Stripped Hex Head
 

What is the easiest way to remove a stripped hex head screw?

Either countersunk, button head or cilinder head;

take your dremel, with a small cutter (an old worn out for a countersunk screw is the best) and make a slot in it that fits your flathead screwdriver..

Works like a charm.

It is a button head.

Yea. Like serum said. Grind a slot across the head and use a flat head screw driver to get it out. I use a cut off wheel in a dremmel and it works perfectly.

Another solution I found is just to get a very high quality ground/hardened tip hex wrench and try that. Alot of times the stanadrd hex keys are a little rounded and the hex hole in the screw is a little rounded and that prevents you from getting the screw loose. The very sharp corners of a hardened/ground hex key will sometimes let you get enough bite in the worn out screw to get it loose.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXBN25&P=0
Something like these are a good investment over the long run. And a quality wrench usually helps avoid stripped screw heads.

Also, if you have any thread lock on it, heat it up a little before trying to losen it. The thread lock softens and becomes easer to break when its hot.

I use a hex removal tool (kinda like a screw extractor only made for hex heads) It has a tapered hex on the end. A slight tap with a hammer, put a wrench on it and out it comes. It's a kit with 4-5 different sizes. I believe that I got it from ACE or OSH. If you can't get a dremel on it then use a punch and hammer. That will flatten the top out a little ( usually enough to get the allen to fit tight again. The punch method works best on flathead screws but will also work on any other type of screw you might use.

Thanks Serum! It worked like a champ.

on a similar note...
anyone know how to remove a 3mm tap that broke off in 6016? :(

BUGGER! that sucks.

I know there are companies that can spark it away.. but i guess it would be less expensive to make a new part.

Those taps are usually sitting really tight..

Good to hear it worked for you Alex!

cheaper and easier to move the hole or make a new part. I have seen tap extracters on the Snap On truck. not cheap and I don't think they go down that small.

If the fastner was put in with thread locker put a soldering iron on it. Like mentioned earlier it'll soften up the loctite and come out real easy. If the slot method doesnt work you can drill it and use an easy out.

Broken taps and easyouts suck there is no easy way to get them out. There are broken tap extractors but if its a real small tap you might be out of luck.