DIYbanter - View Single Post - Extracting Plastic Screws With Broken Heads?

Arnie Goetchius[_2_]

Micky wrote:
On Fri, 26 Feb 2016 15:16:46 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

Micky wrote:
On Fri, 26 Feb 2016 13:09:06 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 26 Feb 2016 12:40:25 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

My vinyl outdoor window blinds are fasten to the siding with plastic screws.
After a heavy wind the other night, one of the blinds was blown off because the
heads of the plastic screws snapped. I need to remove the headless plastic screws.

I have a screw extractor that I could use. Also, since the screws are plastic,
I could just drill them out. Any ideas on the best approach to extract the screws?

Heat up a small screwdriver shove it down in the plastic and then
squirt some water on it to cool it. It should be pretty well stuck in
there and the screw will back out.

I haven't had this problem but this sounds like the best idea.

If for some reason you use a drill, I'd use a left-handed drill bit
with a reversible drill. Sometimes after a while it will grab the
screw and unscrew it, at least with those metal screws with wierdo
heads that appliances may be assembled wth. Harbor-Freight has a set
of 4 drills in different sizes for a low price.

I have a set of those drills but have never used it. Will have to look at a
Youtube video to see how it works.

LOL. It works the same as the other ones but you have to set the
reversible drill to reverse!

Everything I read and see about these extracters is that there is still a head
to work with. In my case, that head is broken off and only the shaft is left so
an extractor is not going to work.