Emergency Screw Removal

While a good quality selection of straight, Philips, Torx, and hex-head drivers should handle most screws found in consumer electronic equipment, a couple of other types do turn up and can really be a pain to remove intact. It may be possible to remove such screws even if nothing in your driver assortment quite fits (short of buying the proper tool, that is. What a concept!). There is also the situation (very common) where someone (we won't say who) has pre-mangled the screw head! Here are a few approaches to try when you are stuck at 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning with an uncooperative screw:

1. Select a driver type (usually Philips) and size that provides the best grip. Then apply as much pressure as is safely possible without destroying anything and attempt to turn the screw. What you want to avoid is slippage. Once the blade slips, the head will be quickly destroyed and then you are left with options 2 or 3 below. For a jeweler's type screwdriver, clamping something larger to its shaft can provide valuable additional leverage.

2. Use a hand grinder (e.g., Dremel tool) or thin file to create a slot in the screw head which one of your straight-blade screwdrivers will fit. Obviously, take care to avoid damage to adjacent parts and dam off the area to prevent grinding chips from getting over everything.

3. Grab the center and edge of the screw with a pair of sharp diagonal cutters, like the Klein Semi-Flush Cut Round Nose Cutters (4-1/2" Diag. & 5-1/2" Diag.), and turn it. This, of course, also damages the screw head and if you are too forceful, will break your cutters as well.

4. Drill out the screw using a bit just large enough to sever the head from the shank of the screw. Then, use a pair of needlenose pliers to unscrew what remains. For large screws, drill only part way and then use a screw extractor like Easy-Out. Note: Some of these screws have had some material like Lock-Tight (which looks like colored nail polish) applied to the top to prevent the screw from loosening on its own. This also prevents the blade of a screwdriver from properly seating, so removal of the Lock-Tight is essential before attempting removal.