I recently purchased what turned out to be a fake Unity mount online. The mount itself seems ok, but the mounting hardware they supplied with the mount was the incorrect size. As I was screwing them on I realized that they weren’t correct and set to remove them. Two unscrewed no problem(they were the looser of the 4) but the last two that were a little tighter stripped immediately when I tried to remove them. Now I have that mount connected to one of my Romeo5 Red Dots and can’t remove it. I know the basic ways to remove a stripped screw, but the issue here is access. The only real way to get to the screw heads is a T Handle torx or standard, thin, long handle torx which both continued to strip. The mount is roughly 2” high and has a narrow hole to access the screw.
I’m hoping some of the experience/expertise here might be able to help me out. I’d greatly appreciate any ideas on how to remove them. I’ve attached some pics for reference. Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks.
Like Guitar Guy said Easy outs probably the best way.
If it is the head that stripped out, they probably are not hardened. Aluminum? Just carefully drill the head out til the mount can slip off of the optic. Hopefully there’s enough of the screw left to work with. Then use a jeweler’s saw and cut a slot in the screw and use a flat tip screw driver. You can still use easy outs if that fails.
Yes, the head. My concern is the small hole and length to get to the screw. It’ll need at least 2” of thin length. I can’t fit a standard bit and while a thin drill bit will fit, I don’t know that the extractor would. Can you explain more on how to drill the head out until they separate? I haven’t done that before and with the optic being involved, I want to make sure I’m doing it the right way. Thanks for the reply.
SpecPrecision. I wasn’t familiar with the Unity brand at the time and it was still a $60 mount. After the fact I looked more into Unity and found out they’re a premium, high quality mount that’s much more than that. Will the extractor fit into those thin holes?
Start with a small bit and get it centered really good. Then bigger bit will be centered as it goes. Just drill deep as the head is tall. The final bit should be the diameter of the threaded part of the screw, or maybe a tiny bit larger. The head will fall off. If you have a Dremel with a cut wheel you can cut a slot easier than a jeweler’s saw .
Bought these on a whim one time - they actually work quite nicely, especially for smaller screws. The couple of times I’ve used them, didn’t even need to swap ends - the “drill” dug in enough it just spun the screw out.
Use oil and remember that bit @GuitarGuy referenced is left hand cutting, meaning run your drill the other direction for it to cut. A couple times I’ve gotten lucky and had the bit snag and back the screw out.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I’m picking up the Irwin Extractor Set as it looks to be the best option to be able to fit in the small holes on the mount and still have the length to reach the screw head. This one comes with the drill bit as well. Just as a side question: Could I use my standard drill bits next time as long as it’s drilling in reverse? Thanks again!
