stripped screw head

seb500

seb500

seb500

Associate
Joined
27 Oct 2009
Posts
134
Location
Nottingham
Hello everyone, in some dire need of help here! Got my new SSD this morning, was unscrewing the various screws from my laptop and the final one has completely lost the groves to unscrew it out. The X shaped head now is a circle and there is very very little purchase when trying to unscrew it out.

Has anyone experienced this ?

to make matters worse the screw is down in a small whole :/

Can anyone help me please!!!
 
Normally you would drill out the middle with a smaller drillbit, then grip it with some pliers and it should collapse in a bit making it easy to come out.

If its anything like the laptops I've worked on before the screws are tiny so youve got no real option but to damage the base.
 
If its properly worn where no screwdriver will every screw it, then you may have to drill it.

If you put a rubber band on the end of your screw driver and screw though it, it does give a bit more grip, but if its really worn, it will have no use.

any way you can twist it with pliers?
 
seb500 said:
Hello everyone, in some dire need of help here! Got my new SSD this morning, was unscrewing the various screws from my laptop and the final one has completely lost the groves to unscrew it out. The X shaped head now is a circle and there is very very little purchase when trying to unscrew it out.

Has anyone experienced this ?

to make matters worse the screw is down in a small whole :/

Can anyone help me please!!!
Click to expand...

As above, put a rubber band on the end of your screwdriver, press down hard and hope it grips. Or try get something thin down under the head of the screw and apply upward pressure while unscrewing, that has helped me in the past.
 
Put the other screws back in & tighten them up, Once the other screws are tight then attack the dodgey screw with a small flat bladed screwdriver, Feel about with the tip of the screwdriver to get a bite & don't apply any pressure until you have that bite then give it one big wang in & round.
Make sense ?
 
I have tried the rubber band trick, no luck. I'm thinking about getting a different shaped screw driver (such as a square head) and trying that way, but don't really want to damage it anymore. The other option I guess is to drill into it, but how would I go about that :S?
 
4T5 said:
Put the other screws back in & tighten them up, Once the other screws are tight then attack the dodgey screw with a small flat bladed screwdriver, Feel about with the tip of the screwdriver to get a bite & don't apply any pressure until you have that bite then give it one big wang in & round.
Make sense ?
Click to expand...

Yeah i'll give that ago.

also the screw is in a hole, top middle right

samsung-series-7-chronos-17.3-inch-bottom.jpg
 
Do as I said & put all the other screws back in tight, This will relieve the pressure on the dodgey screw making it easier to get out.

You can also squeeze the laptop where the dodgey screw is relieving even more tension.
 
I would usually use a torx driver in this situation , one smaller enough to fit in the rounded out head, place laptop on a firm surface put all my weight into it and turn very slow while keeping maximum pressure this should give enough grip to turn the screw, then ease off once it's cracked the seal.
 
beermonster said:
I would usually use a torx driver in this situation , one smaller enough to fit in the rounded out head, place laptop on a firm surface put all my weight into it and turn very slow while keeping maximum pressure this should give enough grip to turn the screw, then ease off once it's cracked the seal.
Click to expand...


something like this? Think im just going to drill the head off the screw so it no longer holds the plastic, there are plenty of other screws that hold it all together anyway..
 
Superglue on the end of the screwdriver and stick it to the broken screw, let it set and then unscrew it but as others have said, replace all the other screws to take pressure off this problem screw.
 
im not entirely sure about it because its such a small space, but I guess a tiny bit on the end of a screw driver then connect it with the screw and leave it. worth a try anyway - i will find some super glue!
 
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