Stripped a brass screw on a 1970s lens mount, ended up using a wooden dowel

Working on a Pentax Spotmatic in my garage in Portland last month, I had the mount plate almost off when the screw driver slipped and tore the slot right out. Brass is so soft, one bad angle and it's done. I tried a rubber band trick, no luck, then grabbed a hardwood dowel, sanded it to a taper, and hammered it into the slot. That got it loose in about ten minutes, though I had to file the screw head flush after. Anyone else keep a set of old screw extractors from the hardware store, or is the dowel method still your go to?

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fiona_webb24d ago

Yeah, but did you try a left hand drill bit before you went full hammer mode? Brass grabs those things like crazy sometimes, way easier than fighting a dowel. I keep a cheap set from Harbor Freight and they've saved my ass more times than I can count, though your file trick is a solid backup when things go sideways.

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