Hardware Joycon stripped screws

ganons

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,289
Trophies
1
XP
3,086
Country
So was trying to open up the right joycon and bottom 2 stripped. Will probably buy a shell now but what's the best way to take out those screws?
 

FAST6191

Techromancer
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,284
Country
United Kingdom
There are a thousand ways to remove stripped screws, though it varies with conditions.

Step 1 is can you get a flat head screwdriver or some other screwdriver (bigger size or smaller size from the one you used) down in there to sort it out? Do remember a few degrees tighter before reversing direction can also break a sticky joint if that is what is happening. A bit of light pressure on the plastic case (either squeezing from above to remove pressure or in the middle to add it) can also help matters.
Some also like to melt a bit of plastic (pen lids tending to be the thing that is sacrificed and see if that holds for it. Some glue might also do something for you but be careful with glue (superglue and polycarbonate, which was at least in the Switch shell, is not a winning combo for you here)

They are probably going to be too small for the things like stripped screw removers, or at least too small for anything you will find on the easy market that tooling won't cost more than a new joycon.

At this point you get to drill things out. If you can then use a drill press rather than a hand drill.
If you don't have such toys (I also imagine you don't have anything like an Archimedes drill) and don't have a neighbour with one (they are among the most basic machine tools that woodworkers, metalworker and plenty of others will have) then with a hand drill see if you can take some of the guesswork out by lining things up and clamping it to the table such that you just have to feed it in with it guided by whatever you have at hand -- if you are asking this sort of thing you are probably not one of the forearms of steel and can hold a drill steady for hours at a time types I sometimes meet on job sites. It will take a while to set up and be quite tedious but better that than a new joycon or having to repair things after you mess them up.
The idea will be either
1) You drill a line of holes in there such that it now fits a flathead.
2) That you drill far enough down with a big enough drill that the head of the screw is no longer attached. At this point the screw is just a rod and you can remove it, and unscrew the remaining shank with a pair of pliers or something.
Depending upon how much of a mess you have made of the screw head you might also have to use a punch to put a divot in there to guide the drill to the proper location rather than have it wander off.

"I don't have a bit small enough"
...
Buy one if you can but that might be hard at this point in time. Drills are kind of special but also not -- if you file (or rub on concrete for long enough) a flat section in a old nail it will drill, however I try not to do that for something this small and delicate.
If you can spin your drill leftwards during this (if not doing the above then do it with a left hand drill, something you are not likely to have -- I don't have any right now and I have most drills in several different types) it might even catch and spin the thing out for you.

If you can expose the shank of the screw and get a hacksaw blade in there you can cut the shank and thus remove the top of the screw. Some might twist a case to get here, and if you managed a few turns before it stripped then you might have space.

Being plastic you don't have weld options (the melted plastic screwdriver approach being the one here) and I will skip chemical stuff (plastic will not respond to chemicals that will eat away the screws quite happily, however said chemicals will probably also mess up the PCB and also cost a reasonable amount)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Meckload

Meckload

Active Member
Newcomer
Joined
Feb 24, 2020
Messages
25
Trophies
0
Age
27
XP
171
Country
Austria
I had the same issue while I replaced the shells of my joycons. I tried loads of different techniques with no success. In the end, I decided to destroy my old shell with a small saw from a penknife. Definitely try other steps first, but if it all leads to no avail remember that you only need the technology inside if you're already planning to replace the shells anyways.
 

Mircea

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jun 4, 2020
Messages
3
Trophies
0
Age
46
XP
34
Country
Netherlands
Hi all,

Since I have ran into the same issue with my left joycon and I did manage after few days to open it I think it is worth sharing that.

My issue was the top left screw and I've tried many options until I decided to use a drill. So I found a 2mm metal drill and moved the machine on lowest speed. Keep drilling slowly applying some pressure on the screw but do not go too hard. Key is patience and I can tell you that after about 10-15 minutes you will succeed and the case will be intact.

Since I was not sure if this will be successful I did not take any video or photo footage of it but I can share what was the result in the following pictures as soon as the forum will let me post some links.
 

