Why in the world does apple use the smallest flattest screws possible in their designs. Arg, I'm trying to replace a hard drive in a slot loading imac and I've gotten to the part where I can unscrew the hard drive, but alas its attached with 4 "touch me the wrong way and I strip" screws. They are so flat and in so tightly that I can only unscrew 1 of the 4. Does anybody have any tips for unscrewing these types of screws? I've tried a few different screw drivers, but none can get a good grip because they are so flat.
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iMac Screws ARG!!!!
- Thread starter ColdZero
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one tip I've heard in the past is to carefully put a little tiny bit of crazy glue on yourscrew driver tip so it attaches to the screw. Should give you a bit more torque. The real key is to put as much force as you can behind the screw driver into the screw, so it can't slip out of the slots.
Re: iMac Screws ARG!!!!
Try, pushing the screw threw a piece a paper, and use the piece of paper to keep the screw in it's place.
Hope that helps.
Try, pushing the screw threw a piece a paper, and use the piece of paper to keep the screw in it's place.
Hope that helps.
Really small screwdrivers help with some strange screws, but I'm not sure of the size of the screws holding the HD in, watch out that if you are putting a lot of pressure behind the screw that if it slip you don't stab the innards of your computer. Also don't lose the screws, but I assume that you have figured that out already in getting the 10000000000 screws off of the heat shield and case....have fun.
I hear ya. When attempting to add another HD in my Dual 1Ghz MDD, I lost the screw that could qualify as being the worlds smallest that mounts the HD chassis to the CPU. After an hour of straining my eyes searching the depths of the CPU I found the little bastard. Since I dropped it inside the CPU, didn't want it rattling around and shorting something out during operation. Would've hurled the little bastard into orbit if I hadn't needed it to re-mount the HD.
the only surefire way to keep a screw from stripping is to push *really*frigging*hard* while you turn. it's how i always manage (i've had this iMac apart so many times...) And if it strips, you can sometimes chisel a new flathead slot, particularly handy on older Apple laptops.
pnw
pnw
SUCCESS!!!!!!
Ok I stripped the screw, but its a 400Mhz iMac with a 30gb hard drive now in a school, I hope I never have to see the innards of this one ever ever again.
These were the tightest screws I've ever loosened in my life. Anyways, after many attempts with a screw driver I ended up stripping the screw. So I looked at my toolbox and after resisting the urge to grab the hammer I went for a pair of pliers and was able to grip the edges of the screws and twist them until they came out. Everything is workin like a charm, I set it to restore over netboot and its working like nothing ever happened.
Ok I stripped the screw, but its a 400Mhz iMac with a 30gb hard drive now in a school, I hope I never have to see the innards of this one ever ever again.
These were the tightest screws I've ever loosened in my life. Anyways, after many attempts with a screw driver I ended up stripping the screw. So I looked at my toolbox and after resisting the urge to grab the hammer I went for a pair of pliers and was able to grip the edges of the screws and twist them until they came out. Everything is workin like a charm, I set it to restore over netboot and its working like nothing ever happened.