Stupid Question - Solution for tight screws?

[Kinkless Tetrode 66]

Does anyone have a good way to loosen very tight screws? I recently bought an EHX East River Drive while in NYC and am not able to unscrew the battery access. I have tried "tapping" the screws but with no success. Any good ideas? Thanks.

[xtian]

Heat (butane torch), WD40 (not at same time as heat!), prayer.

[LeftyStrat]

WD-40 and let it sit for a day or two. Don't force it or you'll strip the head.

[eniam rognab]

metal on metal? light machine oil like "3-in-1"

metal on plastic? sorry

[Bob S]

And when all else fails - brute force.
Good Luck
Bob

[thejaf]

Depending on the structural integrity of surrounding material, you could use an impact driver. A small kit is about @12 at your local auto parts store. I wouldn't try it on something small and breakable though

[Jana]

I'm not sure if you want to do this--given all the parts inside--but another thing to try is put it in the freezer and get it really cold. Then, take it out and heat the screw heads with a soldering iron (while the rest of the enclosure is cold) and then try to remove the screws.

[JoeCon]

I never had luck with WD-40. But I found PB Blaster which is a penetrating catalyst ( good band name!) and that frees all kinds of stuck screws and nuts...

Just saying......

[cbass]

Pneumatic nail gun oil iz.the.best thing ive found for stuck.boltz

[Phil_S]

Liquid Wrench. Apply and allow it to penetrate. Miracle oil.
That and use precisely the correct size screw driver so you don't strip the head. Also, the correct screw driver will allow you to apply maximum force.

If slotted, use one that fills the width, depth, and length well.

For Phillips head, look very carefully. Some really aren't Phillips head and require a special screw driver. There are a number of "cruciform" screw types and most can be turned acceptably with a Phillips driver.

The one that doesn't work well with an ordinary Phillips head driver is the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). This one is easy to miss on first look and strips all too easily with a standard Phillips. Look here: http://www.instructables.com/id/When-a- ... -Standard/ The proper screw driver blade is angled differently and has a flat bottom.

[Leo_Gnardo]

KT66 - got it loose yet?

Jana gave me an idea. Try hers in reverse. Your favorite "penetrating oil" first, let it soak in long as you can, then drip freeze spray on the screw head & give 'er a twist.

If no joy perhaps your fastener is related to the ambihelical hexnut as used in the assembly pictured below. Some advice from the manufacturer:

"Since the old style hex-nut, due to its design, had to be screwed off to be screwed on, the only way to tighten it was to loosen it. Our maintenance people felt that the new ambihelical nut, by reason of its inherent design feature, which dictates that it must be fully screwed on before it can be screwed off, would solve the problem of becoming looser when it is tightened in that it must be loosened to tighten it and therefore should become a logical replacement of the older nuts which had to be fully screwed off in order to screw them on and consequently become tighter as they were loosened instead of looser as they were tightened.

A further problem of less alarming proportions become immediately apparent when it was recognized that a Dealer training program would need to be instituted to acquaint the serviceman, with the complexities involved in loosely tightening as opposed to tightly loosening. Some of the mechanics are actually not clear on this point."

Also consider the possibility that the fastener you're dealing with may have a left-hand thread? No need to reach for the left-handed screwdriver, any good one will do.

[JazzGuitarGimp]

That's one fun drawing, Leo!

[NickC]

That's one fun drawing, Leo!

If only M.C. Escher had been a mechanical engineer!

[eniam rognab]

i have a folder where i save all these hilarious images

thanks leo!

[donzoid]

PB Blaster beats them all for penetrating oil...but in these cases I use a Q-tip to apply it because its "safer" for the innards.