Arrrgh, stipped screw!

[Diggs]

What's a "reduced diameter wheel" and where do I get one?

I made mine from a worn wheel like those above. I ground it down against a broken drill bit (which is high carbon hardened steel) to the size I needed to put a small groove in the head of the screw. Careful if the screw is in plastic. Too hot and things start to melt around the screw on the laptop.

It appears they are pretty common on Ebay -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/null-Wheel...ol/372367024108?hash=item56b2cddfec:rk:1:pf:0

 

[mikeroq]

I don't have a dremel but in these situations I just use a drill bit larger than the shaft of the screw and drill the head off. Just enough to pop the head of the screw off. After I take it apart I use needlenose pliers to back the shaft out.

 

[MichaelBits]

Arrrgh, typo'd Title!

The worst I had was an HP with lots of T screws to remove the cover. The complicated part was someone had tried to remove some of them already and stripped the heads out. Those were fun trying to remove.

 

[backwoodsman]

I would try to make a notch near the outer edge of the head to get a little leverage to make it turn. Maybe a cold chisel, or a very sharp small screwdriver that you don't care about, held at a steep angle, and tapped gently.

 

[Markverhyden]

Believe it or not, I actually do have a replacement screw. HP has been using those nasty little flat screws under the optical drive for a while. When I strip dead laptops to remove drives, recycle them, whatever, I keep the screws. So at least I've got that covered!

Way to go. That's always a plan for success. I'm still amazed at the number of techs that just toss everything and don't bother collecting and keeping a store. I've got around 1.5#'s of screws harvested from all kinds of things. But I'm sure your collection is much more organized than mine, which are all in a plastic bin with a tray and a handful of partitions. But I've gotten pretty good at matching the size and thread.

 

[MichaelBits]

I'm still amazed at the number of techs that just toss everything and don't bother collecting and keeping a store.

Oh Yeah... good practice to do.

I collect and store anything useful from recycled machines. Like having a stash of usable items around. We could almost start a thread listing the things some of us save from recycle fodder.

One thing I just added to my list to salvage from dead machines are... wait for it...

The rubber feet!​

 

[Markverhyden]

Oh Yeah... good practice to do.

I collect and store anything useful from recycled machines. Like having a stash of usable items around. We could almost start a thread listing the things some of us save from recycle fodder.

One thing I just added to my list to salvage from dead machines are... wait for it...

The rubber feet!​

LOL!!! I do the same but mine are new. A lot of small networking equipment ships with loose rubber feet and and we often don't need to use them so I have them handy. I'll typically use them as a spacer on the bottom of equipment to provide some ventilation when stacking stuff on a shelf.

 

[mr m]

Stripped screws/bolts are a nightmare when they are this small. Blowing up your pic shows the screw on the left was not centered like the one on the right so maybe it was cross-threaded from day 1.

All the suggestions here are worth a shot. I would also try a penetrating oil like WD-40 or PB Blaster to break up the thread locking compound.

Another trick is to super glue another screw to the stuck one, head to head. Since you have spare screws (smart) and it it a large diameter head it might work. After the glue dries a small pair of vise grips might be all you need to twist it off.

Drilling out the screw is the last option. The idea here is to drill directly in the center of the stuck screw to allow the head to break off. Always punch a starting hole so the drill bit does not wander and use the smallest bit you have getting progressively larger. Once the head breaks off you can separate the laptop shell and remove what is left of the screw.

Good luck, man.

 

[carmen617]

Thanks all for your advice and help. The cheapo fake dremel tool from Amazon did the trick, although I had to go to YouTube to figure out how to get the cutting disk on - the instructions on that thing are beyond bad! And now I have the tool in case this ever happens again - seriously, first time in 25 years, but I am usually extremely careful with those little screws. I actually think there might have been some minor corrosion in there, as it took a lot of persuasion with needle nose pliers to get the optical drive out, as well.

Anyway - happy ending, new SSD in the system loading Windows as we speak. Thanks again, this forum is really a fabulous resource for a sole practitioner like me!

 

[mr m]

Nice fix!

 

[Porthos]

Another trick is to super glue another screw to the stuck one, head to head. Since you have spare screws (smart) and it it a large diameter head it might work. After the glue dries a small pair of vise grips might be all you need to twist it off.

This is what I do.