Drilling out "moulded" screws in an old sidkit?

[BeastMaster]

I've got the old sidkit, so I have the grueling task of drilling and tapping the molded screws into real ones

I know a few of you have done this, so just wondering how you went about it? Will I need to buy a drill press specifically to drill out the screw heads? or is there another way to go about it?

and just how did y'all clean out that massive slot screw head?

[Dann]

I honestly just used a power drill for mine. I think I went up a size maybe two on my screws (I think Sid uses 4-36 or something, I couldnt find them locally), I used 8-32 screws (you'd probably be fine with 6-32) and the size drill that goes with that. Then I re-tapped the holes and bang.

For the slot screw I used a dremel sanding drum and a high speed cutter. I can take a photo of the cutter if you dont know what I'm talking about, or I can try a google search and link a pic for you. For this you just gotta be careful and take it slow. I hand sanded to smooth out the contours.

Hope that helps!



Aha! There it is!

And the sanding drum.



If you have the smaller one that might work better, but this is all I had to work with. It was a little scary because this one is a little on the large side, but I managed.

[Dann]

You can use something like this to clean out the remainder of the fake screw heads. Just be careful and take your time. I used something similar to the one on the far right.

[BeastMaster]

hey dan!

so did you hand hold the power drill to drill out the heads or use a press/stand? I have a drill press for my dremil which might make the cutter thing easier. was there a particular size cutter you used?

[Dann]

Are you talking about the drill size, or the size of one of the cutters I have pictured?

And no, I didn't use a drill press, though it should certainly help.

[Dann]

The ball end engraver is 1/8", and the high speed cutter is 5/16".

[BeastMaster]

cheers dan, I'll do a search on ebay

I might just order the screws directly from sid. as for taps do you think these sizes would be efficiant?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-TITANIUM-COATED-13-PC-HSS-STEEL-TAP-DRILL-BIT-SET_W0QQitemZ180285313177QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180285313177&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A15|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[Dann]

Well there's an 8-32 in there but I dunno if Sid uses a 4-36 or a 4-40. You may have to ask him.

[clutch]

I could use some extra screws as well. I cannot find matches for the hexhead ones locally.

My thinking is that the metal is so soft, you could just drill the hole and just screw the bolt in without tapping first.

I've been eyeing my Coyle for the set screws, but it'll look funny with three holes in the top of it. lol

[BeastMaster]

yep, will ask sid about the tap sizes. cool! I got most of the dremil bits apart from the cutter.

hey clutch, yeah I thought about that too as the metal is soft. would there be a reason against that though?

[clutch]

I'm just lazy.

[BeastMaster]

heh, me too! I was thinking of just leavin those molded heads on and glueing the darn thing, would save alot of agro

[andy]

If you drill just slightly smaller than the screw size the metal is soft enough to thread itself. Drilling through the faux screw will help center it and you will only need to remove just a bit of flash afterward. Can be done with a good knife tip and the rest will be covered by the new screw.

Andy

[clutch]

Couldn't have said it better myself. And if you screw up, some solder will patch it right up and you can start over.

[BeastMaster]

sounds like a good idea guys I'll try it out on one and see how it holds up.