Gaming How to get stripped screw out?

amandangel

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Hello, I seem to be in a frustrating situation.

I’ve been trying to repair my DSi and accidentally stripped one of the screws on the back in the hole. It’s been stripped to no return with no more grooves on it, so I’ve been lost on where exactly to go from here.

I’ve tried the infamous rubber band trick to no avail as it didn’t really fit down that hole and didn’t grab on to anything, and I’d rather not use super glue in that small hole.

So, how exactly should I go about getting this small screw out? I’ve heard of screw extractors, but I’m not even sure what size would fit in this case. Anything helps.
80D1B6B4-00C0-4EAA-AD51-4040D891116D.jpeg

6275AFEF-094B-4A2E-8B70-E63FCBE6B44A.jpeg
 
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amandangel

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Wow, how did you fuck it up so bad. You should have noticed something wrong way before it became like that ._.
Yeah..my dumbass used a screwdriver much bigger than a #00. That and the rubber in the hole got stuck while I was taking it out and using other tools to get that out also stripped it in the process by accident. Completely my fault haha

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Try drilling through through the center, then extract it.
By chance do you know what size might fit that hole or if they make sizes that small?
 

LDAsh

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Provided the screw is not in there too tight, and the glue you use is strong enough, you could glue something in there and once it fully cures, stand a chance of twisting it out.
 

eyeliner

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Use plastic, like us braves used to back in the day when opening a GameCube.

Get something made of rigid plastic. Thin, preferably.
Get a lighter. With gas so it works, preferably.
Burn a tip of the plastic device, like a pen, preferably.
When it starts melting, press it on against the screw, fitting snugly, preferably.
Let it harden, preferably.
When cooled, twist it slowly, preferably.
Because the plastic moulded itself to the screw, it might have gained a tight grip, preferably.

Don't do that again, preferably.
 
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Dacobi

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Try drilling through through the center, then extract it.

I just stripped a triwing screw in my brand new GBA shell (using the cheap triwing driver that came with it)
There's only a smooth round hole left, so rubber band, glue ext won't grib anything

How do you extract it after you drill?
 

FAST6191

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I just stripped a triwing screw in my brand new GBA shell (using the cheap triwing driver that came with it)
There's only a smooth round hole left, so rubber band, glue ext won't grib anything

How do you extract it after you drill?
Depending upon the setup it will just slide off and leave a threaded rod at this point sticking out you can grip onto with pliers, or maybe something a bit more locking (see vice/vise grips, though don't buy any specially) and twist out.

The general idea of drilling for most things like this is so the screw now has a nice hollow cone for a head and you can't or won't mill a new slot or have anything gain any purchase in what is there and thus the drilling.
Most drills will have an angled trip and thus by drilling down just a bit of a way you will detach the remains of the head which is the only thing providing any force to clamp the shell in most plastic and metal screw inserts things* I have ever pulled apart.

*two thick metal plates might be both tapped holes but this is not that.

Diagram, forgive the crudeness but hopefully it illustrates
drilling_stripped_screw.png

The bit where it says not attached is indeed not attached if you did it right and should just fall out if you turn it upside down or hook it with a pick. Most will drill just a tiny bit into the remaining plastic to be sure or because they can't do better but you might find it breaks sooner than that or can be broken (if you can get a shim between the halves of the case then you can force upwards) when it gets really thin.

If "holding my hand steady and vertical is hard" then yes, yes it is. Why most that do it will want a drill press/drill stand of some form (borestander if my dictionary serves me here), mill or method that holds everything steady** for this sort of operation. Drill presses are for many the first step in any kind of machine tool setup and used by everybody from woodworkers on up and in many garages I go to.
If you are very good you can use an even smaller drill or milling bit to make a short line across the remaining head and thus turn it into a flat head screw, though that will likely be more specialist gear (I would probably go with carbide drill bits that they sell for drilling circuit boards***)

**you can hold a drill firmly on a bench, make sure everything is the right height and angle with some kind of holding jig and present the work to the drill. Tedious (especially if you have a bunch of different screws at different heights to do this for) but effective.

***circuit boards are made of various types of silicon carbide, which is basically a type of sandpaper/abrasive and will wreck metal drill bits in very short order hence these specialist drills that are quite cheap but will likely be specialist.
 

Dacobi

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I will try this as a last resort, am a little worried I'll damage the plastic.

I just ordered a set of extraction bits which seem to be bits with a "reversed thread cutter" so it will cut into the hole in the head and make its own thread.

If this doesn't work then I'll try the drill press.
 

FAST6191

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If you mean something like
screw_extractor.jpeg

I have had them work on about 4 occasions ever (out of the dozens I tried just because it is easy to give it a go, and if you ever have any success with such things in front of any kind of tool using tradesmen you will probably be accused of witchcraft), and never on anything as small as a GBA screw.

For the only type of anything like that I have had work consistently then
Skip to about 31 minutes, or maybe 7:50.

and you are probably still drilling, albeit smaller still.

and as I am linking videos then might as well round out the collection


For small electronics things then for the most part if you can't get anything to stick (be it compliant like rubber, or sticky like glue), get an alternative screwdriver or place to put your punch to spin, cut a new slot to turn with, get all the other screws out and spin the whole case around then you are drilling. If you are fancy enough to have tools that can use them and left handed drill bits (assuming it is a right hand screw, which the vast majority of everything is) then you can try that but for most drilling down to pop the head of the screw off, or give up and opt to use brute force and repair the results (as plastic does not take threads very well then if it is just an insert (usually a little brass/gold metal thing inside a pillar/hole) then you can repair that happily enough with superglue - put the screw in and then glue it in to stop glue going in the threads). For the sake of finishing the list if you have an iffy bolt then sometimes tightening it that little bit more might get it to break whatever bond the screw and insert or whatever are experiencing and allow you to back it out.
 

Dacobi

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I will try this as a last resort, am a little worried I'll damage the plastic.

I just ordered a set of extraction bits which seem to be bits with a "reversed thread cutter" so it will cut into the hole in the head and make its own thread.

If this doesn't work then I'll try the drill press.

Extractor bit worked :)
Was a bit tricky to find the right size, and had to turn up torque on my screwdriver, but then it worked.
 
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