Remove Those Annoying Security Screws

Yes, once upon a time you have this occasion that you stumble on a thing that's broken and you want to repair it. But then you turn the object around and you notice those F#{&ing little bastards.

So I decided to search a bit on google and did see some solutions like cutting slots, making 2 holes, drill them out completely and so on.

For me the two holes looked the best solution but since the screws were so small and the shaft quite narrow it would not work in this case.

So I decided to do the following: drill one hole and try to get it out with a torx bit.

Step 1: Take a Drill Bit HSS 2mm

Prepare your drill and use a Ø 2 mm drill (HSS).

Try to drill a nice hole in the middle of the screw, about 2-3mm deep.

If necessary you can hit the screw first with a center pin. I decided to skip this step because I could hit the screw deeper and destroy the internal thread in the plastic. Just a thought.

Start to drill just one screw, and go to the next step

Step 2: Unscrewing

Now that we added a hole to the screw it is time to unscrew it.

Use a TORX T10 bit (I found that this one fitted the best in the hole I made) and push it with some force into the drilled hole. The Torx bit has some sharp edges which will catch the inside.

Gently unscrew with slow speed, fast speed will give you the chance that the Torx bit will not grab the head and just make the hole bigger... which leaves you not much more options than to start over for a bigger size.

Once it is out you can proceed on the other ones.

I suggest you try one first, so you can see if it works or not. At least I tried first on one screw and then repeat the steps. Drill - unscrew - drill - unsscrew...

Step 3: Continue and Succeed

So I was able to get them out this way very easy actually.

Just take your time, patience and you should be fine.

I was actually able to use the screws again to close the thing up after repairing!!

I am working in Metric system so for the other measure system (inches, feet...) you will have to check what fits your sizes best.

Comments

[oragamiunicorn]

i wonder if a hinge setting drill might help keep things central

[dieter demeyere]

That could indeed help, depending on the available sizes.

[carrolltontxroofingpro]

Its good screws

[AndrewO85]

Why not use a left hand drill bit? Seeing as the screw is in plastic it would probably just back out.

[dieter demeyere]

Hi,
I do have some left hand drill bits (screw removing set) alltough it was to big to fit in the shaft of the plastic housing.
If you have a set of left hand drill bits in the right size it could work indeed

[oggybear]

Why not add a touch of super glue for extra bite

[dieter demeyere]

Well...good point. Could work, but it went very well without, probably would have come up with if I had troubles taking the screws out.
Danger could be that the superglue gets outside the screw and runs down the thread...making it harder to screw out.

[chasd]

Careful , hole drilling , not melting plastic.

[Alex in NZ]

Interesting improvisation. Well done, and thank you for sharing the idea :-)

[dieter demeyere]

Hi,
You're welcome. I hope it can help people out.

[oragamiunicorn]

thats definately worth a shot, though I'd be worried about damaging the tip of the torx driver, I guess it depends how soft the screws are and how good your torx is. in the past I've had some success heating a piece of plastic with a lighter to melting point then molding the molten tip onto the screw to make a custom screwdriver

[dieter demeyere]

That could work for screws which have some slot into it, but for those without it would be hard, its just a rounded head.
And your toes driver is mostly made out of harder metal than the screws...so i should not worry too much.
For those other security screws with special slots (triangles, squares, trihex....) you can find those bit drivers easily in some kits... Which are cheap also. I have about 3 of those. But none were suitable for these kind of screws.