Well Chewed Screwed?

[Muirium]

Much to my frustration, instead of simple Philips head, Cherry opted to use funny little 6 pointed screws on the "engineering sample" MX Board 6.0 that I have here for review. More than a dozen of them in fact…

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Rummaging around through my tools, I couldn't find anything right. I've got six point screwdriver heads, but all much too big. Using a couple of flat headed screwdrivers of approximately the right size, I managed to get all the buggers out besides one. Uh oh!

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Yeah, the macro lens does not lie. This wee bastard's well and truly mauled.

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Anyone got tips for how to convince this one to come out? I can peek inside the keyboard with it still in place, but it really needs removed to get real access. Gah!

[Nuum]

The "funny little 6 pointed screws" are called Torx, much better than a regular Philipps or hex bolt! You could carefully drill the screw out with a slightly smaller bit than the screws diameter.

[scottc]

Torx are great... unless you want to take them out and don't have the right drivers around!

[seebart]

See if you have a small flat screwdriver that will fit that torx diagonally. Just make sure not to maul it more. :O

[Muirium]

I've got Torx. But they're all too big. My smallest is T10. These bastards look like T6 or something, so small!


@Seebart: How do you think it got so mauled in the first place!

[seebart]

Scottish brute force on flimsy cherry hardware aye? I'm surprised that keyboard is still in one piece.

[Muirium]

It chiselled my screwdrivers quite the thing. I'm reet peeved.

[jbondeson]

Your best bet is a screw extractor. It's a little spiral headed bit that gouges into the screw and allows you to unscrew it long after you've destroyed the head.

[chzel]

Got any small Allens? They might get enough grip in there. Or get (buy or borrow you cheapskate!) a properly sized Torx. Torx screws are good at surviving this kind of abuse.

[seebart]

If the torx was bigger I'd say drill in the center but that's unpractical at that size as you may damage the keyboard.

[Muirium]

The first tools I tried (before mauling) were my smallest Allen keys. None gripped. They picked a daft size.

I'll try to rustle up a crazy little Torx driver. No idea I'd caused that much distortion until I whipped out the macro. This was gentle stuff, um, honest.

[SL89]

Your best bet is a screw extractor. It's a little spiral headed bit that gouges into the screw and allows you to unscrew it long after you've destroyed the head.

+1 for this, I have to imagine they put torx on to prevent exactly what you were doing Mu. Do you know of any other boards that come with torx?

[Muirium]

None I've encountered. And certainly none so small. Struck me as security screws.

[SL89]

That's why i asked, it seems like they used them to act as a security measure. They certainly are tiny.

[photekq]

Melt a bic onto it

[Madhias]

Melt a bic onto it

Just wanted to say the same!

[photekq]

Oh, and make sure to melt the bic in the middle and bend it 90degrees for extra leverage.

[KRKS]

I usually use a rubber band and a flat head on those buggers but yours may be too small for that

[Muirium]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I like the rubber band idea, I'll try that and then get progressively more brutal. Uh, I mean, um, persuasive. My brother suggests cutting a notch across the screw head and using a large flat screwdriver, but he overestimates the access space I have.

[SL89]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I like the rubber band idea, I'll try that and then get progressively more brutal. Uh, I mean, um, persuasive. My brother suggests cutting a notch across the screw head and using a large flat screwdriver, but he overestimates the access space I have.

I've done that with a tiny little dremel, if you have access to something like that, your brother may be right.

[Engicoder]

I would second a screw extractor. I bought a set and it has been completely worth it.
http://www.amazon.com/SpeedOut-Damaged- ... +Extractor
Once you use one you will curse yourself for not buying them sooner.

[Muirium]

Maybe. How good are they on small screws in confined spaces?

Note that it costs $36 including shipping over here in good old ripoff Britannia:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speedout-Screw- ... ractor+Set

$9 is a no brainer though.

[Engicoder]

They are a little tricky to use. For the drill end, you can use a power tool, but when you switch to the extractor end, I would do it by hand and go slowly. You will read a lot of bad reviews from people who try to use the extractor with a drill.

[Muirium]

How do they work?

[Engicoder]

One end is a drill that shapes the hole in to a cone. The other end has a reverse spiral cutting edge. Since the spiral is reverse as you turn in the direction that loosens the screw the cutting edge digs into the screw tighter and tighter, allowing you to loosen and remove the screw.

[Muirium]

Ah, smart. Thanks. I'll look into it once the rubber band doesn't work!

[jacobolus]

Lots of things use tiny torx screws, and every reasonable electronics-sized screwdriver set comes with some tiny torx drivers. I don’t think it’s fair to call those “security screws”.

Now Apple’s “pentalobe” screws on the other hand....

[Muirium]

These are by far the smallest Torx I've seen. So small only my macro lens really clued me what they are. T5 or T6 I'd say. I went through all my tools, I've nothing smaller than T10. And I've taken apart PowerBooks…

[fohat]

At the minimum everyone should own a T9 in order to take apart your old hard drives and get the GREAT magnets out of them.

[Engicoder]

They make the best fridge magnets