dowels). Sometimes, however, you get a real mess as the Un-Screw-Um goes berserk having failed to center on the remains of the screw.

[Shoalcove]

Chris, You should be able to find PB Blaster at Canadian Tire; I've seen it there in Moncton. It is wonderful stuff but not if you get it on a seal. This I know...
Cheers,
David

[kendall]

What quetzal says are what I use when screws get really argumentive. Works like a dream. I normally make them myself out of whatever tubing I have around that fits.

Also had a lot of luck with a bit and brace, get one of the old ones not the new repros, they have enough beef that you can really throw some pressure to the screws and take them out.

If there is room to get around it, I've used a C-clamps and a socket to push the screw out, takes the threads with it but the track etc keep the fiberglass from tearing up. (socket over the head, clamp pressing on the screw body) not elegant but works.


Ken.

[Chris Campbell]

Done! Thanks for all the advice - right on the money. I went out Thursday and bought a corded impact driver and some PB Blaster, but only had a chance to try it out today. First thing I discovered was that the flat tipped bits I'd bought wouldn't work with the driver (too short), so I went off to fix that problem. They sold me a magnetic holder that would hold the short bits, seemed like a good idea. I sprayed with the blaster and set up the impact driver, waited a few minutes, and had at it. First thing to happen was the bit breaking. Change the bit. That bit broke, but cleanly, so it could still be used. Broke again, cleanly again. Then the magnetic bit holder collapsed completely, part of it getting stuck in the impact driver, and the bit being stuck in the holder. Aagh! Back to Canadian Tire to return the lot of it, and off to Princess Auto to get a manual one that I could hit with a hammer. At least the one you hit with a hammer would be potentially satisfying, even if it didn't get the screws out!

But it did. With remarkable ease, really - I was done the three screws with no more broken bits and without even further wrecking the screws in about 20 minutes. Brilliant!



As always there are more pictures on my site, and there will be a write up of sorts shortly.

Thanks again,

Chris

[Quetzalsailor]

Congrats Chris!

Does anybody (else) have bad feelings about using penetrating oil on porous substances, like fiberglass, that you might want to glue, paint, or seal to?

[bcooke]

yup.

it just depends on which problem is worse - the stuck screw or making the porous surface clean again.