Your best/worst innovative but completely incorrect usage of tools...

[paulca]

So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.

Unsurprisingly ice won.  It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating. 

All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out.  Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.

[sokoloff]

I semi regularly use sockets as receivers or pushers for impromptu press operations (press a 3D printer hot end out of the cooling block and into a socket or use a socket as a pusher to evenly press in a bearing).

If your freezer was self-defrosting (and the reason for the repair wasn't "because the heating element broke"), I've used the timer to run multiple back-to-back defrosting sessions to clear the freezer more completely of ice. It does take a long time with the heat gun (I used a paint-stripping sized heat gun and it still took a while-my task was "defrost so I could get in there and replace the failed elements")

[sokoloff]

Here's a good tip a mechanic showed me of how to get more leverage on a combination wrench.
Use it all the time in the land of rusty crap...

[paulca]

Unfortunately it's not self defrosting.  It does have a folded back door seal that leaks slightly so over months frost forms in the top drawer.  Leave it too long and frost forms on all the drawer fronts and then frost pushes the door open.  If you don't notice in side a day the whole freezer turns into an iceberg.  After a day or so you eventually notice things in the fridge freezing as the compressor is all constantly trying to keep the open freezer frozen.

To make matters worse it has those clever grilled shelves where the cooling pipes run, so they get absolutely clogged in ice preventing the drawers from coming out.

[rsjsouza]

So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.

Unsurprisingly ice won.  It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating. 

All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out.  Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.

I tried that once on a POS floorstand Whirlpool freezer (the heating element was fine and it took me a while to find out the temporizer relay was faulty). The hot air station (Aoyue 852A++) did not have anywhere near enough airflow to get things going. My wife's ultra-powerful hair drier was much more efficient.

Regarding the main topic, I have used knifes as flat screwdrivers, car batteries as doorstops, old soldering irons as drills (in plastic), rearview projector pens to draw PCB tracks (as etch-resistant), steel wool as bare PCB cleaner, lighters (or fire in general) to remove enamel from coil wires... You get creative when resources are scarce.

[paulca]

Actually the best thing I have defrosted this freezer with was the mobile air con unit.  Physics baby!

I parked it in front of the freezer with the exhaust pointed into the freezer.  Defrosted it, removing all ice, in about an hour.  Added bonus of dehumidifying the room and warming it up generally.

But it's upstairs and it weighs a ton (or about 15Kg).  Now I wish I'd gone up and got it as half way though a bottle of wine and I can still hear ice falling   I have to reload the freezer tonight, no matter how tired or drunk I am.

[cvanc]

I've stirred my coffee with a screwdriver on more than one occasion.

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures 

[paulca]

I've stirred my coffee with a screwdriver on more than one occasion.

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures 

More impressing if you used the soldering iron to heat cold coffee up!  

That's gotta work, right?   Lead poisoning aside of course

[jmelson]

So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.

Unsurprisingly ice won.  It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating. 

All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out.  Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.

An ordinary heat gun does a good job of defrosting a freezer.  You have to take care to not overheat the Freon tubing or any plastic in the freezer, though.
The heat gun probably delivers a LOT more Watts than the rework tool.

Jon

[Macbeth]

Actually the best thing I have defrosted this freezer with was the mobile air con unit.  Physics baby!

I parked it in front of the freezer with the exhaust pointed into the freezer.  Defrosted it, removing all ice, in about an hour.  Added bonus of dehumidifying the room and warming it up generally.

This is a bloody good idea!  I've used a paint stripper in the past but it is still a lot of effort, sat in a deck chair blasting away for an hour and trying not to melt the plastics.

My freezer really needs a defrost. I also need to move my portable AC from the bedroom into storage. I guess I am one of a handful of people like yourself in the UK that actually own one, and it was a lifesaver during this summers heatwave!

But yeah, lugging it up and down stairs is a pain.

[german77]

I use flat screwdrivers as chisels or brute force case openers. And wrenches to stretch a big spring. Toothpaste as a polishing compound. A drill as universal one time security screw removal. Kitchen oil as a cheap lubricant when drilling holes.

The hair drier removes ice pretty fast.

[bd139]

I used a soup ladel as a hammer and a screwdriver to defrost my fridge 

[capt bullshot]

Often enough, I've used a flat blade screwdriver to drill holes in plastic enclosures.

