SEO

Greetings!

I have a single screw, within a black "plastic" configuration, that
holds the metal left panel of my Sun Ultra 30 computer system.

The screw went in too tight. And, in trying to remove it, I have
really seriously "messed up" the phillips head of the screw. (Stripped
didn't sound quite right to me, because, at least so far as I know, the
threads along the length of the screw [within the system] are fine. It's
the phillips head that is "stripped".)

Last weekend, I put WD-40 on it. Tonight, I am not able to remove
it.

Two different screwdrivers just almost freely move in the (what was
a) phillips hole, and there is not enough of the metal left in the
phillips "hole shape" to grab the screw enough to turn it, and remove it.
(I've tried needle-nose pliers, too, so far, it's not budging!)

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

I recently had it open to place a second SCSI hard drive in the Sun.
And, the hard drive is in, and it's working just fine. So, at the moment,
I don't *critically* need to go inside it. But, I know the day will come
when I will want to again. I'd like to get this screw removed, and then,
replace it with a new one, and be more careful, in the future, to not get
it in so tight.

Thank you very much for any suggestions!

Barry
--
Barry L. Bond | http://home.cfl.rr.com/os9barry/
Software Engineer, ITT Industries | (My personal home web page, last
bbondATcfl.rr.com | updated February 17, 2005)

In comp.sys.sun.hardware Barry L. Bond <barry@barrycon.cfl.rr.com> wrote:

> Greetings!

> I have a single screw, within a black "plastic" configuration, that
> holds the metal left panel of my Sun Ultra 30 computer system.

> The screw went in too tight. And, in trying to remove it, I have
> really seriously "messed up" the phillips head of the screw. (Stripped
> didn't sound quite right to me, because, at least so far as I know, the
> threads along the length of the screw [within the system] are fine. It's
> the phillips head that is "stripped".)

> Last weekend, I put WD-40 on it. Tonight, I am not able to remove
> it.

> Two different screwdrivers just almost freely move in the (what was
> a) phillips hole, and there is not enough of the metal left in the
> phillips "hole shape" to grab the screw enough to turn it, and remove it.
> (I've tried needle-nose pliers, too, so far, it's not budging!)

> Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

> I recently had it open to place a second SCSI hard drive in the Sun.
> And, the hard drive is in, and it's working just fine. So, at the moment,
> I don't *critically* need to go inside it. But, I know the day will come
> when I will want to again. I'd like to get this screw removed, and then,
> replace it with a new one, and be more careful, in the future, to not get
> it in so tight.

> Thank you very much for any suggestions!

> Barry
> --
> Barry L. Bond | http://home.cfl.rr.com/os9barry/
> Software Engineer, ITT Industries | (My personal home web page, last
> bbondATcfl.rr.com | updated February 17, 2005)

Cut a slot in it.

If that doesn't work, grind off the head.

Oh, and buy some new screwdrivers.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

On 2006-11-04, Barry L. Bond <barry@barrycon.cfl.rr.com> wrote:

> Two different screwdrivers just almost freely move in the (what was
> a) phillips hole, and there is not enough of the metal left in the
> phillips "hole shape" to grab the screw enough to turn it, and remove it.
> (I've tried needle-nose pliers, too, so far, it's not budging!)
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

If it's accessible, hacksaw a slot in it (be careful where the metal
filings go - you don't want them inside the system) and undo it with
a standard screwdriver.

If it's inaccessible, drill the head off with a drill bit slightly
larger than the shank of the screw. Remove the panel, then undo the
shank with a pair of pliers or similar.

--
"Other people are not your property."
[email me at huge [at] huge [dot] org [dot] uk]

Hi Jim!

>Oh, and buy some new screwdrivers.

Ha ha! Boy are you correct!

I actually normally use a drill, as an electric screwdriver. And,
while I am definitely not a "super" DIY home-maintainer type, I have
screwed many screws in, with that screwdriver, and when it was time to
unscrew it, they all came loose without a problem!

But, I have used the "nub" (or whatever it's called, I don't know the
real terms for some of these things), in this screwdriver, for years, and
it was getting just a little bit "beat up" already. It DEFINITELY is,
now! :-)

I am using a different "nub" in that screwdriver, as well as a hand
phillips screwdriver, in good shape. (And, needle-nose pliers, etc.!)

Thank you for your kind assistance!

Barry
--
Barry L. Bond | http://home.cfl.rr.com/os9barry/
Software Engineer, ITT Corporation | (My personal home web page, last
bbondATcfl.rr.com | updated February 17, 2005)

Howdy!

>If it's accessible, hacksaw a slot in it (be careful where the metal
>filings go - you don't want them inside the system) and undo it with
>a standard screwdriver.

It isn't. There is a black plastic "configuration" (I don't know
what it's called) around this screw, and it "sticks up" above the screw
head about half an inch. (You stick the screwdriver or needle-nose pliers
through a hole on the end of this thing that sticks up to get to the head
of the screw.)

