Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.
Summary video by Marques Brownlee
Great channel covering and advocating right to repair, Lewis Rossman
I stripped this screw in my laptop and as such can't open the back cover to replace parts.
Things I've tried: -Different size/type screwdrivers -Rubber band -Hammer -Hot glue gun
Edit: got it unsuck. Thanks everyone for the advice
if you don't mind if having to buy a new screw, there are specialized stripped screw extractor bits for drills where one end makes a hole and the other grips the screw and takes it out, they can be bought on aliexpress for dirt cheap
I will try that. Thanks.
This is the way.
I received some bad screws in a high-end monitor mount for medical diagnostic monitors. The tech who was mounting the monitor didn't realize, and tried to use gorilla strength to drive the screw in. He broke the head of the screw off.
The monitor in question was a brand new, $13,000 monitor. We needed it, and we couldn't wait to ship it back to the manufacturer to get the screw removed.
I got the smallest set of screw extractors I could buy, wrapped the monitor in plastic with a hole over the screw. I put a piece of tape over the hole so that everything was sealed with only the screw exposed.
I went very slow and very gentle, vacuuming up any bits of metal shavings before fully removing the screw, but it went fine.
It was quite a butt-puckering operation, but I survived it.
Did the monitor also survive it?
Yep.
A cheaper method is to super glue something you can turn to it.
It's very hard to make sure the super glue doesn't bond the stripped screw to the case though.
True. But a teeny tiny drop on the tip of an old screwdriver will usually do the trick.
Strong down force with the appropriate screwdriver (looks like it started out as a Phillips head) while turning the driver with a wrench. You need a square shaft in your screwdriver or clamp with vice grips.
Same, strong down force, but use a square driver ( Robertson screw). This can also be accompanied with a wrench.
Drill it out. This is pretty much the last resort as you will use a drill bit about the same size as the threads which will pretty much take the head of the screw off as you drill into the threads. The threads probably won't come out but you will at least be able to open the case. I have had very little luck with screw extractors and they probably don't come that small.
Strong down force is the main thing I have found to work when breaking loose pesky screws. Pushing down hard enough to prevent the bit from skipping to the next slot
Same, strong down force, but use a square driver ( Robertson screw).
Oh, Canada.
The US missed out on both the Robertson screw head and the metric system!
And pozidrive!
We use Robertson here. Mostly for cabinet work, but we still use it. I've actually been switching a lot of the screws in my house with them. (Was built in 1970.) Even used them to fix my vacuum recently in the same situation as OP's.
I very delicately use a drill on mine
I’ve had luck with a strip of gaff tape right over the screw head to kinda fill it in. then as it bunches on turning it kinda pushes on what’s left of the screw head.
Carefully weld a nut to the head of the screw. Then remove.
Use galvanized steel pipe and eco-friendly wood veneer
If your comfortable with it use an easy out Its intented for removing stuck fasterns
What bit are you using? Try the JIS equivalent of that bit, and push down HARD. As long as you have the correct sized bit, this has plenty of head(?) to come out.
I've been using screwdrivers not drill bits. It's a 4mm screw
Screwdriver bit, there are lots of them. JIS (Japanese Industry Standard) screwdriver bits are different from Phillips. They have a shallower angle on their blades, and while a Phillips bit will "fit," it won't seat all the way down into the screw head. When higher torque is required to tighten or loosen the screw, a Phillips screwdriver will strip a JIS screw, and vice versa.
As others have mentioned, carefully drill it out with a teeny tiny drill bit, maybe make use of a teeny tiny easy-out. Replace with a slightly larger screw or just leave it empty.
They're called bits for screwdrivers too.
The extractors are hit and miss for me. The glue trick sometimes works but sometimes makes it worse. Drilling it out works, but requires another set of work to reattach and is a bit scary to perform.
Before doing those, I'd recommend jamming a rubber band on top to gum up the hole, then trying to unscrew it through the rubber band. It works often enough I this before I do any of the other options above. Quicker and less destructive.
~~Use a rubber band. Place it flat against the screw head and then use your screwdriver.~~ You can also fill the screw head with baking soda, imprint your screwdriver in the baking soda, then cover with superglue. That should create a new surface for the screwdriver to catch on. If neither doesn’t work, then use the more expensive solutions.
I personally prefer counter clockwise drill bits for extracting screws. I've have better luck with them than things marketed as screw extractors.
Since it's just one screw, I'd find a matching sized bit for the other screws and carefully drill it out. Then replace it with another screw a bit larger. Or just leave it open, cases tend to snap together and the screws are just to make sure it doesn't pop open.
Some good suggestions on how to remove it but I'd like to add replacing it with a button head cap screw, ideally torx.
Tried old screwdriver with superglue? And forget about bit and screw.
This works sometimes with epoxy resin rather than superglue, OP
If all else fails (before you drill into it), you can try a bit of crazy glue and baking soda to reshape the head of the screw.
I’d try a flathead, it looks like you have enough to get it.
Failing that, maybe cut the tip off a screw, super-glue it to that one and then work it out.
I have used flatheads of various sizes and it wouldn't budge, unfortunately. I don't know how to cut metal.
After you work through this little delema, take a couple hours and read up on the properties of different metals like steel, aluminum and brass. Metal working really is fascinating and it generally is much easier that's it looks.
You can try a miniature screw extractor. Sometimes they work, other times they just make things worse though.
Not sure how I could possibly make this much worse given it's already pretty stripped 😅. I'll get a screw extractor and see if it works.
Dig all that shit out. Put in a driver 1 size too large, press down on the handle with one hand, and give it a sharp counter-clockwise snap with the other hand.
So taking some experience from working on cars where a blow torch would help. maybe try a soldering iron on it to break what rust or loctite might be on the threads before trying to unscrew it? Cycle it on/off the screw head to heat the whole thing up before trying to unscrew.
I see this so often happening with laptop screws and it even happened to me 😭
so painful when u gotta fix something inside but can't get in coz of one tiny thing
That's odd. Laptop screws are usually pretty easy!
It looks like maybe it's full of hot glue at this point?
One method is to use a rotary tool to grind a slot in it so you can use a flat head screwdriver, but the surrounding plastic will make that difficult and will be destructive to the case and anything behind it.
Another method would be buying a set of reverse drill bits, so as you drill into the screw it catches and backs it out. A set of easy-outs would accomplish the same thing, in theory. I'm not sure if easy-out sets come with something that small, but that should be easy enough to figure out.
All of the other six screws were easy but this particular one was very stubborn. It is indeed still full of hot glue.
I haven't got a rotary tool or the proper drill bits. Rotary tool is a no since it's a laptop and I don't wanna damage it, but I will get some of those drill bits if the screw extractor doesn't work. Hoping not to have to take it to a technician
My dremel has tiny engraving bits that should get in there without doing much damage to the plastic case. No damage if one is very careful.
Not being careful is what got me into this whole mess 😅
👊
If it is filled with glue then I would try scraping it out with the tip of a utility or xacto knife
It is filled with glue but I put it in after I stripped it to help with traction but it didn't help
I think you want the screwdriver to seat as far down as possible so I would recommend you dig out the glue
put some silicone lube on it
with a 25 Tesla magnet