Problem with a screw.

Use a screw extractor:

or one of these

In message , Lord Turkey Cough writes

If it's a hardware problem then, from a uk.legal perspective, you clearly need Counsel's opinion. A grand or so spent now could save you a fortune in future.

If, however, you're in prison and are having problems with an officer, you'll need a very good brief.

Depends a lot on what sort of material the screw is stuck in (wood? metal? plastic?) and how expendable that is. Apart from the option of buying special tools -

a) use a hammer and chisel to cut a new slot in the screw, then use a screwdriver to remove it b) use a drill to destroy the head of the screw, then pliers to twist out the remains.

And when you get the bill, you'll certainly know you've been screwed.

Or perhaps should have been wearing cast-iron briefs in the first place.

Toom

What sort of screw?

Complain to the prison governor?

Use a screw extractor or drill it out or if a round head cut another slot with hacksaw.

If the screw is in wood, then turn it in a quarter to half turn before trying to unscrew it.

Always use crosshead screws and an electric driver to insert screws to minimise head damage or the driver skidding out and damaging the workpiece. Cross head (e.g. pozidrive) screws will normally self start in wood when using an electric driver saving oodles of time.

My experience has unfortunately been that the crosshead screws are always the ones that get damaged. Not by me, because I'm careful, but other people seem to screw them in using powerful electric screwdrivers that overrun and damage the head, and then they try to remove them using electric screwdrivers fitted with worn or wrongly-sized pozidrive bits, and if the bit starts to spin, they don't stop trying until the head has become totally hollowed out.

The other people I am talking about are not carpenters or tradesmen, who would presumably take more care.

A screwdriver bit in the old fashioned brace and bit tool can be useful for shifting stubborn screws. The upward "swing" gives you high impact rather than sustained pressure. Generally more useful on bigger screws

Or, of course an (in the original sense of the name) impact screwdriver. The sort you hit with a hammer:

I used to find that an impact driver was useful when I had a motorbike, with alloy screws screwed into alloy parts.

You whack it with a hammer and it unscrews (or screws), making a slot if the original one is mashed.

If that fails, heating it with a blowtorch can help - or make things worse.. ;)

A "Dremel" type tool can reshape the slot, producing steep inclined planes that will prevent the screwdriver bit from "cam"ing out..

Diamond dust coated bits can help.

Using a screwdriver bit in a brace (and bit) and pushing really *hard* can work. Better still if you can arrange to get leverage on the brace to force it onto the screwhead, eg using a steel bar.

Degreasing and cleaning the screwhead and then bonding a bar onto it, using epoxy adhesive or a welder, can work, sometimes..

Drilling out the head, seperating the things screwed together and the using a Mole wrench on the stud can work..

etc..

If you can get at the shank of it try a Google on stud extractor. Phil

Drill

if you need to ask (should you be doing DIY)

I am an engineer. I have seen lesser engineers in the same boat. If you don't ask, you don't find out how to get over the problem from your peers. After all, this is a DIY group.

Dave

Sounds like an opportunity for a product called No More Screw(tm).

Francis