[Macbeth]

I used a soup ladel as a hammer and a screwdriver to defrost my fridge 

I used this method as a kid way back when. Trying to be clever. The hit that suddenly released freon from a tiny nick left the family fridge to never work again. But worse - I am sure I just took off a few millennia of the Earths eternal struggle for survival as a planet, and also murdered thousands with those escaped ozone gasses. 

[bd139]

Fluke 87's in California are pretty dangerous too https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fluke-87v-causes-cancer!/ 

[rsjsouza]

Or, as AvE would say: "Lead is known by the State of Cancer to cause California." 

[mathsquid]

I needed a large wrench (like 1.75 inch), but didn't have one that big. I did have a small vise that clamps on the edge of my workbench, so I clamped it to a 2x2 and adjusted the vise to fit the nut I needed to turn. It worked reasonably well.

[mathsquid]

I semi regularly use sockets as receivers or pushers for impromptu press operations (press a 3D printer hot end out of the cooling block and into a socket or use a socket as a pusher to evenly press in a bearing).

I do this too!

[joeyjoejoe]

So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.

Unsurprisingly ice won.  It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating. 

All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out.  Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.

Next time you can use a wine bottle with hot water. The narrow neck will help you get to the back to hit the fins.

[drussell]

For defrosting a freezer I've always found that my grandma's method of putting an electric kettle boiling some water in there for a few minutes works wonders.  In a chest-type deep freezer all the ice chunks will just fall off the walls after a few minutes.  In a fridge with exposed fins that have frozen over it takes a bit longer but is less work than going after it with a hair drier or heat gun, though that can help to get the last bits with minimal effort.

Of course, you need to find an older kettle that doesn't have an auto-shutoff.  Today's plastic crap would probably just melt if you bypass the thermal shutoff switch, even if you didn't accidentally boil it to dryness.

Does anyone else remember a time when appliances were made out of a thing called metal? 

[G0HZU]

I've used my Tek RSA3408A 8GHz real time spectrum analyser as a battery charger via the USB port a few times.

http://www.testequipmenthq.com/datasheets/TEKTRONIX-RSA3408A-Datasheet.pdf

I think you can buy cheaper and smaller battery chargers than the Tek but it does seem to work very well

[malagas_on_fire]

I use a pole testing neither to screw or test the poles on mains, but it can be used to pry some boxes, test the battery mosquito zapper if is discharged after use or to block something to get loose, like a door.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

I like to peel the wires with my teeth.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Often enough, I've used a flat blade screwdriver to drill holes in plastic enclosures.

The tip of the iron is good for that too :-)

[Kleinstein]

I quite regularly use Torx bits for imperial size Allan key screws -  works reasonably.


I never tries this:
https://www.dell.com/community/Desktops-General-Read-Only/I-need-help-with-my-cupholder/td-p/784435

[RoGeorge]

Toothpick instead of a desoldering pump (TH only), pencil eraser instead of a contact cleaning can, bath silicon caps instead of led diffusers, double row 0.1 inch pins instead of a CR2032 battery holder, keep the car key to my had to increase the range, touch the door handle with the key first in order to avoid the electrostatic shock, hand drill and sandpaper instead of pencil sharpener, iPhone headset and boombox instead of line in or other dedicated amplifier, LXI controlled power source and oscilloscope as temperature regulator for a soldering iron, magnet as a SMD stickvise or picker,  a four quadrant digitally controlled analog multiplier made out of 2 ops and an I2C pot, use a spoon as a jar lid opener, stick wet rubber gloves (Van der Waals force) to the sink's mirror (or to the wall tiles) in order to dry them, etc., etc.

A few of them:


https://hackaday.io/project/7574-the-devil-is-in-the-details
https://hackaday.io/project/6356-delta-sigma-versus-pwm
https://hackaday.io/project/6289-smd-stickvise
https://hackaday.io/project/6577-dune-pain-box-a-hackers-replica

I'll say my worst I can remember right now is:
https://hackaday.io/project/14969-zero-parts-thermostated-soldering-station

and the best:
https://hackaday.io/project/7542-rogeorge-cell

[Rerouter]

I make spring hooks by snapping metal tweezers apart at the spot weld and bending the ends, (little hook to get tiny springs over there resting notches.)

