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Finally found a trick for those stubborn Cessna 172 belly skin screws
Spent like 3 hours last Tuesday fighting with these stripped-out Phillips screws on a 172 belly pan (you know, the ones near the tail that always get rounded off). I tried every extractor bit I had and nothing grabbed. Ended up using a small flathead ground down to a sharp edge and a gentle tap with a hammer to seat it, then turned by hand. It bit into the screw head just enough to break it loose. Has anyone else found a weird tool that works better than the official stuff for these old screws?
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dylan4131mo ago
Nah, I gotta disagree here. You're overthinking it. Those screws are junk from the factory, and grinding down a flathead just makes more work. I use a #2 JIS bit and a good impact driver. Works every time. The secret is pushing hard and slow. Don't hammer anything, you risk cracking the skin. Those old screws are soft steel, not titanium. A little PB Blaster and patience does way more than a filed down screwdriver. You're basically making a custom tool for something that already has a proper solution.
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the_daniel1mo ago
Well shoot, what about using a soldering iron to heat the screw head first to break the rust bond?
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Whoa hold on, nobody mentioned the drill trick yet? I've had luck with a left-hand drill bit on those soft steel screws. You chuck it up in a slow speed drill, put so much downward force your arm shakes, and the bit catches the screw head and spins it right out. Half the time the screw comes loose before you even fully drill into it. Plus if you do have to drill it out, the left-hand bit keeps you from punching through the belly skin like a regular bit would. I keep a set of those in my toolbox just for Cessna belly pans and it's saved my butt more than once.
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