Mircea

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jun 4, 2020
Messages
3
Trophies
0
Age
46
XP
34
Country
Netherlands
IMG-20200604-WA0000.jpg
IMG-20200604-WA0001.jpg
IMG-20200604-WA0002.jpg
IMG-20200604-WA0003.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: ganons

FamicomHeero

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2020
Messages
100
Trophies
0
Age
44
XP
151
Country
United States
FAST6191 mentioned what I was thinking about the pen. Most people would use the bottom of a BIC pen with a lighter and carefully heat it up. While hot, seat the pen into the screw head to form the plastic part of the pen into the stripped screw head. A bit (not much) of glue in the stripped area of the screw head to attach the newly formed pen will really help. Like mentioned above, be careful with the super glue, plastics don't always take well to it. Hold the pen upright while pushing down until the glue dries. Use downward force on the pen while turning in the correct direction and it should come out if it wasn't over tightened to begin with. You can always try without the glue first if you'd like.
 

Mircea

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jun 4, 2020
Messages
3
Trophies
0
Age
46
XP
34
Country
Netherlands
FAST6191 mentioned what I was thinking about the pen. Most people would use the bottom of a BIC pen with a lighter and carefully heat it up. While hot, seat the pen into the screw head to form the plastic part of the pen into the stripped screw head. A bit (not much) of glue in the stripped area of the screw head to attach the newly formed pen will really help. Like mentioned above, be careful with the super glue, plastics don't always take well to it. Hold the pen upright while pushing down until the glue dries. Use downward force on the pen while turning in the correct direction and it should come out if it wasn't over tightened to begin with. You can always try without the glue first if you'd like.

Tried that too and it did not work on my case. In the picture from above after taking the head of the screw off and opening the case I had to use quite alot of force to be able to take the screw out. It was over-tightened.
 

FamicomHeero

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2020
Messages
100
Trophies
0
Age
44
XP
151
Country
United States
Tried that too and it did not work on my case. In the picture from above after taking the head of the screw off and opening the case I had to use quite alot of force to be able to take the screw out. It was over-tightened.

It does make it hard to grip such tiny screws. Not enough to really grab onto I'd imagine.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    @BakerMan, his partner is Luke
    +1
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    Sup nerds
    +1
  • Flame @ Flame:
    oh hi, Sickly
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Oh hi flame
  • S @ salazarcosplay:
    @K3Nv2 what was your ps4 situation
  • S @ salazarcosplay:
    did you always have a ps4 you never updated
  • S @ salazarcosplay:
    or were you able to get new ps4 tracking it \
    as soon as the hack was announced
  • S @ salazarcosplay:
    or did you have to find a used one with the lower firm ware that was not updated
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I got this ps4 at launch and never updated since 9.0
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    You got a good chance of buying a used one and asking the seller how often they used or even ask for a Pic of fw and telling them not to update
  • RedColoredStars @ RedColoredStars:
    Speaking of PLaystation. I see Evilnat put out a beta for PS3 CFW 4.91.2 on the 22nd.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Don't really see the point in updating it tbh
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Yea you right, I thought about updating my PS3 CFW to 4.91, but why really, everything plays fine now. I guess for people that have already updated past 4.9 it would be helpful.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Idk if online servers are still active that would be my only thought
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Thats true, personally I don't play it online at all, in fact, I deleted all wifi details on it once I installed CFW, so it won't connect and auto-update itself
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I play most games that are on both PS3/360 strickly on the 360, but PS3 exclusives are really only games I play on the PS3 (You know me, I'm more of a Xbox junkie)
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Ps3 really has no titles worth going online
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    what is nps?
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @K3Nv2, what about GTA v onl... O Yea the PS3 versión got discontinued
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I feel like the world's cheapest pc build can play gtaV
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    In modern standards
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @K3Nv2, then why mine can't?
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    @K3Nv2 What is nps you mentioned?
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Because your pc has a hamster innit
    +2
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    R.I.P. LittleBigPlanet PS3 servers
    BakerMan @ BakerMan: R.I.P. LittleBigPlanet PS3 servers