Craftsman Screw-Out Screw Remover: About A 75% Solution.
Written: Dec 01 '03 (Updated Dec 04 '03)
Product Rating:
Pros: Works for most jobs. You get a nice case with it. Not too expensive.
Cons: Doesn't work about 25% of the time. Drill speed required is tough to obtain.
The Bottom Line: Anyone looking for a very good stripped screw remover should buy one of these. Home owners should have one of these in their toolboxes. Professionals, this product is very useful.
How many times does this happen to you? You are either using a drill or screwdriver to tighten a screw, and you strip the head. Or maybe you decide you want to loosen a screw after years, and the head strips due to rust or age. It happens all the time. Well, a few years back, I was watching TV, and Bob Villa came on in a Sears’s commercial. I was totally amazed by the product, and promptly told my wife that I need one of these in the worst kind of way. Being a good wife, she had my in-laws buy the Craftsman 3 pc. Screw-Out Damaged Screw Remover Set for me for Christmas.
Facts about Screw-Out.
You get three bits in sizes small, medium, and large that fit either into a drill or a 1/4” hex drive screwdriver. The small bit is used for #6 and #8 screw heads. Medium is used for #8 and #10 heads. And Large is used for #10 and #14 heads. This is a nice array of sizes that should work with almost any size screw. The sizes are also etched right on the bits. These bits are very, very hard durable metal, and are about 2” long. They come to a point on the end with two sharp fins sticking out to dig into the head of the screw. Craftsman also gives you a very nice small hard-shelled plastic case to keep them in. As with most Craftsman drill accessories, this product is not cover by the Lifetime Warranty.
Works for about 3/4 of the jobs.
The Screw-Out remover works for most of the jobs that I’ve used it for so far. If you are working with the perfect conditions this product can be an absolute dream to work with. Softer or harder headed screws into soft materials are a slam dunk. Painted over screws are no problems at all. And it can be used with all screw head types: Torx, Slotted, Phillips, Hex, and Square headed. The real problem begins when the screw is into a harder material or the head is rusted or corroded. Using a drill even at low speeds is very difficult with these types of situations. And trying to use a hex drive bitted screwdriver is not going to work either. The head of the screw usually completely chews out before you get the bite required to remove it. The amount of down pressure used can determine whether you have success or not, as does the starting speed of the drill. I mostly own DeWalt drills with variable speeds, and it is still hard to get a slow enough speed to work properly. There is one thing that I did learn about this product that some may not think about. If the screw does start to chew and not come out, keep going with it. Some times it will catch deeper into the screw or you can even grind the head completely off. After which you can use a pliers to remove the stem of the screw.
Do I recommend this product? After all is said and done yes I do. This product is not going to work on all of your stripped screws, but it will work on most of them. I mentioned before I’ve had about 75% success with this product. In my opinion that is more than enough success to warrant spending the $20 that this product costs. Let’s face it I have tools that do a much worse job than that. I recommend the Craftsman 3 pc. Screw-Out Damaged Screw Remover Set for every home owner with the reservations that I stated above.
With drill in reverse and at slow speed, apply firm pressure and remove the screw Screw-Out bites into stripped screws without damaging surrounding su...More at Sears
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