Need huggge help stripped screw

a good idea is since the screw is ruined anyways is to put some loctite on the end of an Allen key/wrench, place it in there and let it sit for a while, and then after the loctite has set pretty well, try unscrewing it. it makes it alot easier since the allen key is locked into place by the loctite. you could also do this with superglue or anything else.

after that, just get a new screw and clean of the loctite on the end of the allen key once you get it out.

Snick wrote: a good idea is since the screw is ruined anyways is to put some loctite on the end of an Allen key/wrench, place it in there and let it sit for a while, and then after the loctite has set pretty well, try unscrewing it. it makes it alot easier since the allen key is locked into place by the loctite. you could also do this with superglue or anything else. after that, just get a new screw and clean of the loctite on the end of the allen key once you get it out.

You know, if you are going to make a suggestion, at least relate something you have actually tried or seen work!!! Yeah, LocTite, that's the ticket. Yep, that stuff sets up hard as a rock when you just let it sit in a blob on top of the screw head!!! NOT!!!!!!!==============

Tippy_Playa,

Take an Allen wrench that comes close to fitting the stripped socket hole. Put a good dollop of epoxy, like JB Weld, in the socket hole and on the end of the Allen wrench. Stick the wrench into the hole and work it down to the bottom of the socket.

Let it sit overnight to fully set up. This is the best first try to remove that screw. Now if you have already put "LocTite" in the socket as Snick miss-informed you to do, all bets are off. That contamination in the hole will prevent the epoxy from gripping.

If you can't get the epoxy to do the job, come back and we'll give you another method. OR, you could do a search to find the two or three thousand posts on how to remove a stripped screw.

hybrid-sniper wrote: Ha, Bruce. You make me smile. To elaborate on what Bruce said, Loctite sets in an oxygen deprived environment. If it set in any circumstance, it would be krazy glue.

I probably should have included that info. I forget that most people have no interest in understanding how all of todays phenomenal glues work as they do. The chemistry of quick setting and thread locking glues that have been developed in the last 50 years is absolutely remarkable.

Most people do not realize that "Super" glues are in tubes that allow oxygen to penetrate. If you seal it in a truly air tight container is sets up. Volume quantities of "Super" glue cannot be shipped in glass (which would be air tight), it has to be stored in permeable plastic containers.

guess im stupid but how wouldnt the loctite work? I have done it before with wonderful success.

the point is not to fill in the holes around the allen key and the screw. the point is that the tip of the allen key will get locked to the bottom of the screw. I dont see how this is any different than the idea of using the apoxy to secure the allen key in place.

Bandit5 wrote: The difference is that loctite will only harden where it is deprived of oxygen... leaving a lot of unhardned liquid not working.  An epoxy will harden all around the object.  Either way, if a screw is stripped, it is likely that the screw is in tighter than normal which caused the stripping in the first place.  A little bit of glue usually won't be enough to hold a bit in there enough to get it out.  Plus, the screw is useless anyway once it is stripped.  I tried JB Weld and it didn't work... but drilling and hammering in a square head has never failed, so I will continue to preach that method.

If the JB Weld method fails you have lost and spent little and the screw is still available for any other method you choose.

Snick wrote: I understand about the loctite not securing around the sides...... but you dont need it to. if you use the really high strength loctite then that is all you will need to undo the screw, even if its in there monstrously strong. I have done this before and it worked wonders.

So you are telling me that the LocTite strength of that end-point contact between the tip of the Allen wrench and the bottom of the stripped socket is SOOOOooooo strong that it exceeds the strength of the socket itself?  Balderdash!!!

You don't understand the mechanical process here. The epoxy in the socket and on the wrench is intended to build between the parts so that the mechanical fit is reestablished allowing the torque from the wrench to be transmitted to the screw.

The only reason LocTite is "strong" enough to keep a screw/bolt from loosening in the threads is because it is spread across so much surface area. Not because it has high tensile or shear strength. None of the LocTite "glues" are strong enough to surface stick parts together well enough to torque bolts out of their hole!