The amount of things I have made out of coat hanger wire.. to the point I have had multiple people ask me to recreate some (Specialized radio removal tools, even keys)

Flat head screwdrivers, some filed a tiny bit to perfectly fit common security screws (the weird ones that don't come in the kits)

Using Razor Blade knives to deburr aluminium hole edges

Using straight hacksaw blades in hand to cut holes in metal and plastic starting with a blind hole (jigsaw has been broken for a while, and its remarkable hard to cut yourself)

Using a razor knife as a scribe on metal (yeah my blades go blunt quickly)

Spinning a drill bit on a drill press, then encouraging sandpaper to wrap around it to lightly clean the inside of a metal shaft

Putting a cylindrical metal object in the chuck of a drill press to sandpaper polish the outside....

[Fred27]

So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.

I've used mine to make crème brulée. You have to turn the air down a bit or it blows sugar all over the place.

[AndyC_772]

Actually the best thing I have defrosted this freezer with was the mobile air con unit.  Physics baby!

I parked it in front of the freezer with the exhaust pointed into the freezer.  Defrosted it, removing all ice, in about an hour.  Added bonus of dehumidifying the room and warming it up generally.

This is a bloody good idea!  I've used a paint stripper in the past but it is still a lot of effort, sat in a deck chair blasting away for an hour and trying not to melt the plastics.

My freezer really needs a defrost. I also need to move my portable AC from the bedroom into storage. I guess I am one of a handful of people like yourself in the UK that actually own one, and it was a lifesaver during this summers heatwave!

But yeah, lugging it up and down stairs is a pain.

I've just done this... what a brilliant idea, thank you! 

One frosted-up freezer vs a bucket, sponge and a 14000 BTU portable a/c unit was a remarkably one-sided battle. I had to stop half way because the ice was melting faster than I could get the water out! (No drain attachment on this particular unit, sadly).

Previously I've used a heat gun, but I've never been keen on the idea of holding something mains powered quite so close to that much dripping water. Not a problem with a flexible plastic hose, though 

[xani]

AWG to test a neopixel array

A bit of Perl code to generate function generator's wave files

[james_s]

This isn't mine, but I spotted it in the building my office is in the other day.

[RoGeorge]

LOL, that door stopper is on par with the gold hemisphere door stopper tale, from Richard Feynman in "Los Alamos From Below" (minute 1h5m52s)

[IDEngineer]

So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer. Unsurprisingly ice won.  It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating. All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out.  Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.

An ordinary heat gun does a good job of defrosting a freezer.  You have to take care to not overheat the Freon tubing or any plastic in the freezer, though. The heat gun probably delivers a LOT more Watts than the rework tool.

Even simpler (and far safer): A standard box fan (really, any normal air circulating fan). Room ambient air is many tens of degrees warmer than the ice, and the constant circulation is more than the ice can endure. We used to have one of those small refrigerators at our office which would ice up a couple of times a year, and by propping open the door and directing a fan into it the entire thing would be completely ice-free AND dry in an hour. Zero risk of excessive temperatures to any components, zero risk of physical damage from tools, etc. And you don't have to monitor it, just turn it on and go do something else while a simple fan takes care of the problem safely and swiftly.

Another favorite of mine is using a very normal C-clamp to install PEM nuts and other press-in fittings. I don't have a hydraulic press but you can impart a LOT of force with a C-clamp, and using sockets or other devices (even custom-shaped ones if necessary) you can focus that force down to very small, or even custom-shaped, areas.

This one's not too surprising, but: You can use a soldering iron, particularly with a flat tip, to do in-the-field repairs of 3D printed objects. This works really well with TPU and other flexible filaments that can "tear" between layers. I learned this when my FPV pilot son was at a distant competition and tore the antenna mount on the flexible 3D canopy that he designed to cover the electronics on his quads. No access to a 3D printer, no spares, what to do? Well, it was already useless and I couldn't make it worse, so I tried field-welding it and it worked great. Probably stronger than before, in fact. I haven't tried using a soldering iron to repair inflexible filament objects but I bet that would work too.

