[Shop-talk] Stripped Screw heads

[Doug Braun]

I recently removed the door hinges of a '31 Ford
Fordor.  That meant removing twenty-four really tight
5/16" fine-threaded flat-head screws that had been in
place for 75 years.

Door hinge screws are always a colossal pain to
remove.

I got one of those porta-torch oxy-acetylene sets, and
it is incredibly effective for loosening stuck screws.
 The thing has paid for itself, and I haven't even
actually welded anything with it yet!

Even so, some of the screws required Kroil, the torch,
and an impact screwdriver (and I wrecked a couple of
screwdriver blades...)

Doug


--- Berry Kercheval <berry at kerch.com> wrote:

> From time to time I've found various
> degrees of "force" to 
> work, roughly in order:
> 
> * a screwdriver
> * a Very Big Screwdriver
> * a Very Big scredriver and  vice-grips
> * penetrating oil (appropriate for  the material;
> kroil for steel, 
> "Mouse Milk" for aluminium)
> * penetrating oil and an impact driver
> * heat
> *Heat, penetrating oil (not at the same time!) and
> an impact driver
> * drill for and use ez-out or other screw extractor
> 
> and finally, when even the ez-out snaps, drill out
> the whole sucker and 
> clean up with a tap.  If very bad, drill for the
> next size bigger, tap, 
> and note in the logbook.