What can I use to: a) Cut a screw, b) clean a pendant fixture

Newreeflady

New member
I need to cut and remove a screw that is rusted to its bolt.

I also want to clean an old PFO mini pendant fixture thoroughly (reflector, outer housing, etc.)

Need to know what tools & cleaners would be best for this.

Thanks,
Angela
 
There are several ways to remove a rusted bolt . You can use WD 40 by spraying on and leaving for several minutes. Tap the bolt a little to see if it will move. Then try a wrench or pliers. The longer the wrench the more torque you will have. Is there any way to turn the bolt and hold the screw in place? Another choice is to cut the screw below the bolt with a hack saw or something else such as a dremel or saw zaw (can't think how to spell it) with a metal bit.
Or you can drill the screw out with a drill but that is harder to do.

How about vinegar and water? Anything around your chemistry lab that would work?

Good luck.
 
kafuda,

I tried holding the bolt while turning the screw and I stripped the screw. They are tight. I need to cut this one, and I have another identical one that needs to come off, too.. .

I'm not in a lab right now. I need a household product... so, you recommend vinegar?

thx,
-A
 
WD-40 does not do a good job or removing siezed bolts.

You want to try a product called PB-BLASTER it is a penetrating oil designed to free frozen bolts. You will need to spray it on and leave it... maybe several times.

Heat from a propane torch is always great at getting things moving, but in this case you may damage the pendant.

2 SMALL pairs of VISE-GRIP locking pliers would be of great benefit.... they are not good for very many things... other than stripping nuts and removing stripped nuts.

I would guess these are small machine screws with bolts on them. You best bet is to use a dremel to carefull cut either the head off of the screw or the nut off of the other side. You will have to be carefull not to scratch the pendant (or you will end up with more rust).

As a LAST resort you will want to try and drill off the head of the screw. Without a DRILL PRESS this is rather hard and you instead will end up marking up your pendant with a skittering drill bit.

Bean
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8114104#post8114104 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal

2 SMALL pairs of VISE-GRIP locking pliers would be of great benefit.... they are not good for very many things... other than stripping nuts and removing stripped nuts.


Bean

Vice grips are great for many things. Holding a hot piece of metal you just cut so you can weld it to something, clamping, etc. I wouldn't be without a set.

Anyway, another thing you could try is to take a dremel with a cut-off wheel and cut a slot in the top of the screw so you could use a flat head screwdriver to get it out.
 
Ohh dont' get me wrong Vise-Grips have hundreds of uses... I have a dozen shapes and sizes....but most of them [the mydriad ofuses] are not in the line of the average DIYer. To most they are just the end all beat all form of bolt strippers (and the tool that then removes the bolt anyway). Not to mention that I was trying to make a funny...

ohh well.
 
:D I agree though. It doesn't make a good wrench or screwdriver unless you don't want to use the screw or nut ever again.
 
You guys are pretty funny, jokes about vise grips, :p

I think i'll try the dremel removal method.

I really don't like the reflector at all. I would like to replace it, but this is such a tiny fixture that nothing that is sold stock will fit it. (like 10 x 6 x 4" or something very small.) The size is great for my tiny aquarium because I don't want a lot of spread from the light. I guess i'll just try some household cleaners and hope it cleans up enough to be useable.

-Angela
 
I have honestly never got one of those to work well at all... the nut never seems to be in the right place or hte splitter just gnaws a grove into part of the nut and splips off. They do make good paper weights on the workbench though!
 
I just wanted to update to say everything worked out. I used NOXON metal cleaner, available at the hardware store, to clean the used PFO mini pendant and the aluminum reflector, and they look WAY better!!

-A
 
If you can use a dremel to cut a new slot, you might try an impact driver. But it might be too late for that, or the fixture might be too delicate for that. Is the hole that the bolt going through threaded? I'm guessing that if it has a bolt, then it is NOT threaded. I'd use the dremel cut-off wheel and cu the head, or the bolt off.

Sears also has a nut removers and screw-out drills as well. (like reverse threaded drill bits and things that look like sockets, but with groves cut in them that really grab the sides of a rounded nut. Not sure of that would work with a screw.

V
 
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