2. misc-audio
  3. 1238427457

ruined a phillips screw, any inspired solution?

Not strictly audio but related and a real mess. I wanted to open up the cabinet of a cdp to change a tube inside which involved removing 6 small phillips screws with a recessed head,... and of course, there is always one that pretends to be sword Excalibur. Sadly, after I had attacked it with every imaginable screwdriver, I noticed that I had literally milled out the head. So I now have an unbudgeable screw with a perfectly round cavity on the head sitting on a rather sensitive piece of gear (the plate I have to remove holds most of the electronic circuitry, the cd drive and the tube, go figure). Anyone faced a similar conundrum and solved it?
Thanks for not laughing 8^(
karelfd

Showing 4 responses by karelfd

karelfd OP
476 posts
 
Wow guys, thanks a lot, this is why I just love Audiogon!!!
karelfd OP
476 posts
 
Wow, Dreadhead I tried the hammer'n'chisel remedy. What can I say, it's as if I have a completely new player, clear upgrade: now a three-box system with separated psu snugly anchored in the ceiling. One smallish drawback: it is now slightly on the clanking side of neutral but that makes it the ideal player for gamalang, of course, Radio Indonesia have already approached me for modding their gear
karelfd OP
476 posts
 
OK call me a coward, I went to see Lothar of Tidal who has plenty of machines (even one that goes "ping") and let him do the job. It was indeed necessary to drill away the entire head of the screw. He also had to exchange the bolt as the rest of the screw was impossible to extract. Whilst we were at it, we applied new decent screws everywhere as suggested by Zenblaster.
Much as I like the cdp (we're talking about the Ancient Lektor V), I hate to admit the internal wiring didn't leave the best of all impressions. Which, sadly, goes to show that the proud statement "handmade in the EC" (the same may presumably apply to "US") is in itself not quite the hallmark of quality that we would like it to be. Or am I just too finicky?
karelfd OP
476 posts
 
Actually, we tried a number of gentler and more understanding (towards the screw) options. Turned out my initial reference to Excalibur was spot on, and so we HATH to destroy the sword with extreme and utter violence and the stone that held it with it, curse their remains! In retrospect, I'm very glad the genius - which I do indeed consider him to be, just you wait till his new pre-amp hits the market - did exacly that, and substituted some of the Best Screws and Bolts in the World for the original junk. (But are they audiophile, the tweaker in us might ask, now that would make a nice little thread.)
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