[SOLVED] How to Extract Stripped Laptop Screw?

Appletax

Appletax

Well-Known Member
Reaction score
396
Location
Northern Michigan
Solution: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D371RLQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details + power drill in counter-clockwise position.


---------------------
WiFi chip's screw is stripped. Tried using a rubber band and aluminum foil to aid in extraction.

Seems that the only decent tool to remove it is this: https://www.amazon.com/Alden-4507P-Grabit-Broken-Extractor/dp/B000Q60UOO

Hopefully it's good for more than 1 use as it is expensive. There's other choices, but they all appear to be cheap Chinesium garbage.

Have Menards and Fastenal here, but doubt they sell something like this. Searching shows they don't. If Fastenal does, it's probably like $32 just for 1.

Pic of screw:

wifi.jpg
 
Last edited:
Any good hardware store should have screw extraction bits. They are designed to cut into the screw itself and hopefully be able to remove it. You risk damaging the screw hole itself if your extractor is too big.
 
As long as you have some kind of grip on the screw you should be able to unscrew it.
Last time I cut a little groove on the screw using a sharp screwdriver and then I was able to unscrew it...
 
OK, first I'll be nit picky: This isn't a stripped screw, it's one where the screw head snapped off. I am saying this just because they really are two separate issues.

@Philippe is correct that if you use something like a dremel with a cut disk to cut a groove into what's left of the top of the screw, you will most likely be able to get it out with a standard micro screw driver with a straight blade.

If you really can't get in to do that (and I wouldn't worry about "grooving the plastic cover" as that won't hurt much of anything) then I'd get a set of micro drill bits and drill it out. Just go straight down the center then a bit off center on one location (if necessary) and use a pick to release the remainder of the screw. You may need a vacuum or tape or a magnet to get the tiny remaining bits out. But I'd definitely try cutting a groove into the remainder of the screw and removing it with a screwdriver first.

I really can't imagine that there would be screw extractor bits for screws this small as they can be very simply drilled out with a very small drill bit (the kind available for use on a Dremel or similar rotary tool or the style used by jewelers).
 
VISA MC said:
I’ve successfully used super glue and hot glue in the past. A little drop flip another screw upside down and glue them head to head then once it dries use pliers to back it right out.
Click to expand...

I'd be way more inclined to try the hot glue route first, or if using super glue, only using gel and only applying it to the screw being used to attach to the broken one.

Liquid-form super glue can (and will, believe me, I know) often very quickly run down the threads of the broken off screw, much like penetrating oil can, when it is applied. That's one of the reasons it works so spectacularly well on "perfect fit" breaks and on cracks where an actual break has not, as yet, occured.
 
It doesn't look like the head has snapped off. If the head had snapped off the wifi card would pop right out.

I just use a really small drill bit, as close to the size of the screw diameter as possible, and drill the head off. With the head off hopefully there is enough of the shaft left to grab on with some small pliers and back it out. I've had to do this a few times on laptops.

If you had a dremel you could also cut a slot in the head and get it out with a straight blade screwdriver.

M.2 uses a 2mm screw so you will need a very small extractor bit to get it out.
 
mikeroq said:
If the head had snapped off the wifi card would pop right out.
Click to expand...

You're right if every last bit snapped off, but even then, if the shaft is still sticking up enough, you'd probably have to give a very gentle pull to get that to happen. On closer inspection of the picture, what I thought was "a light pit" does appear to be the screw head. I hadn't recognized the black circular area as the screw head on initial inspection.

Given that the whole head does appear to be almost entirely intact, cutting a groove in it and using a straight blade driver is likely the very easiest way to get this thing out.
 
VISA MC said:
I’ve successfully used super glue and hot glue in the past. A little drop flip another screw upside down and glue them head to head then once it dries use pliers to back it right out.
Click to expand...

This probably would not work as the screw seems to be pretty tight. Would have to do a dab of Gorilla Glue.

britechguy said:
There's small (which the original set does have) and then there's "computer screw sized small," which it does not (as they stop at 3mm recommended smallest screw).

This set: https://www.amazon.com/ORIA-Extractor-Extractors-All-Purpose-Screwdriver/dp/B08D371RLQ
has sizes down to 2 mm. There are watchmaker sets, too, which go significantly smaller than that, but don't use a "reverse threaded" extraction bit.
Click to expand...

Ordered these to try out.

If they don't work, will have to see if I can saw into the head a straight line to use a flat-head screwdriver to remove it.

Otherwise, use a drill bit to take the head off.
 
Appletax said:
If they don't work, will have to see if I can saw into the head a straight line to use a flat-head screwdriver to remove it.
Click to expand...
If that doesn’t work, they’ll not be enough of the head to cut into. Those bits cut into the screw head and laptop screws have thin heads to begin with. It’s one shot or not.
 
I would use a flathead screwdriver to fit inside the screw where dremeld out to create an extraction x. Use a metal pry tool underneath the screw to give it some leverage, then put all your force down onto the driver and twist whilst pushing up on the metal pry tool.
 
Looking at the image it looks like someone tried to drill the screw head already. I once long ago drilled the head a little then too a slightly over sized square bit and gently hammered it into the head of the screw once it was snuggly in place I was able to turn it and unscrew the stripped screw. I would try and get my hands on a tool to cut a slot and make a standard flat head out of what remains as my first option.
 
Blues said:
I once long ago drilled the head a little then too a slightly over sized square bit and gently hammered it into the head of the screw once it was snuggly in place I was able to turn it and unscrew the stripped screw.
Click to expand...

There are situations where I might try something like this, but this is definitely not one of those. Everything's just too fragile that's involved.
 
Computer Bloke said:
Just grip the edges of the screw head very firmly
Click to expand...

Not that I don't think the idea of using vascular clamps as "locking curved needle nose pliers" isn't brilliant, but I really wonder in this specific case, given that the screw is kinda countersunk in that plastic hold-down tab, whether you could even get a grip on the edges of the screw head.

Certainly wouldn't hurt to try, but having recently had to tear down my own laptop, including a WiFi card mounted this way, I don't think I could have grabbed that screw in any way from above other than with a channel of some sort in the screw head.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top