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Screw holding question

Charles in SC

Well Known Member
What are some good ways to make a Phillips screw stick to the end of a screw driver so you can thread it in to a hard to reach spot?
 
Magnetize the screwdriver...
A dab of heavy grease...
Masking tape...
Or get a screw starter. Google it. Very few seem to have ever heard of such a thing, but it was something every IBM, Jensen and Techni-Tool computer field service engineer's tool kit had - back when big blue dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
 
Solder

Add solder to the many tools or methods to start a screw in a hard to reach spot. Wrap it around the screw, get it started and then pull out the solder. Its soft enough to unravel without breaking off. Assembled many a radar set this way.
 
Screw starters on line

Had the same issue ---- got mine through Amazon --- be sure to get ones for both straight slot and Phillips head!
 
Fuel lube works very well in place of heavy grease. Plus it also makes a decent lubricant for the threads.
 
Screwdriver

Short piece of plastic tubing. Tubing has to be a snug fit on the screw head and the tip of the screwdriver. From recent Sport Aviation.
 
Working on electronics back in my early Navy days, we kept a wax ring that you would use to install a toilet... Quick jab in the wax and the screw would stick to the end.

Cheap and effective.
 
Super glue. When the screw gets started, move sideways to break the bond. I've super glued lots of washers on nuts too.
 
FWIW: I put the screw on the screwdriver, slide some heat shrink tube over them and apply heat. The heat shrink holds the screw tight without dropping it until I get a few turns in. After this I just pull the heat shrink off and finish the job. It works very well.

:cool:
 
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Thanks for all the replies. I am going to try them, all except the magnet thing. I do not like to get magnets around my tools. I went to the local tool store thinking I would get one of the phillips screw drivers with the clamps that hold the screw until I found out what they cost. Ouch, that's not going to happen.
 
Blue painters tape

I just keep a roll of blue painters tape (home depot aviation department) close to the airplane when I am working on it and it is amazing what it will hold, and it doesn't leave any residue. I use it for holding the stainless screws in the back of the avionics trays to the screwdrivers and it justs pops right off after the screws get started in the threads.

The magnetic screw holders don't work for the stainless screws (obviously) and the usual mechanical holders don't really work on the small screws.

Vic
 
Stein to the rescue...
http://www.steinair.com/storedetail.cfm?productid=302

TOOL-SAT-DRVS_2X.jpg
 
Yes, that is my point exactly! $42.00 + shipping seems kind of high for a screw driver.

Not if you are trying to get that screw in the back of your rack.:cool:

Actually, you could ask twice that price if you could invent a tool that will grab the s/s screw to take them out without dropping them. I would pay lots of money for that.
The evil genius that decided to put non magnetic screws in radio racks...............don't get me started, if you have ever dropped a screw from a rack in a 400 series Cessna,
and then have to find it, you will know what I am saying,, 43 bucks.......cheap! ( actually it will be well over a 100 bucks by the time I get it here )
 
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On some hard to access places, I used socket head cap screws, and used an Allen wrench, or those Allen insert bits with the little ratchet handle that comes in those little yellow gun tool kits.
Some locations are too demanding for a Philips head. Limited edge or overhead clearance, or out of eye ball view. Socket head screws stay on the Allen bit and don't get 'buggered up' like a Philips head.
 
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