Jon,
Now would be a good time to give all these bolts a good dose of
penetrating oil and let them soak. After a day or two go after them
with a bernzomatic torch . Heat them up real good then shock them
with a shot of oil , then a whack with the impact driver. It might
take several tries. I recommend using " Kroil " brand penetrating
oil . Its well known in industry and is way better then homeowner
brands like WD40. If all that fails then this is a good time to
invest in a good quality four and a half inch electric grinder.
Grind the screw head down to a sliver then chisel off the remainder
.
Just my two cents,
Dan
On 10/26/2011 9:41 AM, vbra676539@aol.com wrote:
Jon,
Use waterproof
grease to lubricate the viewport retaining ring threads on
reassembly. I like it better than Loctite in that arena,
because Loctite always seems to leave a little metal exposed
right at the interface between paint and threaded hole. You
get rust, and worse, a pathway for water intrusion. The
water intrusion is probably the worst problem as the space
builds up with salt residue, and a vise grip ain't got
anything on a salt jammed SS bolt. The good old flat washer,
lock washer, bolt combination is hard to beat, especially
there. Then you can take them out one at a time, clean,
re-lube and reinstall without taking the whole window apart
every time. Shade tree mechanic technology--if it's dry,
paint it. If you can't get to it, grease it.
Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Wallace <jonw@psubs.org>
To: personal_submersibles
<personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Wed, Oct 26, 2011 5:29 am
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Screwdriver
Jim,
I really haven't spent much time on it yet. When I saw
the slotted machine screws I got curious as to whether
they were going to be problematic or not. The screws are
stainless but the viewport thru-hulls are steel. So I've
only initially gone around to each screw and tried to get
it out, not putting alot of pressure on them to prevent
stripping the heads, and the majority of them were not
very cooperative. Some I didn't bother trying yet because
they were painted over and will need some TLC to prevent
snapping their little heads off. I think the impact
driver and a properly fitting blade will do the trick.
Slotted head SS screws are notorious for stripping the
slot if you don't have a properly sized blade. In this
case the slots are long and wide so I need a good hefty
blade. All the screwdrivers I have are too small in both
dimensions, even the large ones I have. I just need to
find the time to make a trip to home depot or good
hardware store. Heat is definitely an option since all
the viewports have to be changed anyway. However, even if
I have to chisel the heads off that wouldn't bother me
(although the time involved would) because once the
retaining ring is removed there will be plenty of threads
to grab onto with a vise-grip. The flat head slotted
screws in the motor housing are a different story. If I
strip those slots then drilling them out is probably going
to be the only option. Once I get the existing screws out
they will all be replaced with hex head.
Jon
On 10/26/2011 8:57 AM, JimToddPsub@aol.com
wrote:
Jon,
Are you using heat on any of those stubborn
screws? I understand there are places where you
don't want to.
Jim
|