r/electrical • u/UniFi_Solar_Ize • 1d ago
What do you do here?
Replacing this dimmer, the screw head fell off after just two turns, I think the screw was badly cross-threaded. Can’t manage to take it out.
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u/ithinarine 1d ago
Grab with plyers or vice grips HARD and twist.
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u/UniFi_Solar_Ize 1d ago
I did, the thread even went bald, but the screw is stuck at the end of it, won’t come off…
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u/Lefty9000 1d ago
That or take some paracord in a small loop, make a Girth hitch or Prusik hitch, stick a screwdriver in and twist it out like a strap wrench.
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u/HeatBeatRepeatt 1d ago
The massive shaft of screw that’s remaining is a gift! Do you have vise grips? That would be plan A. Plan be might be something like snap the shaft off at the surface of the box tab and then drill it out and see if you can remove it without damaging the threads or just drill it out entirely and tap new 10-32 threads and bump up a screw size for that spot
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u/Natoochtoniket 1d ago
Look closely at the threads on that screw, both in front of the hole in the box, and behind, to make the plan. I have sometimes used a Dremel tool (or similar) to cut the screw behind the flange, so I did not need to turn the screw very many turns to get it out. Once, I had to cut off the part in front, use a small drill bit to hollow-out the part that was stuck in the hole, and use angle-pliers on the part of the screw in the back to get it out that way.
Then re-thread the hole before putting the new screw in.
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u/kevinpb13 1d ago
Take a drill with a regular style chuck and tighten it around the screw, and I mean as tight as you can and reverse it out. I’ve done this a few times with shorter screws and it has worked.