On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:18:39 -0500, "Joe"
wrote:

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.


How about adding a shim stock thickness steel washer
to the screw and slightly increase the countersink depth to
compensate. The washer would deform to fit the countersink
and eliminate the contact with the galvanised surface.

JIm