Stuck Screw I Attacked With A Dremel

A

agduffy6

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Feb 5, 2014
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So, i really messed up this time. A while ago the coil spring in my Benchmade 3550SBK broke so i sent it back to Benchmade and they fixed it, great! But the pocket screw was on slanted. Tried to unscrew it, and man it was on TIGHT! So I tried a soldering iron on the screw (figured they had loc-tite'd it) didn't help. Tried to lubricate it, didn't work, hit it with a propane torch, didn't work. At this point I'm just frustrated, the screws are basically stripped at this point (even if they weren't stripped the screws are on impossibly tight) and so I, in my frustration, see my Dremel and go "Hey maybe i'll grind the screw a bit and see what happens!" So... I grind the screw a bit, drill into it a bit, and just don't have the heart (or expertise) to finish the job without wrecking the knife, so now I'm stuck with a slanted, bent up clip and some ground down screws. My question is, do you think there is anything i can do besides send it to Benchmade and see what they do?


Thanks,
Aiden
 
The screw pictured on the left looks REALLY bad. There is really nothing left to grab and the head and shaft union must be very thin for such a tight screw. New scale time ;) I'm sure someone somewhere can get that out.
 
Honed_Edge said:
The screw pictured on the left looks REALLY bad. There is really nothing left to grab and the head and shaft union must be very thin for such a tight screw. New scale time ;) I'm sure someone somewhere can get that out.
Click to expand...
Yeah i totally ruined it, thought i was a genius at the time :D
 
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Maybe just maybe you could cut the heads of the screws off and maybe just maybe there will be a tiny amount of shafts where you can grab with pliers and manually twist it out. Maybe.....
 
With your dremel and a grinding wheel, grind a slot across the face of the screw head, then use a flat head driver.
 
Ouch! I would remove the other two screws and try rotating the clip to break loose the buggered one. Once it gets started you should be able to grab it with needle nose pliers and turn it all the way.
If that doesn't work you can cut a slot as mentioned, but I wouldn't blame you for being a bit dremel shy at this point...
 
I've also seen kits that allow you to basically drill into the shaft of the screw and back it out - meant for stripped screw heads. The difficult part is going to be how tiny those screws are, but it's worth a little research for if such a small kit exists.
 
Welding heat will destroy the aluminum scales. EZ Out is the name of the removal tool you need.
 
gotta love the combination of cheap hardware and loctite :/

I would not recommend the slot in the screw concept above. I have tried it numerous times and it never works.

Your best bet is the screw extractor tool for stripped screws listed above.

The right tool for the right job works wonders.

Your last chance is to grind the heads off and pull the clip off. Then hand sand/file the nubs down flush with the scales and duracoat the handles.

You would then have to re-tap and drill the handle scales if you wanted another pocket clip or just carry it in pocket.

Many options here but there are definitely ones to avoid that don't work.
 
Just grab the stuck screw with a set of pliers to force it loose. Then call Benchmade for a new clip and screws.
 
I agree with spketch. Remove the other two screws before you try a slot, a screw extractor, or whatever on the stripped one. There may be some pressure on the shaft of the screw caused by the clip. By removing the other two first you may relieve some of this and make the stripped one easier to get out. Worth a shot at least.

I had a similar issue with my CRKT Tighe Coon, and I ended up having to grind the heads off, drill out the screws, and then drill and tap the screw holes in the scale to the next size up. A major PITA. I'm hoping your situation won't come to that. :(
 
I'll try EZ Out, if that doesn't work I'll just send it back to Benchmade crying about how their repair guy screwed my knife up and then I totally wrecked it and I'm sure they'll fix it, if not I'm willing to pay $35 for new scales, this knife was my late fathers and I don't want to ruin it with more redneck screw removal techniques, thanks for the ideas to all :D
 
Jastab said:
Maybe just maybe you could cut the heads of the screws off and maybe just maybe there will be a tiny amount of shafts where you can grab with pliers and manually twist it out. Maybe.....
Click to expand...

This works. Once the head is gone there is really no pressure and they should come right out.
 
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