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| Your best/worst innovative but completely incorrect usage of tools... |
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| IDEngineer:
--- Quote from: Macbeth on October 15, 2018, 09:04:48 pm --- --- Quote from: station240 on October 14, 2018, 10:34:16 am ---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. --- End quote --- 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. --- End quote --- 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:
--- Quote from: jose347 on October 15, 2018, 06:29:34 pm ---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. --- End quote --- 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:
--- Quote from: PointyOintment on October 15, 2018, 08:07:11 pm --- --- Quote from: Johnboy on October 15, 2018, 12:57:49 pm ---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. --- End quote --- 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. --- End quote --- 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. |
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