There is a product used in aerospace, locally we call it a "lester
tool." More or less it is a tee shaped tool, with the perpendicular part
being just a metal rod for a handle. One end is a .401 rivet gun/air hammer
shank and the other end has a recess that takes a 1/4" hex bit. The idea is
that while pounding the fastener one turns the handle. Works wonders on
paint filled fasteners on external panels which really don't want to come
out for assorted reasons. You can likely make one; they're nothing fancy.
You need to have a clear path for the impact to flow through the part or
your gun will destroy it. Never used one on an air hammer, I have to admit,
but it's the best thing for this type of thing.
The "X-Out" screw removal tool from Sears (I think they sell that under
their own name) will not do the trick, you have to break up the stiction in
the joint, that tool only exists to work with stripped screwdriver recesses.
We tried them on titanium fasteners and despite the manufacturers
assurances, they just removed metal from the recess, making us drill the
screw out anyway, which is a royal pain when you panel has over a hundred
screws and the one that stripped was the last one you put in!

"Joe" wrote in message
...
| We use some decent flat head screws on our units and I've run into a
strange
| problem. When we tighten them into the aluminum housings, they hold a
| galvanized plate in place. After about 10 minutes of being on there, they
| are almost impossible to get off.
|
| We have turned the highest quality allen keys we can find into pretzels
and
| have stripped many using impact and a shorter length. Sometimes we have
| success by using a chisel to "spin" the flat head loose but that's the
| Neanderthal method I'd like to avoid... Even that fails 50% of the time.
| We can't use heat because there is a rubber seal in the aluminum very
close.
|
| The flat head actually grabs onto the galv. plate so well that our
customers
| (and us!) have to drill them out 8 out of 10 times we need to remove
them...
|
| Anyone know of a super allen key or some other method of removing these
that
| might work? We know that when we use painted plates, we have less of a
| problem and have considered painting the countersink of each flat head
hole,
| but that's crazy in the big scheme of things...
|
| Thoughts, wisdom and random visits from friends welcome.
|
| Regards,
| Joe Agro, Jr.
| http://www.autodrill.com
| http://www.multi-spindle-heads.com
|
| V8013
|
| My eBay: http://tinyurl.com/4hpnc
|
|