Rant: a stripped panel screw on a 737 aft galley turned into a 6-hour shift and a lot of cussing | Aircraft Mechanics - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Rant: a stripped panel screw on a 737 aft galley turned into a 6-hour shift and a lot of cussing
Last Tuesday night at our hangar in Louisville I went to pull a galley panel screw on a 737 and the head just rounded out on me. I tried the rubber band trick, then a left-hand drill bit, and ended up drilling the whole head off and fishing the shaft out with a pick and a magnet. What should have been a 10-minute panel pull ate up 6 hours of my shift, and I missed my kid's game because of it. My lead just shrugged and said that screw was probably torqued by a guy with an impact gun and no feel. I've been doing this 14 years and those soft head fasteners still get me every few months. How are you guys getting rounded screws out without destroying the panel around them? I'm open to any trick that saves me another night like that.