Dealing with a stripped screw

2015-05-26 1 min read

    Note that this is straying a bit far from my usual posts but I thought it would be helpful for anyone that’s had to deal with a stripped screw or a broken screw head. In my haste I used the wrong driver bit and completely stripped the screw head. It was deep enough that I wasn’t able to extract it using pliers while being so stripped that none of my screwdrivers had enough grip to finish screwing it in. After a bunch of failed ideas I finally stumbled unto a solution that worked and could have helped me over the years. The idea is to use a drill/driver but instead of using a bit in the head you tighten it around the stripped screw. Then when it’s tight around the screw you drive it in until it’s where you want it to be. The other option is to use this approach to get the screw out and replace it with a brand new one to make sure it’s able to removable in the future.