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Clare Snyder Clare Snyder is offline
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Default Getting a damaged screw out

On Fri, 29 Mar 2019 14:09:05 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

Jac Brown posted for all of us...



Got one of these
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0mcpg949t9..._2208.JPG?dl=0
with a badly damaged philips screw head which I can't get out of here.
https://youtu.be/XlYNf101RJ0?t=56

The thing is entirely plastic in two parts. I don't care about wrecking the
whole screw and what it goes into because I am happy to replace it.

I'd normally just grab the head with some mole grips etc but
cant get the screw unscrewed enough to get a grip on the head,
No easy access to cut a slot in the head and use a flat screw driver.
Guess it might be feasible with a dremel with a cutting disk. I have both.

My initial thought was a screw extractor/easy out but the don't really
go small enough. The threaded part is only 5.5mm thick. The smallest
screw extractor is listed as 3mm which might well work with a hole
drilled into where the philips slots used to be.

The other possibility is to glue a plastic rod to the head but I don't
have a rod of the same plastic and there is no obvious way to work
out what the plastic is to order a rod of the same plastic and glue.
Is one particular type of plastic normally used on those things ?

I guess superglue and metal rod might work.

Any other alternative I might be having a brain fart about before
I order the smallest screw extractor ?

Not urgent, there is some problem with the windscreen washer
bottle that means it holds very little water but its fine to do
without a washer for a month or two while the extractor arrives.


Jam a small screwdriver or pick under the screw head while turning the screw
or do a reacharound and clip it off with a dyke.

You do not NEED to thread it out. Just get a pick under the head and
pry it out. They are not threaded in at the factory - they are
inserted like a "push pin"