On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 22:35:25 -0400, "Steven L."
wrote:

Hi all,

My bathtub drain trip lever mechanism has failed, and my bathtub won't
drain.

The problem is, the heads of the screws holding the trip lever drain to
the tub are totally corroded away. Just rubbing the head with my finger
took off a bunch of rust and the heads are now stripped.

What's the best way to get the trip level drain cover off? Can I drill
out the screws without damaging anything else?

I'd try what Oren says, including the tapping,

The description of the tool he lists sounds pretty good and gets a lot
of high ratings, plus quite a few low ones. But I've never used it,
have no experience with it.

I'm surprised no one suggested left-handed drill bits. Often when I
use those, while I'm drilling CCW, the screw comes out. Start with a
small bit, even if you have to use a clock-wise one to make the starter
hole, and get gradually bigger, but no bigger than the hole! (You can
see how big the hole is by looking at a new part at a hardware store. I
think they're all the same in a given country.) Home Depot has a
couple sizes of left handed bits by a famous maker and the only other
place I know that has them is Harbor Frieght, which sells a set of four
different sizes.

Oren's device is meant to run in a drill that's going counter clockwise
too. That's a good sign.


I think what all of us shoudl do is go around our homes loosening and
retightening every machine screw in the house, so we don't get stuck
like this. Starting.... NOW!