I once rekeyed a lock - at the locksmith's! - by using the lock's own parts. The locksmith could not figure out how to hold all the parts in place while reinserting the cylinder, it kept knocking the little pieces out as he slid it in. Over the course of 30+ minutes he got more and more frustrated, while I sat wondering why in the world he was making this so difficult. Finally he let me try. I partially inserted the cylinder to the first little piece's location, inserted that piece, and slid the cylinder in just enough more to hold that piece. Lather, rinse, repeat until all 6-8 pieces were in place. Took about 60 seconds. The locksmith was absolutely amazed, which frankly was a little scary for a guy supposely in that profession.

[vk6zgo]

I have several candidates:-
(1)Using a sheet metal screw (the ones you use for metal roofs) mounted in the chuck of a drill press, to fit an IDC connector to a ribbon cable.
The connector was in the small acessory vice belonging to the drill press, the screw head placed on top.
Pulled the lever down--- worked better than the proper tools do!

(2)My Shift boss & I arrived at work to find the big papier mâché  air duct connecting the socket  of a 6166 PA tube to the air blower had broken--- no air, no HT, no RF!
Off to the hardware store, dug through their assortment of plastic drainage pipes, selected some likely bits.
Back at work, a little work with duct tape, a metal brace bent up to hold the whole thing steady, & back on the air.

(3)Many years ago, I spent a year in England.
One Sunday, I grabbed the little Ford Popular, and headed off some 70 miles to London, to buy some "Colonel Sander's Kentucky Fried Chicken"(KFC to you youngsters).
Part way back home, the "Pop" coughed, died.

I had a look in the car for tools, found a small, sloppy, adjustable spanner, &  a screwdriver.
The latter did the job to open the fuel pump--- no blockage there.

After checking spark, etc, it was back to the fuel system.
The fuel pipe was connected to the carby by a "banjo" connector, held in place by a hollow screw incorporating a filter.

This was much larger than the little spanner could fit, so I trudged up the hill to an open Service Station (not always a sure bet in 1970s Britain)
The owner heard my sad tale, ordered a tow truck to get the car to the garage, & we sat down to wait,having a "cuppa tea & a yarn" while we waited. (I did say it was Sunday).
After some time, I decided to walk back to the car & wait there, whilst he rang the tow people again.

Stood around, got a bit weary, so decide to unlock the car & sit.
To this end, I took out the keys, & noticed the crown seal bottle opener attached.
Just maybe?
Yep the bottle opener fitted the "hollow bolt" perfectly, I removed & cleaned the filter, & a few minutes later,
pulled into the service station.

The owner was on the phone again to the tow truck people.
He said,with icy sarcasm "Don't worry about it, the customer just drove in!"
I tried to insist that I pay him,  but he wouldn't take my money, saying "I didn't do anything!"

[coppercone2]

scratch back with iron

[brucehoult]

For defrosting a freezer I've always found that my grandma's method of putting an electric kettle boiling some water in there for a few minutes works wonders.  In a chest-type deep freezer all the ice chunks will just fall off the walls after a few minutes.  In a fridge with exposed fins that have frozen over it takes a bit longer but is less work than going after it with a hair drier or heat gun, though that can help to get the last bits with minimal effort.

Of course, you need to find an older kettle that doesn't have an auto-shutoff.  Today's plastic crap would probably just melt if you bypass the thermal shutoff switch, even if you didn't accidentally boil it to dryness.

Does anyone else remember a time when appliances were made out of a thing called metal? 

Room temperature air will melt ice pretty fast. You just have to keep getting new air in there, not let it sit and get cold i.e. use a fan. Or fan heater is better, but not as much better as you'd think.

Room temperature water is even faster if you can just point a hose in there while the freezer is somewhere that you can't care about the water that spills out again.

It's all about energy transfer rather then extreme temperatures.

[vk6zgo]

scratch back with iron

Off I hope?

[coppercone2]

yea , just one of those insane itches

[tautech]

scratch back with iron

Off I hope?

yea , just one of those insane itches

You can't beat a long handled 22, 24 or 28oz Estwing hammer for a back scratcher especially if it's of the straight claw demolition model. 

[Brumby]

Room temperature water is even faster if you can just point a hose in there while the freezer is somewhere that you can't care about the water that spills out again.

