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One BUTT HOLE SCREW

BH1166

Well Known Member
Will not let go, holding root fairing on. Phillips head, #8. Naturally not one on top, but the third one from leading edged, as the fairing wraps around bottom. Sprayed with PB Blaster, tried both manual and drill driver. I have not spun out the screw head YET. Any tricks/ method you can share for this issue. Thanks
 
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You can try to (carefully) apply heat with a soldering iron tip, that sometimes will break down and loosen whatever has it, just don't let it discolor the surrounding area.
 
keep going!

Will not let go, holding root fairing on. Phillips head, #8. Naturally not one on top, but the third one from leading edged, as the fairing wraps around bottom. Sprayed with PB Blaster, tried both manual and drill driver. I have not spun out the screw head YET. Any tricks/ method you can share for issue. Thanks
Let it soak a bit more if you can get oil on the top. Bit of heat from a heat gun. A few little taps with a punch and a hammer. EZ-out. Worst case, a #40 or so drill. Standard stuff! :D
 
Traction

Bit of valve grinding compound on the screwdriver bit might give you the traction to get it moving.

Good luck!
 
Agree with the penetrating oil and heat. Try heating an old Phillips screwdriver tip until it's red hot. Put it in the screw head and hold it there until it cools. Don't use this screwdriver as a screwdriver again.

Rather than tapping with a hammer and punch, try tapping a Phillips insert bit with the hammer. Use an ACR (anti camout ribs) bit https://phillips-screw.com/drive-system/acr-ribbed for removal. Use either a hand impact driver and light hammer, or a cordless impact driver to turn the ACR bit. These impact tools allow the bit to reset at full depth after each impact; lessening the tendency of the bit to camout of the fastener.

Good Luck.

Cheers, David
RV-6A A&P
 
hot screwdrivers near you

Agree with the penetrating oil and heat. Try heating an old Phillips screwdriver tip until it's red hot. Put it in the screw head and hold it there until it cools. ...
Great idea!
 
I don't have anything to add, except the subject line you chose made me laugh out loud. Thank you <g>.

v/r,dr
 
Sprayed with PB Blaster

PB Blaster and other penetrating oils are usually designed for rusted or otherwise corroded devices.

Your nutplate issue is most likely due to galling---especially so if you have a stainless screw--and the PB, WD40, Kroil etc stuff is virtually useless in that case.

And, after you get it out, use a bit of bees wax to lube the nutplate before putting the new screw back in.

Get a wax toilet ring from the hardware store, enough bees wax to last a lifetime.
 
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I've gotten those out with ez-out type bolt extractors before. It's very satisfying when they grab and start turning!

Chris
 
I usually use my Dremel tool with a cut off wheel to carefully cut a slot in the screw head.
Once you do that, just use a regular flat bladed screwdriver to remove it.
Counter sunk screws are more difficult so you have to be careful. I save worn down cutoff wheels for those.
Works great for me.
 
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gradual escalation

I tend to use a gradually escalating approach. Given that (I think) you have a screw that goes into a plate nut on the inboard skin lip of the wing, you don't have a lot of support to bang away with impact methods like the Screw Knocker or impact drivers.

The tip that Mike recommended, or the Anti Cam-out Ribs may work.

If not, my next move would be to saw a straight-blade screwdriver slot with a dremel. Use a really good screwdriver.

If that strips out, or twists the head off the screw, then you have to drill it. First stage is to drill small and try an Easy-out. If that doesn't work, then step up in drill sizes until you have drilled almost all of the screw out. How close you can get depends on how well centered your hole is. I've gotten to where there is just a thin sleeve with the threads, then I try to grab a corner of the thread and pull with a needle-nose pliers. Sometimes you get lucky and the thread piece of the screw just unwinds out of the hole like a spring. If not, get some clean thread showing and use a tap to chase the thread.

You can try to not run the tap all the way, so as to preserve the locking feature, but you may have to face the idea that in order to restore the threads, you might have to lose some or most of the locking feature. Lesser of evils. If you don't mind the risk of the screw backing out (it is just one screw in a fairing) then just tighten it well and check it on pre-flight. If it is more important that it not back out, use a star washer under the head, or Locktite.