>If it's inaccessible, drill the head off with a drill bit slightly
>larger than the shank of the screw. Remove the panel, then undo the
>shank with a pair of pliers or similar.

Ah... that is likely what I'll try, next. Thank you for your
knowledge, in this area! I don't know whether I'll get to it, this
weekend, or not, but I'll let you know if I have any other problems!

Thank you again, kind Sir!

Barry
--
Barry L. Bond | http://home.cfl.rr.com/os9barry/
Software Engineer, ITT Corporation | (My personal home web page, last
bbondATcfl.rr.com | updated February 17, 2005)

On Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:27:56 GMT
barry@barrycon.cfl.rr.com (Barry L. Bond) wrote:

> It isn't. There is a black plastic "configuration" (I don't know
> what it's called) around this screw, and it "sticks up" above the
> screw head about half an inch. (You stick the screwdriver or
> needle-nose pliers through a hole on the end of this thing that
> sticks up to get to the head of the screw.)

The contraption around the screw is meant to pass an anti-theft cable
through. Doing so renders the screw inaccessible so the computer can't
be removed and cannot be opened. Given that some Sun frame buffers
cost several thousand dollars, locking the machine made sense.

--
Stefaan A Eeckels
--
How's it supposed to get the respect of management if you've got just
one guy working on the project? It's much more impressive to have a
battery of programmers slaving away. -- Jeffrey Hobbs (comp.lang.tcl)

Greetings!

GREAT news! I went to Home Depot today, and I purchased a
penetrating catalyst, as a "last-ditch" effort to try to get the poor
screw out of the Sun before taking the drill to it!

I sprayed it on. About five minutes later, it came loose!

It's out! And, it turns out, I even had a screw that was the same
size, and it's back in, and all is well!

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions! This problem is fixed,
though!

Barry
--
Barry L. Bond | http://home.cfl.rr.com/os9barry/
Software Engineer, ITT Corporation | (My personal home web page, last
bbondATcfl.rr.com | updated February 17, 2005)

Hi Stefaan!

>The contraption around the screw is meant to pass an anti-theft cable
>through. Doing so renders the screw inaccessible so the computer can't
>be removed and cannot be opened. Given that some Sun frame buffers
>cost several thousand dollars, locking the machine made sense.

Ah! I wondered what the "contraption" was for! It looked like it
had a purpose beyond just as a "placeholder" for the screw! That makes
sense, I guess!

Thank you!

Barry
--
Barry L. Bond | http://home.cfl.rr.com/os9barry/
Software Engineer, ITT Corporation | (My personal home web page, last
bbondATcfl.rr.com | updated February 17, 2005)

And here is the second re-post after striping comp.hardware from
the "Newsgroups: " header.

================================================== ====================

Hmm ... did my article last night explaining that I believe this to be a
Torx T-15 screw head, not a Phillips, and the suggestion to get a Torx
screwdriver and try it before attempting to drill it out not get posted?
I don't see it today, and I did not see it last night, so perhaps it got
lost?

My belief that it should be a T-15 is based on what is in the
back of my Ultra-60, and a look at the Sun FEH (Field Engineer's
Handbook) which makes the two chassis look pretty much the same.

The socket for a Torx looks more like a six-pointed star than
the '+' of a Phillips. Try shining a light in there to be sure.

According to Stefaan A Eeckels <hoendech@ecc.lu>:
> On Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:27:56 GMT
> barry@barrycon.cfl.rr.com (Barry L. Bond) wrote:
>
> > It isn't. There is a black plastic "configuration" (I don't know
> > what it's called) around this screw, and it "sticks up" above the
> > screw head about half an inch. (You stick the screwdriver or
> > needle-nose pliers through a hole on the end of this thing that
> > sticks up to get to the head of the screw.)
>
> The contraption around the screw is meant to pass an anti-theft cable
> through. Doing so renders the screw inaccessible so the computer can't
> be removed and cannot be opened. Given that some Sun frame buffers
> cost several thousand dollars, locking the machine made sense.

Then does the Ultra-30 actually have a Phillips screw head back
there, instead of the Torx T-15 which my Ultra-60 has? In format mine
is a "stripper bolt" -- the threaded area is a smaller diameter than the
bolt body, which is a smooth cylinder until you reach the head.

It looks somewhat like this (use a fixed-pitch font like Courier
to view):
+---- Smooth cylindrical shank
+-+ <--Head | +---- reduced diameter threaded section
| | v |
| +-----------+ v
+--+ +vvvvvvv
+--+ +^^^^^^^
| +-----------+
| |
+-+ The strange thing at the center of the head is the socket for
the Torx T-15 driver.