It's all about energy transfer rather then extreme temperatures.

I'm glad someone put this in.

So long as you can suitably control the flow of the waste water, this is really fast and minimal risk to the equipment.

[carlsfootprints]

When I was still in college, I used nail cutter as my side cutter and wire stripper. Very handy and portable 

[bitseeker]

I've used my Tek RSA3408A 8GHz real time spectrum analyser as a battery charger via the USB port a few times.

http://www.testequipmenthq.com/datasheets/TEKTRONIX-RSA3408A-Datasheet.pdf

I think you can buy cheaper and smaller battery chargers than the Tek but it does seem to work very well

That's wonderfully inappropriate.  A prize should go to the person who does that with an Infiniium UXR 110 GHz oscilloscope.

[TERRA Operative]

I like to peel the wires with my teeth.

I used to do that as a child. Stripped some of the enamel off the top of my bottom front teeth.
Now I got a sensitive spot right there.

[SeanB]

120mm mains power fan works for me to defrost. Just use a wire to hold it in place ( it has guards front and rear) and it melts the ice quite fast, but not so fast that I cannot keep up with a old bath towel and a bucket.

Another is I needed a small anvil, so use the 14lb sledge hammer as one, with the tiny little ball peen hammer to work the solid rivet I was making to the right shape. Made some rivet setting tools out of steel rod (old dot matrix printer parts)and made them so I could hold the flat end on the rivet and have the crown on the other side formed neatly, just used lighter force on a large hammer to get the right shape without deforming the base material too much. Solid rivets beat pop rivets when you can get to both sides for strength any day.

[station240]

Using side cutters to grip the head of a completely stripped screws, from the side.
Works as not only are you gripping the head, but slightly underneath it at well.

Downside is not only due to damage/chip the cutting surface, but on one cheap set of side cutters, I managed to break one cutting part off entirely.

[vk6zgo]

Using side cutters to grip the head of a completely stripped screws, from the side.
Works as not only are you gripping the head, but slightly underneath it at well.

Downside is not only due to damage/chip the cutting surface, but on one cheap set of side cutters, I managed to break one cutting part off entirely.

Dentists forceps can also be useful for a number of such jobs.

Another trick I discovered was in a non-electronic situation, where I had to tighten a "cup head" bolt where the square part had turned around in the chipboard it was securing, chewing the hole round.

As luck would have it, I had a worn out car universal joint.
Taking a couple of the rollers from the "needle roller bearing", I drilled two holes through the mushroom like head of the bolt, into the chipboard.

Tapping the rollers into the two holes secured the bolt, and enabled me to tighten it.
In case I ever wanted  to unscrew the bolt, I covered the head with epoxy to stop the rollers ever coming out.

[IDEngineer]

scratch back with iron

Off I hope?

I bet it was off for sure the SECOND time. Question is, what about the first time?

[coppercone2]

Also something inappropriate is using solder to tie things down as strain relief. I like using very thin solder and it is actually kinda decent when a few loop are made..

this forum is amateur hour though, check this out
https://failblog.cheezburger.com/thereifixedit

[james_s]

Another favorite of mine is using a very normal C-clamp to install PEM nuts and other press-in fittings. I don't have a hydraulic press but you can impart a LOT of force with a C-clamp, and using sockets or other devices (even custom-shaped ones if necessary) you can focus that force down to very small, or even custom-shaped, areas.

I do that frequently too, also for pushing the piston(s) back into a brake caliper so I can install new pads.

[PointyOintment]

Flush cutter (CHP-170!) to slowly and painfully cut away plastic enclosures of consumer electronics to get parts out.

[jerryk]

I recently had to recover the tail of my airplane after a moose tried to mate with it.  I used my hot air rework station set at it's lowest setting to lay down some pinked tape edges that had lifted and smooth out bubbles that occurred in the tapes.  I did this after I applied silver which is normally a near impossible task with any type of iron.  I also assisted smoothing the bubbles out with a paint brush handle covered in Kapton Tape.  These are now essential tools in any of my aircraft recovering adventures.

Jerry

 

[KL27x]

Spinning a drill bit on a drill press, then encouraging sandpaper to wrap around it to lightly clean the inside of a metal shaft

Better if you can lay hands on a wood dowel or a small metal tube or rod. Cut a slot in the end to start the strip of sandpaper, wrap it tight so it grips in the slot, and use tape to affix the other end. Or an O ring, if you're going to wear out a lot of sandpaper.

