Norm
Vendor
As a retired tech I still see huge numbers of rounded fasteners and still have friends and shops send some nasty ones for removal. I'm a masochist. :crazy
A couple of tricks which may help someone in dealing with rounded out Phillips heads, or better for about to be rounded:
1) Dip the tip of the screwdriver into some valve grinding compound or one of the sure grip type products which are valve grinding compound in a smaller bottle for more money. If you don't have a tin of this stuff, please put it on your list as it saves huge amounts of trouble. Also works well on rounded or about to be, bleeder screws, Allen head screws, hex bolts.
2) Use a gasket hammer (tiny one) to rivet the displaced, rounded socket area of the screw head. When the Phillips drive area rounded out, the metal was displaced to smack the top of the head face to displace steel back into the drive area. Then take a screwdriver bit and use the same tiny hammer to drive the bit into the screw to form a new, perfectly fitting drive socket. Make certain to keep the screwdriver axial to the screw and that usually does it. Nice part is that the screw can be reused in not critical areas such as the sheet metal covers on the little Honda generator in the photos.
3) Here's another I use often: use a very small and sharp chisel with the tiny hammer to make a groove in the side of the screw head. Chisel in radially to get a good notch, then grab a dull chisel of the same size, angle it and use the tiny hammer and chisel to rotate the screw. Once it starts to move, one can usually use a screwdriver or trick #2.
HIH
https://www.dropbox.com/s/li8r7pzvwst46wb/Damaged Phillips.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mlx7zmg7psa5mk8/Damaged Phillips2.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n85dha0i9nqma5/Damaged Phillips3.jpg
A couple of tricks which may help someone in dealing with rounded out Phillips heads, or better for about to be rounded:
1) Dip the tip of the screwdriver into some valve grinding compound or one of the sure grip type products which are valve grinding compound in a smaller bottle for more money. If you don't have a tin of this stuff, please put it on your list as it saves huge amounts of trouble. Also works well on rounded or about to be, bleeder screws, Allen head screws, hex bolts.
2) Use a gasket hammer (tiny one) to rivet the displaced, rounded socket area of the screw head. When the Phillips drive area rounded out, the metal was displaced to smack the top of the head face to displace steel back into the drive area. Then take a screwdriver bit and use the same tiny hammer to drive the bit into the screw to form a new, perfectly fitting drive socket. Make certain to keep the screwdriver axial to the screw and that usually does it. Nice part is that the screw can be reused in not critical areas such as the sheet metal covers on the little Honda generator in the photos.
3) Here's another I use often: use a very small and sharp chisel with the tiny hammer to make a groove in the side of the screw head. Chisel in radially to get a good notch, then grab a dull chisel of the same size, angle it and use the tiny hammer and chisel to rotate the screw. Once it starts to move, one can usually use a screwdriver or trick #2.
HIH
https://www.dropbox.com/s/li8r7pzvwst46wb/Damaged Phillips.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mlx7zmg7psa5mk8/Damaged Phillips2.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n85dha0i9nqma5/Damaged Phillips3.jpg
