Well, Ron, if you get THAT far into it, you can get a set of those bits that will bite into the stripped screw head. Wasn't there a discussion about these new bits on here some time back? Or maybe it was a Journal article. Anyway, they do work well when you need to get a screw out and it's hopelessly stripped. One end of the tool is a drill bit which makes a dimple suitable for the tool to burrow into. A reversable power screwdriver is all you need. Paul McCloud San Diego > [Original Message] > From: Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> > To: <tvaktvak at sbcglobal.net>; <pianotech at ptg.org> > Date: 01/08/2009 10:02:22 PM > Subject: Re: [pianotech] screwed but good > > > > Any suggestions? I'd hate to have to tell the client I > > couldn't fix the problem because I couldn't get the pedal > > box open. He might kick sand in my face. > > > > Weakly, > > > > Tom Sivak Chicago > > Tom, > These things were never intended to be taken apart, obviously. > > So much for the rational portion of the program. Now the > reality part. Kimball was an undisputed (by me, anyway) master > of the one way screw. Their case assembly troglodyte(s) with > high speed power drivers would spin a Phillips bit in a screw > head until no vestige of Phillips shaped recess remained in > the screw head- just a nominally conical crater. The > combination of no way to get a screwdriver to bite in the > screw head, and the (I swear (or did)), lack of pilot hole in > the original assembly meant these screws were likely in place > forever. Most times, it was duckable, except those cheek block > and key slip screws that had to come out to pull actions. > > Heat, with a soldering iron (though a torch is VERY tempting), > sometimes works, and is always the first attempt. You have to > not only be willing to get lucky, but give the thing every > chance to indulge you. > > Drilling off the head, removing the part, and attacking the > stubs with a Vise-Grip is also an (albeit ugly) option, and > often the only one when getting lucky didn't happen. > > You said these screws were into metal? As in machine screws? > That complicates things if the screws are holding a wooden > part to a metal part. You can't get a penetrating oil to the > metal/screw interface without soaking the wooden part, if at > all. You may be standing in front of door number 2, involving > drilling off the screw heads to remove the bottom plate to > allow access to the machine screw stubs for application of > penetrating oil and (definitely) torch heating, the better to > Vise-Grip the suckers out. Don't force the stubs or you'll > find yourself looking at what used to be stubs that are now > broken off flush (thereabouts) with the surface, and you're > back to the drill. This is the REALLY ugly portion of the > program, where we'd rather not go. > > I'll stop here and hope for the best. > > Luck, > Ron N >
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