[Johnboy]

I have had some surprising luck with removing stripped screws (and "security"-type screws for which I don't have the right screwdriver head at hand) by using a Phillips head screwdriver slightly smaller than the head that would be normally used. What I have often done is cut a rubber band to the approximate size of the slot (only if the screw is recessed, otherwise I don't cut it at all) and then applied a lot of force with the Phillips head on top of it to get the rubber to 'fill' and grip the screw slot tightly enough to turn it counterclockwise. There is probably a better way, but this has worked for me in some situations that would have otherwise been supremely aggravating.

[sokoloff]

Another tip is to use valve grinding compound (find it at a legitimate auto parts store, not one that sells neon lights and 16" subwoofers) to give additional grip for partially stripped screws.

[GreyWoolfe]

Another favorite of mine is using a very normal C-clamp to install PEM nuts and other press-in fittings. I don't have a hydraulic press but you can impart a LOT of force with a C-clamp, and using sockets or other devices (even custom-shaped ones if necessary) you can focus that force down to very small, or even custom-shaped, areas.

I do that frequently too, also for pushing the piston(s) back into a brake caliper so I can install new pads.

I have done that for years.  Not long after I bought my retired company van, I needed rear brakes.  Found out they had the ratcheting pistons.  Not wanting to bug Mrs GreyWoolfe for her car as I didn't want to put the tires back on the van, I came up with an alternative.  They were rotated back in with a rubber mallet and a big honking slotted tip screwdriver.  I didn't even damage the screwdriver.

[jose347]

Back in the day when I work as an automotive technician, we used to pull out the a-arms bushing by using a Pry bar instead of the specialized dealer tool, it turns out that the process for the tool took about 6 paid hours while our unsafe way was done in 45 min.

[AndyC_772]

You've reminded me that a few months back I pulled the crankcase cover off a Ducati engine, using a brake piston retractor with a couple of additional bolt holes drilled in it at the right spacing to match the special factory tool. Worked a treat 

[KL27x]

I have a Harbor Freight trim router I've only ever used for grinding metal and plastic using carbide burrs. It is a bit of a handful, ergonomically, but it has less vibration than my cheap die grinder and the same power and rpm's.

I used a hatchet the other day for pulling weeds in rocky soil. I should probably buy a pick axe, but w/e. I have a belt sander to take the dings out, after.

[PointyOintment]

I have had some surprising luck with removing stripped screws (and "security"-type screws for which I don't have the right screwdriver head at hand) by using a Phillips head screwdriver slightly smaller than the head that would be normally used. What I have often done is cut a rubber band to the approximate size of the slot (only if the screw is recessed, otherwise I don't cut it at all) and then applied a lot of force with the Phillips head on top of it to get the rubber to 'fill' and grip the screw slot tightly enough to turn it counterclockwise. There is probably a better way, but this has worked for me in some situations that would have otherwise been supremely aggravating.

I have tried the rubber band method several times over the years and finally given up on it. It never got a screw to turn for me. I only ended up with a rubber band with little holes cut in it by the edges of the screwdriver & screw heads.

[Macbeth]

Using side cutters to grip the head of a completely stripped screws, from the side.
Works as not only are you gripping the head, but slightly underneath it at well.

Downside is not only due to damage/chip the cutting surface, but on one cheap set of side cutters, I managed to break one cutting part off entirely.

I've been doing this since the early '90s when I was taught this as an apprentice. Great for cheese/pan heads made of Chinesium, not so good for flat head/countersunk screws.

[IDEngineer]

Using side cutters to grip the head of a completely stripped screws, from the side.
Works as not only are you gripping the head, but slightly underneath it at well.

Downside is not only due to damage/chip the cutting surface, but on one cheap set of side cutters, I managed to break one cutting part off entirely.

I've been doing this since the early '90s when I was taught this as an apprentice. Great for cheese/pan heads made of Chinesium, not so good for flat head/countersunk screws.

