Mark and Gloria Hagwood wrote:
clifto wrote:

Tom McQuinn wrote:

Recently an aircraft mechanic showed me how he gets phillips head
screws out. First off he said he never uses a chrome tipped
screwdriver. He uses the hardened tip kind - black on the end. Then
when a screw head started to strip he would put valve grinding
compound on the tip of the screw driver to make it grip.


Sears sells a product called Grip Doctor in a 3.5 oz. bottle. Very
much like the valve grinding compound you mention, it's made the
difference for me a few times since I bought it.

If you're not able to take the time to go out and buy real penetrating
oil, I've had good luck using WD40. The difference is that I first wet
the joint with WD40, then give it a drop or two of light oil. This
works particularly well on hinges, for example. The WD40 carries the
oil with itself into the joint, and when it evaporates the oil is left
behind.

The suggestion about adding a grit to the screwdriver tip works well.
You also might consider making a 1-time investment in a "drive" type of
screwdriver. It's a heavy duty version of the old Yankee screwdriver.
You insert an appropriate screwdriver tip, then tap the end with a
hammer. The screwdriver converts the tap into a rotary motion to break
the screw free.

It is not a heavy duty Yankee screwdriver, it is
called an impact screwdriver. And you can use one
on sheetmetal work, you would just put a hole in it.


Finally, you might consider using a rotary cutter in a Dremel or even a
hacksaw blade to crosscut the Phillips screw head and use a parallel (no
bevel) flat blade driver as a last resort. Heck, you might even just
drill the darned thing out and use a bigger screw to replace it, but
don't tell anyone I suggested such a simple solution. grin

The last is the real way to handle such a problem.


Mark