Extracting a bolt with a stripped head

[gba]

I need to open up an Ibook, but one of the torx case bolts has a stripped head. I would like to find a small enough screw extractor to get the job done. Can anyone suggest where on the www I might find such a tool?

Thanks.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Do not kill flies with a hammer, when a rolled up newspaper will do. 😉

If the screw was not cross threaded or installed double-ugly, red-faced tight, there is an easyer
way to go about removal.

Clean the screw and best fittng bit with alcohol, oil free is a must. Bond the bit to the screw
with good epoxy. You may want to set-up the plot for non-movement prior to the epoxy.
Let it set a good while to fully cure. Remove the screw w/o side loading the driver. Just use
the counterclockwise twist w/o tilting the driver. Remove the offending screw from the bit
by heating it with a lighter or over the stove. Done 😀


...Galvanized

 

[RebateMonger]

Good idea. I was going to recommend blasting.

 

[gba]

Thanks a lot, GalvanizedYankee... What a great idea!

Gary

 

[Jiggz]

Sometimes, you will get lucky by finding a slotted head jewelers screw driver that will allow you to wok on a torx head screw. You might want to try the above suggestion but if it doesn't work then you need to try different sizes of jeweler's screw driver set that will fit into the torx screw. Of course, you will end up replacing the said screw after you removed it.

 

[stu1811]

Put a little C4 ontop of the screw. Hide behind a wall. *Fire in the hole*

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

n/m

 

[gba]

Originally posted by: Jiggz
Sometimes, you will get lucky by finding a slotted head jewelers screw driver that will allow you to wok on a torx head screw. You might want to try the above suggestion but if it doesn't work then you need to try different sizes of jeweler's screw driver set that will fit into the torx screw. Of course, you will end up replacing the said screw after you removed it.

Thanks Jiggz... I had tried that, but it was too badly stripped...

I have the epoxy setting now. Fortunately, the best fitting driver was a removable tip, so it was easy to place without the weight of the driver to contend with. I taped it in place with masking tape.

 

[kmmatney]

This won't apply here, but how I get stripped bolts out on cars is to place a chisel on the side of the screw, and tap on the chisel with a hammer. The chisel digs into the metal and turns the screw. I've been able to extract screws with almost no heads that way. The key is to get sideways force on the outside of the screw. For this, the epoxy idea is better...

 

[nutcasert]

For the ibook, drill it out. torx arent worth the trouble.

 

[gba]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
This won't apply here, but how I get stripped bolts out on cars is to place a chisel on the side of the screw, and tap on the chisel with a hammer. The chisel digs into the metal and turns the screw. I've been able to extract screws with almost no heads that way. The key is to get sideways force on the outside of the screw. For this, the epoxy idea is better...

That does seem like an elegant solution uner less delicate circumstances... Thanks for sharing your technique, kmnatney.