Ultimately, if you have to drill so much that the threads in the plate nut are really shot, then when you get the fairing off, replace the plate nut.

Then, from now on, use Mike's trick and put some wax on the threads of fresh screws.
 
Throw away your Philips screwdrivers and buy JIS screwdrivers. Stands for Japanese Industrial Standard, and they fit Phillips screws better than any Philips bit! Amazon sells them from the brand Jessel I think. There's a guy on youtube called AVE.. look up AVE JIS screwdrivers to see them in action
 
Break, strip, drill (what ever order works) and move on.

I would go directly to breaking the head off and replacing the underlying nut plate. If it strips out then drill, like Steve said. Then just remove the nut plate with screw stuck in it.

Fiddling with a lot of trick processes will increase the risk of collateral damage. At least in my experience(s).
 
I had this problem with a tank screw. I started to drill it out and the heat loosened it enough that it started screwing in. The head had come adrift at this stage and I removed the tank and was able to grip the thread with pliers and remove it. I would consider replacing the Philips head with Torqx head screws in future.
 
I would go directly to breaking the head off and replacing the underlying nut plate. If it strips out then drill, like Steve said. Then just remove the nut plate with screw stuck in it.

Fiddling with a lot of trick processes will increase the risk of collateral damage. At least in my experience(s).

Yep, the screw head could have been drilled off and a new nut plate installed in half the time it took to type all these suggestions....... :)

(Had to do that a few weeks ago when the baggage compartment floor came up to install a step on the driver side of the RV-6....never even considered trying to save the screw or nut plate once it was obvious they were galled.)
 
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if it's the lower wing root fairing you can access the nut plate with the upper fairing removed . Use a dremel to cut the nut plate and screw as close to the skin as possible. Remove the screw and replace the nut plate
 
Here is another vote for some valve grinding compound to dip the end of the screwdriver in before inserting in the screw. Also, good screwdrivers help. I will also second the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screwdrivers. My favorite. I prefer the"Vessel" brand made in Japan. Vessel is the Japanese Snap-On if you will. You will never go back to SAE Phillips screwdrivers. And if those don't work and you want to drill get some left-had turning drill bits. Those work a treat once the cutting edge catches and stops drilling and starts unscrewing the fastener.
 
I would go directly to breaking the head off and replacing the underlying nut plate. If it strips out then drill, like Steve said. Then just remove the nut plate with screw stuck in it.

Fiddling with a lot of trick processes will increase the risk of collateral damage. At least in my experience(s).

I?m going to second (or third, or fourth) this plan as well. In the time it takes to read this thread, you could have easily drilled off the head, drilled out the nutplate, and installed a new one. Probably a couple of times.

Nutplates are pretty cheap, as are screws. Don?t let them harsh your mellow!

Paul
 
SUCCESS.... ITS OUT .... The Butt Hole Screw...

I Learned a lot...thanks. I like Sea Foam Deep Creep vs other stuff in same niche. Area cannot take a beating, so hammer strikes are not permitted. Root fairing is all one piece, but top was accessible. Soooo, I could get some penetrating lube on the threads, the countersink/head side..not so. I sprayed, and it sat overnight. At hangar around 9am. Took soldering iron and poked at her...stayed this way for 3 minutes. Took a new #2 Phillips bit, loaded that sucker in my manual driver..... Pop....it spun right out.

Right float sender was flaky, the reason for my journey into the wing root. Was able today to remove the sender Tony Bingelis installed 28 years ago and cleaned up the old sealant. New Stewart Warner sender going in with newly bent float/ wire. YES... I bent the 3/4? per Vans at the end/first. I will lather up some sealant on it in the morning and install and wait to cure. Thanks again for all the input. Non builder here.... was quicker to ask and learn, than forge ahead and regret, though I understand the comments. Retired.... hope I got the time to do it the Long waaay😉 Thanks
 
Amatures!

Every aircraft mechanic should have a speed handle with a Palm butt on the handle. Ive literally removed and replaced tens of thousands of screws on F4s with a speed handle. It will break the bit before it strips the head. If you can?t break the screw loose with it you might as well drill the head off.

If you dont know what it is, google it. When I see guys using a screw driver I think they must not know about a speed handle. Just use caution when installing screws because it applied more torq than a screw driver.

Cm
 
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