I do the same basic thing, except I use ViceGrips. The real trick here is that you have to COMMIT. You generally get only one shot at a given screw head before it's rounded so badly you can't grip it anymore. When you're locking down those ViceGrips you're trying to actually deform the screw head a bit. Don't be shy, the screw is already destroyed.

The other thing I learned a long time ago, after painful experience, is that an impact driver is far better at loosening stuck screws with intact heads than hand tools. All the latter do is put you into the situation where you need the ViceGrips.    But a small impact driver, with the appropriate driver bit, is remarkable at gently loosening screws and preserving them for another use. Just go gentle on the trigger and let the driver do the work. This approach works on countersunk screw heads too. Not really a MISuse of a tool, just a good application of one.

[james_s]

Back in the day when I work as an automotive technician, we used to pull out the a-arms bushing by using a Pry bar instead of the specialized dealer tool, it turns out that the process for the tool took about 6 paid hours while our unsafe way was done in 45 min.

I'm reminded of one of the reasons I've always done all my own car maintenance.

[coppercone2]

what is he describing?

I assume the problem with the lever is that your putting a non even force on something that causes torque/sheer?

[Johnboy]

I have had some surprising luck with removing stripped screws (and "security"-type screws for which I don't have the right screwdriver head at hand) by using a Phillips head screwdriver slightly smaller than the head that would be normally used. What I have often done is cut a rubber band to the approximate size of the slot (only if the screw is recessed, otherwise I don't cut it at all) and then applied a lot of force with the Phillips head on top of it to get the rubber to 'fill' and grip the screw slot tightly enough to turn it counterclockwise. There is probably a better way, but this has worked for me in some situations that would have otherwise been supremely aggravating.

I have tried the rubber band method several times over the years and finally given up on it. It never got a screw to turn for me. I only ended up with a rubber band with little holes cut in it by the edges of the screwdriver & screw heads.

I agree that the method doesn't always work. I have found that the rubber band used must be both wide and relatively thick to do the job of completely filling the slot to make maximum contact, and a great deal of external pressure is required to give the rubber enough traction to actually turn. The advantage of this method is that the rubber will generally rip before there is any actual metal on metal contact from the screwdriver that might damage the screwheads, and if it turns at all, in the case of a rusted screw or cross-threaded one, there may be enough clearance that something like sewing machine oil or WD-40 can be applied to the threads under the screwhead to make the process easier.

Patience is really key with this technique. My most "spectacular" success with it was removing eyeglasses-size screws from the PVC cursor of a K+E Deci-Lon. Those screws had not only been embedded in the plastic for forty-five years, but had been subjected to gassing from the rotten green case the rule came in. The screws were oxidized and sealed in with dust and detritus, and I couldn't apply much pressure to them without breaking the fragile cursor or chipping the screwheads themselves, so it was a long and gradual process of applying lubricant to the top of the threads, letting it soak in, and giving it another twist using the smallest band I could find that wouldn't simply snap under the screwdriver. The four screws took a week of nightly wrestling sessions to remove.

 

[SeanB]

Been removing labels from steel shelving at work. Label Off 50 from Kontact Chemie in a spray can of course, and I needed a scraper. Not steel, too much damage to the paint, so now on the second PVC ruler as scraper, as they, for some reason, keep breaking after being used that way and exposed to the label remover. As a bonus the Label Off 50 is really good at removing old marker residue and also removing double sided tape.

[IDEngineer]

As a bonus the Label Off 50 is really good at removing old marker residue and also removing double sided tape.

FYI, I've found mineral spirits to be a remarkable label adhesive remover. Even on that incredibly nasty stuff they use on those metalized license place annual stickers and watercraft registration stickers. Put a little on a paper towel and it just wipes the adhesive away. I've yet to find a substrate that is damaged by it, including gelcoat over fiberglass (e.g. boat hulls). Cheap and very effective.

[nali]

Been removing labels from steel shelving at work. Label Off 50 from Kontact Chemie in a spray can of course, and I needed a scraper. Not steel, too much damage to the paint, so now on the second PVC ruler as scraper, as they, for some reason, keep breaking after being used that way and exposed to the label remover. As a bonus the Label Off 50 is really good at removing old marker residue and also removing double sided tape.

PC100 DIMMs make excellent scrapers. Long edge for general scraping, short edge for those stubborn jobs. They're also pretty good for removing silicone.