My screw is too big to fit into the typical black metal block (not
plastic, but a hardened metal) which is found on the backs of the
earlier computers (at least through the Ultra-2). The design of the
stripper bolt is normally to allow things to slide on it (the stripper
plate which is part of a die set to keep the workpiece from sticking on
the punch), but in this case, it is intended for the shoulder formed to
bottom firmly on the metal of the chassis without pressing on the
plastic of the tab (which is part of the case side) and possibly
breaking it off. As it turned out, mine was already broken off -- but
it still prevents the side cover from being easily removed until it the
screw and tab are set aside.

Good Luck,
DoN.



--
Email: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

I posted two articles to this thread -- one last night and one today,
after not seeing the one from last night.

Today, I discovered that my newsreader was refusing to post to
it, because it considered:

comp.hardware

to be an invalid newsgroup, so I have deleted it, and have recovered the
two articles from the AUTHORCOPY file, and will re-post them.

Here is the first:

According to Barry L. Bond <barry@barrycon.cfl.rr.com>:
>
> Greetings!
>
> I have a single screw, within a black "plastic" configuration, that
> holds the metal left panel of my Sun Ultra 30 computer system.
>
> The screw went in too tight. And, in trying to remove it, I have
> really seriously "messed up" the phillips head of the screw. (Stripped
> didn't sound quite right to me, because, at least so far as I know, the
> threads along the length of the screw [within the system] are fine. It's
> the phillips head that is "stripped".)

Are you *sure* that it is Phillips? The one on my Ultra-60 is a
Torx instead. *Any* Phillips bit would slip in it. (I *think* that it
is Torx T-15, but it may be one of the other similar sizes.) Anyway --
get a set of Torx bits and check which one works properly in it.

Look closely -- the hole should look sort of like a six-pointed
star, not like a standard Phillips "+".

If you *really* need me to check the size -- send me an e-mail.
It is too late tonight to bother. Don't post it -- because I always
reach this newsgroup at the same late point. :-)

> Last weekend, I put WD-40 on it. Tonight, I am not able to remove
> it.

WD-40 is not really a good lubricant anyway. It is sort of
useful as a penetrating oil, but there are much better ones -- and they
are really only much use with rusted threads, which are *highly*
unlikely in this situation -- unless the box has been sitting out in the
rain for a month or two. :-)

> Two different screwdrivers just almost freely move in the (what was
> a) phillips hole, and there is not enough of the metal left in the
> phillips "hole shape" to grab the screw enough to turn it, and remove it.
> (I've tried needle-nose pliers, too, so far, it's not budging!)
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

First -- try to get a proper Torx set and see whether one of
those is a better fit. Looking at the FEH (Field Engineer's Handbook)
shows the Ultra-30 and Ultra-60 to have very similar cases, though I
can't find the screw in question listed in either.

> I recently had it open to place a second SCSI hard drive in the Sun.
> And, the hard drive is in, and it's working just fine. So, at the moment,
> I don't *critically* need to go inside it. But, I know the day will come
> when I will want to again. I'd like to get this screw removed, and then,
> replace it with a new one, and be more careful, in the future, to not get
> it in so tight.

If the screw is a Torx (as I suspect), then you may not need to
replace it -- just to get the right driver.

But -- if it *does* need to be removed destructively, the best
bet is to get a *left-hand* drill bit about the size to start in the
hole without too much slop, and drive it with a reversible electric
drill -- going in the left--hand direction. This has the advantage of
when enough metal is removed to loosen the screw's threads in the hole,
it will bite in and spin the screw in the right direction to back it out
of the hole.

Keep a good strong magnet (perhaps from a dead disk drive) near
the work area to collect the metal chips, so they are less likely to
work their way into the circuitry. I would suggest that you put some
masking tape over all of the ventilation holes on the back first, to
minimize the possible paths of chips into the box where they could
create nasty shorts and kill your system.

And obviously -- do this with the power disconnected from the
system.

Now -- as to where to *get* a left-hand drill bit (I would
suggest about a #27 or #27 size, I think) -- don't bother with a normal
hardware store. They *won't* have it -- and probably will not even have
any drills in the number size range either. You'll need to got to
someplace which supplies industrial places. Maybe ITT will have a
toolroom which will have what you need but if not, I would suggest that
you check out MSC:

http://www.mscdirect.com/

and search for the bits there. You'll have to register with them to be
able to order -- but you will then get a yearly copy of a wonderful
catalog -- well over 4000 pages. (At least it is wonderful if you are
interested in metalworking and/or tools.)

I suspect that you will need to purchase a standard package of
the bits -- probably an envelope of ten or twelve of them -- but this
keeps you supplied for future problems of the sort. (Be careful to
always use them with the drill running in reverse. If you use it in
forward, the bit won't cut at all, and it will be quickly dulled. So
also carefully mark the envelope with bright red tape to get your
attention next time.

I have two sizes of left-hand drill bits, used for extracting a
broken off flush hardened screw in a milling machine spindle.

MSC could also supply the Torx screwdrivers -- but I would
suggest that you try a local computer store or electronics store (a
*real* one -- not Radio Shack. :-)

Good Luck,
DoN.



--
Email: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---