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^&%$# Stripped Screws...

Rick Darge

Rick Darge

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So I joined the club of stripping my screws today. I was removing the Nikon mount to install the bushings and to install the new Torx screws. All but one of the screws stripped. I tried using another allen key that was slightly different than the one I was using, that had a better lock but still stripped. Now its unusable.

I realllly dont want to drive to Red and bother them with this. Is there a simpler fix? Has anyone drilled out the screw themselves?

:pinch:
 
Richard, never a bother. Bring it down to us and we'll get it done. Just give us an hour or two heads up so we can make sure our machine shop guys are there.

BC
 
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Sounds good. I'm not going to try to mess with it... Brent, have you heard of people stripping the torx screws or are they really difficult to strip?
 
Brent@RED said:
Richard, never a bother. Bring it down to us and we'll get it done. Just give us an hour or two heads up so we can make sure our machine shop guys are there.

BC
Click to expand...

Great response, Brent. Highly reassuring of the level of commitment RED has in customer support. This stands out in the market place as much, if not more, than having the best camera.
 
just out of curiosity- are the threads stripping, or is it just the head that gets reamed out or sheared off by the tool?
 
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Its the head. The metal slowly widdles away. I have been super extra careful when removing these screws and I've only done it 2 times prior to this. They just have a low threshold for pain..
 
IDEA!

Why doesn't RED make extra screws a purchase item at the RED store so that when we do a mount swap we can use ALL NEW SCREWS and avoid having to drill stuff out.

David
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong but I think all the new mounts are shipping with the Torx screws.
 
battistella said:
IDEA!

Why doesn't RED make extra screws a purchase item at the RED store so that when we do a mount swap we can use ALL NEW SCREWS and avoid having to drill stuff out.

David
Click to expand...

It's the cheapo soft metal screws that are the problem. I guess it saves a couple bucks on the manufacturing side, but it's always a bad decision and ends up causing more grief than good for the customer.

Has anybody found stainless screws to replace these with?

This has to be done with lots of my pro HD camcorders as well, particularly with the screws for the camera toe/mini rod support mounts. Removed once or twice and they're stripped. Stainless screws have been a solution for that.
 
The Torx screw are MUCH more reliable. I'm waiting for the ones for the Nikon mount but the PL ones are a breeze to remove. It does help to add a little Anti-sieze grease to the screw threads before installation though. You can get it at any Pep Boys.
 
I had a striped screw a month or so ago. After not finding a machinist that could help me out on short notice, I actually used a TORX driver to remove the striped screw. The TORX driver is a bit sharper than a allen and fits better. Just keep the body cap on, to protect the sensor if you slip, and use a lot of downward force. When I say "a lot" I don't mean white knuckles. Just more than you would under ideal circumstances.

You'll only get a quarter turn with the body cap on so you'll have to remove the body cap in order to finish turning the screw.
 
I was told a couple months back from Red that they were going to send out Torx head screws when they got them in for the Nikon mounts. But of course that was a couple months ago. They do have a lot on their plate over at Red now-a-days. So I could see how updating the screws for the mounts might go over looked.
 
I stripped a Torx screw. It was in so tight it burred my IP10 driver too.
RED were super nice though and removed it for me.
 
The problem is not due to the metal on the old screws being soft. Stainless steel is not necessarily harder or tougher than other types of alloy steel. The problem seems to be that the hex recess in the flat head countersunk screws it too shallow to handle the torque and/or galling/seizing of the screws in the mount.

I've developed a procedure to safely remove the PL mount without loosening these screws. I measure the depth first, so I can bring the mount back into focus calibration quickly. I'm going to be working on coming up with a procedure for removing the stuck screws.

Those of you that are in South Florida and have an emergency that requires having this taken care of and not having enough time to send it to RED, can get in touch with me.
 
Jorge is right that the stainless are not necessarily stronger than alloy, (that being said I replaced ours with stainless).

Proper torque, and a bit of grease / antiseeze will be the difference. When I say proper torque I mean not too much.
 
I think that the solution to this problem might be that each screw needs a very thim coating of Never Seez, or similar, on the threads. It seems that the combination of steel screw with black oxide coating and aluminum mount with black anodize treatment causes the screws to lock tight to the mount. I've removed my mount a dozen times or more to test new mounts, and even if I replace the screws with light pressure, after a week or so, I feel that the screw and the mount have locked together. So I don't think that the factory has put undue tightening force on the screws, or that stripped heads of hex screws are the cause. The CAUSE is that the threads are locking together, resulting in stripped heads, both torx plus and hex socket. So the next step for me is a light coating of Never Seez (brand name) applied with a small artist's brush on the threads. You can get this stuff at auto parts stores. A coating of light machine oil (like sewing machine oil) could work too, but Never Seez is actually made for this purpose.
 
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