Almost everyone whose done some DIY project or handled an electric drill have found themselves at one time or another enjoying the ease of powered hand tool, only to apply too much torque and strip the screw clean. What to do when you've stripped the screw, but don't have a specialized extractor kit?
What You Need
Equipment [OR] Tools
Hammer
Clamp locking pliers or needle nose plier
Wide rubber band
Multi-head screwdriver kit
Instructions
1. The first thing to do is to immediately stop using the tool/technique which stripped the screw. Most of the time, this means switching over from a power tool over to a hand tool solution, as you can better control the amount of torque/pressure applied to the stripped screw.
2. Switch over to a short length screw driver with a bigger head; switching screw head types (Phillips or over to a cross-head attachment) may also work. If you've got a screwdriver kit which includes a Torx (6 points) or an Allen (hexagonal), these shapes may give enough grip to remove the stripped screw. Just remember to go slowly, apply as much pressure downward, and abide by "righty tighty, lefty lousy" mantra so you don't make matters worse.
3. Sometimes a screw is just stripped enough that none of alternative sizes work. You've still got hope! A rubber band may aid in providing enough grip to remove, or at least loosen, the screw. Place a wide band rubber band inbetween the screw driver (we recommend bumping one size up from the screw head which caused the strip) and the screw, then apply hard, but slow force as you turn. If you're fortunate, the rubber band will fill in the gaps caused by the strip and allow extraction.
4. Perhaps the rubber band trick worked…but only to a certain point and you're still not able to completely remove the screw. That's when a locking clamp-style needle nose plier can come to the rescue, grabbing and locking the section removed from a flush surface. We don't know how many times this affordable tool has helped us removed old or poorly constructed screws, but it's been enough times that we highly recommend stocking even the smallest of toolboxes or drawers with one.
5. Finally, if none of these work, you can play the part of Rodin and chisel the screw some depth to provide more tension lost from the strip. But only with the most careful of force, as this may risk losing your screw completely into the surface! You don't want to hammer the screw into the wall/surface, so err on the side of caution. We recommend this as a last resort.
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(Images: Gregory Han)
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Next time use Robertson screws. No stripping.
This is a very helpful tutorial for the countless occasions in which you will find yourself removing a screw that some previous jacka** owner or tenant stripped while driving in.
Square and star drive screws, amazing as they are, will probably be waiting in line with the metric system for Americans to truly embrace them.
Until then, thanks Gregory, i'll definitely try a rubber band before i dig out my screw extractor.
"righty tighty, lefty lousy"
i always knew left had lice =(
"righty tighty, lefty lousy" (or "righty tighty, lefty loosey"?)--either way, that one line was an epiphany for me. Seriously, the clouds parted and the angels started singing...
The problem with both Torx and Robertson screw head types is they have different head sizes. I deal with 1, maybe 2 stripped phillips a year, but we have days where we pull hundreds of screws of varying sizes. Phillips is an order of magnitude lower of a pain in the ass than either Torx or Robertson, because you do not need to match screw with drill bit size precisely.
I just learn that if you are striping screws it mean the bit or screw drive you're using is to small. You should use the biggest bit that will fit in the slots. It will over lap the screw a little.
genius! thanks for the post
The worst is when you run into a screw that someone has both stripped and then painted over with a thick coat of paint. Thanks a lot, buddy!
In those cases I just pull out a dremel and cut myself a nice big slot so I can fit in the biggest, strongest screwdriver I own.
Perfect! I've been living with an awful towel rack in my apartment for months because the screws are striped and I can't take it off. That sucker is coming down this weekend!
Thanks for this great idea. I too use the Canadian Robertson screws whenever I can. I find the screws that come with many curtain rods etc are made of a cheaper metal that almost always fail in some way. It's best just to toss these "free" screws and buy some good hardware store screws. The same goes for those cheap plugs. I prefer HomeDepots E-Z Ancors, they are self-drilling anchors for drywall. Thanks for the tips.
timely post. i found myself tackling this very problem yesterday when taking out a very dated towel bar in my bathroom!
The reason you strip the IKEA screws is because you're making a common mistake of using a Philips head screwdriver. They are not Philips head screws, they are Pozidrive screws and require a special Pozidrive screw bit that is sold at Ikea in the Fixa tool kit. They look sort of like a Philips head, but has a squared head and threads made specially for particle board.
I am confused by tip #5. Why would you chisel? I use a drill bit that is the smallest that I have (at least 3 sizes smaller than the screw), and just drill in the center a little bit, so that when I put the screw driver bit back in, it goes down further into the screw, thereby providing a larger surface area for the bit to work against. Works on screws that have just started to strip.
Yee ha! Read your post, went through the steps and it worked! Thanks :)
Robertston heads do so strip. I've encountered 2 in some furniture I'm taking apart. Fingers crossed for the rubber band cure. After a break from the frustration.
I putter with computers and gaming consoles that contain the tiniest screws. While cussing, I ask myself if it is really necessary to machine tighten those screws making it a chore to upgrade the hardware yourself!
Gripping the head of a screw with needle nose pliers can sometimes give you enough traction. One can also use a Kelly clamp which locks tight and provides a decent grip. If your screw is very small (as in hard drive screws) you might need to put the nose of the pliers into the screw socket rather than around the head of the screw; but either method will work.
Cheers! I hope these additional suggestions will give your readers a few more options.