How to free frozen Exhibition screws

[alang]

Congratulations to your success and even more to your patience. Many things get broken, because the repair person gets impatient. It pays off to have the patience of putting it away again for a day into the freezer or let it soak another day. I sure broke a few screws with that "one last try". Recovering from that is a much bigger pain if at all possible. You will do well in this hobby.

Andreas

[Nick Charles]

Thank you for the encouragement and kind words. Very nice. Really like the art deco image. I'm a huge fan of the art deco period.

[alang]

Really like the art deco image. I'm a huge fan of the art deco period.

It's from the movie poster of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", one of the greatest silent movies ever made.

Andreas

[MidMich]

Kano Kroil, apply a little bit and let it soak. I have also has good luck soaking in evaporust over night. I would try evaporust 1st, Then clean off and try Kroil. Try hitting the end of the screw, some times that can break them free. A small 8 oz ball pein works good for this, I have a assortment of small shafts/punches that I use for this, some soft steel, some brass. And yes a proper fitting screw driver is critical. Last I would try supporting it as best as possible and using a small hand held impact driver, the type you hit with a hammer and grind a bit to fit. The combination of hitting and the turning of the driver can work wonders. Carefully hold the impact and push down a bit, this will engage the wedge that turns it. This will preload the driver, then tap it with the hammer while hold it down and keeping pressure in a turning motion. Old School but still works. No need to wack it to hard.
http://www.kanolabs.com/google/?gclid=C ... Auqz8P8HAQ

Jeff

[MidMich]

Here is a link to a mini impact driver, I still have a small one with the long bits from my dirt bikes days in the 60's

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-Impact-Dr ... Ykd0QEIRsA

Jeff

[VintageTechnologies]

Sometimes a sudden shock will break the bond between frozen parts, rather than a steady torque. Do you know what a Yankee Screwdriver is? Google it if you don't. Set the blade into the screw slot, Push and hold down the handle to take up slack and whack the end with a hammer. It acts like an impact driver. Be sure to use a hollow-ground tip, not a regular tapered tip.

Even tapping the end of a regular screwdriver will sometimes break the bond of a frozen screw, as odd as that seems.

[Curt A]

Just one other tip... when trying to remove a stubborn screw use a pair of needle nose vise grips fastened to the screwdriver blade. This allows you to put downward force on the screwdriver to keep it securely in the slot while applying extra torque to turn it - fasten the vise grips low on the blade, as close to the screw head as possible.

[bangster]

If they are steel screws, you can dissolve them out with alum.

bangster

[MidMich]

I have a Vessel Brand 2600 Impact driver that is great for smaller screws. It is the model 2600, I have had mine for 50 years. They now make it in a 2600a model and they also make Impact screw drivers. These work by hitting/tapping them. They have a internal wedge inside them that converts the downward impact to a turning motion. So you get both the impact and the high torque rotation. Here is a link.
http://www.vesseltools.com/hand-tools/s ... ducts.html

Some times on Ebay you can find a old knock off version sold under the Unicorn label. Both work good.
Jeff