Hardware Any way to undo screws that are stripped?

RemixDeluxe

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I am in the process of opening up my Wii to replace a drive that died but the extra tight screws are making this a pain in the ass. The triwing I'm using isn't attaching to the screws so well so what could I do to fix this? Should I strip it further to get a flathead to get it out?
 

cris92x

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How big is the opening for the screwdrivers to fit? Is it very small or can you fit a pen into it? If you can fit a pen into it then you can just get an old plastic pen, remove the tip and just heat the front and shove it down so it takes the form of the screw and just work with that. Its a quick dirty fix for making a screwdriver for almost any screw.
 

RemixDeluxe

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How big is the opening for the screwdrivers to fit? Is it very small or can you fit a pen into it? If you can fit a pen into it then you can just get an old plastic pen, remove the tip and just heat the front and shove it down so it takes the form of the screw and just work with that. Its a quick dirty fix for making a screwdriver for almost any screw.
That sounds reliable. What kind of pens work best and is there a guide I can follow to make sure I dont mess up. Heres a picture to show where I am unscrewing.
http://i.imgur.com/H0uSH.jpg
 

JoostinOnline

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How big is the opening for the screwdrivers to fit? Is it very small or can you fit a pen into it? If you can fit a pen into it then you can just get an old plastic pen, remove the tip and just heat the front and shove it down so it takes the form of the screw and just work with that. Its a quick dirty fix for making a screwdriver for almost any screw.
That sounds reliable. What kind of pens work best and is there a guide I can follow to make sure I dont mess up. Heres a picture to show where I am unscrewing.
http://i.imgur.com/H0uSH.jpg
I mean individual pictures of the screws, and png if you can. Jpg decreases in quality everytime you copy (upload) or save it.
 

RemixDeluxe

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How big is the opening for the screwdrivers to fit? Is it very small or can you fit a pen into it? If you can fit a pen into it then you can just get an old plastic pen, remove the tip and just heat the front and shove it down so it takes the form of the screw and just work with that. Its a quick dirty fix for making a screwdriver for almost any screw.
That sounds reliable. What kind of pens work best and is there a guide I can follow to make sure I dont mess up. Heres a picture to show where I am unscrewing.
http://i.imgur.com/H0uSH.jpg
I mean individual pictures of the screws, and png if you can. Jpg decreases in quality everytime you copy (upload) or save it.
All I have for a camera is an iPhone 4 so it cant really show you how detailed the stripping is. I uploaded that picture to show you where I'm having trouble. I'll try the pen trick but how will I do so through the tight holes in the corner ends?
 

RemixDeluxe

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Ok so for the pen trick do I flame the metal tip and jam it in the screw to fit the shape? I just dont wanna do this wrong.
 

tueidj

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Jpg decreases in quality everytime you copy (upload) or save it.
Good grief.
JPEGs use lossy compression, therefore quality is only lost during compression i.e. when you save the image after editing it. Copying does nothing besides (duh) creating an identical copy of the original.
 

Sicklyboy

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Jpg decreases in quality everytime you copy (upload) or save it.
Good grief.
JPEGs use lossy compression, therefore quality is only lost during compression i.e. when you save the image after editing it. Copying does nothing besides (duh) creating an identical copy of the original.

so I'm not the only one who noticed that...

Ok so for the pen trick do I flame the metal tip and jam it in the screw to fit the shape? I just dont wanna do this wrong.

You take the whole metal end (still attached to the ink tube) and heat the rest of the pen. You don't want the tip in there unless you want a blue Wii. Alternatively, the cap works (not as well though).

But you're not gonna be able to do it for that. My suggestion would be to drill through it with a small drill bit. You're gonna need a new case though. This is why you don't use crappy tools.
 

Lucif3r

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Um... I really have my doubts that a pen will work. They worked on the GC because that had completely different screws ("inverted torx").
Melting a pen to get the shape of a 3 wing screw and get it robust enough to not simply break when you screw is very very tricky.

But I have a tip. It might sound crazy but Ive been using this trick for ages - use a scissor. The shape of the scissor (at least the one Im using) is pretty perfect to get a grip of 2 of the 3 wings of the screw.
I get my screws out with little to no damage, and can reuse them without any sort of issue.
 

cris92x

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Yeah the pen trick won't work because the holes are wayy too small for the pen to fit properly. So your going to have to probably replace the screws so do you have any power tools? You can use a dremel to make a notch and use a flathead screw driver to take out the screw. If you have drill bits you could drill a hole into the screw's head to make it easier to unscrew. Or you could just use a drill and just break off the head and then use pliers to take off the remaining part. Whatever you end up doing, replace the screws.
 

RemixDeluxe

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Yeah the pen trick won't work because the holes are wayy too small for the pen to fit properly. So your going to have to probably replace the screws so do you have any power tools? You can use a dremel to make a notch and use a flathead screw driver to take out the screw. If you have drill bits you could drill a hole into the screw's head to make it easier to unscrew. Or you could just use a drill and just break off the head and then use pliers to take off the remaining part. Whatever you end up doing, replace the screws.
I already ordered up a set of replacement screws. They are all high quality and philip shaped so I dont have to deal with different kinds of drivers. I dont give a crap about these cheap screws so I'll do whatever it takes to get them out. Ill try your idea and report back. Thanks again.
 

Lucif3r

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If you drill them out though, be very careful there isnt any leftovers on any component in the Wii. That can lead to a very very dead Wii.
 
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Vulpes Abnocto

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One method you can try is to shove a rubber band (or a portion of one) into the hole, then push the screwdriver in on top of it. The rubber may create enough friction to grab the screw head.
Be advised that 1) you will have to push down on the screw rather hard to make this work, and 2) getting the rubber band back out will require tweezers or hemostats if you don't leave any of it sticking out for you to grab.
Best of luck.
 

Abaddon

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ANOTHER method is either: if the screw isn't tightened massively, superglue the screw and screwdriver together, or if that doesn't work, solder them together. Not sure if that would work in the size of the hole the screws in, but I've seen it work before.
 

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