I am taking out the old shower doors and fram from the tub and as I removed the screws in the frame I found the screws on the bottome of each of the frames rusted in. Unfortunatly I strepped the phillipsheads of the screws and now I can not get them out, I have used WD40, I attemped to tap a phillipshead screw driver in the the stripped heads of the screws, but it did not work so I am stuck with the frame still attached. The wife is getting a little upset (Hmmm I bet some of you have had this problem also), So how do I get those damn screws out?????????

Get a screw extractor kit - about $20. Most have a selection of drill bits and reverse thread extractors.

If that doesn't work or you don't want to buy a kit, then you can do a little destructive demolition on the old door frame parts. A little cutting with a hacksaw next to the rusted screws and you can remove the aluminum frame. Then, you should have enough of the screw shaft left to grab with a set of vice grips.

I'm going to presume these screws are in recessed holes so that you can't access them from the side.

If it wuz me, I'd use a grinding point like this one:

http://www.plumbersurplus.com/...-rw-95703-161587.jpg

or a rotary burr like this one:

http://www.snaponindustrialbra...mages/lg1_005938.jpg

...in an electric drill to grind/cut a hole in the middle of the stripped Phillips screw head.

Then use a drill bit in that hole to drill through the head of the screw into the screw shank. Graduate to larger drill bit diameters 1/64th of an inch at a time until you drill the head off the screw shank. You may need to use the burr between drill bits to cut the entrance to the hole smooth so that the drill bit doesn't catch on the screw drive.

Alternatively, every place listed under "Machine Shop Supplies" will sell counter sinking bits like this one in 3/8 inch diameter that will allow you to cut the heads off those screws:

http://www.betterimprovement.c...11/general-tools.jpg

DON'T buy a counter sinking bit from your local home center for this job. The Stanley and Vermont American ones you buy at home centers aren't hardened and are intended only for use on wood (or soft metals like aluminum). For about the same price you can buy a hardened counter sinking bit from any machine shop supply store for use on steel.

Machine shop supply stores will also sell rotary burrs for use on steel. Carbide rotary burrs are relatively expensive, but they'll solve the problem you're having now every time for the rest of your life, and then for your kid's lives too.

You don't need to know the rest...

If those were Robertson drive screws, you'd have had a much better chance of removing them without stripping the drive.

Tell your wife that it's not your fault that the Phillips head screws are stripped. It's because a guy by the name of Peter Robertson never trusted a guy by the name of Henry Ford.

Ford knew the Robertson screw was the best screw available at the time. Ford determined that he could save over two hours of assembly time on each car his assembly line made by using the Robertson screw. But, Ford didn't want to buy the screws from Robertson; he wanted to license the right to make them himself in his own factories.

Robertson didn't trust Ford to pay the full royalty on all the screws he made, and so the two men never struck a deal. If they had, the Robertson screw drive would be just as popular in the US as it is in Canada.

Robertson drive screws have a square TAPERED recess, so when you put a square tapered Robertson screw driver into that screw head you get a tight fit that has much less of a tendancy to slip out under high torque like Phillips screw drivers do. The Robertson drive works very much like a Morse taper in that regard.

Tell her it's all Henry Ford's fault.

http://www.tackaberrytimes.com/default.asp

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nestor,

sounds like it's Robertson's fault, he's not the trusting type

the Torx pattern is also a fine sturdy one for delivering the torque.

laughable thing is, if you bit up and drive many screws, your drill-driver can put more torque into the fastener than its metal can handle, twisting the head right off.

I've not been able to do it often with Philips screws, but flat-blade and Robertson and Torx? lots of snapped heads in my wake. Philips drivers just ream out the screw head leaving a cone of exasperation.

I expect the problem is that you're using a cordless impact driver to drive those screws, and impact drivers can generate more twisting force than a cordless drill can.

Can you lower the torque setting on an impact driver like you can on a cordless drill? I've never owned or used an impact driver, so I don't know.

But, with my 20 year old 12 volt NiCad Porter Cable cordless drill, I don't remember that I've ever popped the head off a normal wood or sheet metal screw.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nestor,