Speak and spell repair, getting stripped screws out of electronics

I found an old speak and spell today and was wondering how to repair it. The catch? I stripped the screws trying to open it. Any suggestions on how to get them out. Also the battery compartment rusted to shit, so that needs fixing to. If it's hopeless I have a wall decoration.

 

Hammer a flat head screwdriver into the stripped screw (this will loosen it and hopefully give you some grip), then use a pair of pliers to rotate the screwdriver if you need the extra torque. If that doesn't do it, a small drill bit, a lot of patience, and the greater likelihood that that screw fitting won't ever be screwed again.

You should be able to sand the battery contact.

I'm sure there are more elegant solutions (and I daresay someone here will point them out), but that's what I'd do as a dirty fix. In honesty though, if it's as bad as you say the wall decoration is sounding pretty likely.

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but, the battery contacts are rusted OFF. so I need help with that.

 

take a clear big pen, remove the ink cartridge. Heat it up so it's nice and molten, SHOVE into screw. let cool. the molten plastic now has taken form of the stripped screw, turn. repeat for other screws.

 

Not completely, just close to it.

 

I've seen in similar threads a suggestion to use super glue to glue the tip of the screwdriver into the damaged screw. Sort of like the melted pen method. No idea if it works or not.

 

Maybe try hot glue. Then reheat it with a lighter to get the screw to come off the driver

 

Hot glue would be too rubbery, I'd have thought.

Anyway, I forgot the most obvious/effective - use a soldering iron on the screw.

 

I don't get it... Are you trying to weld the screw to the iron? Or to melt the thread? Even if using solder, I don't think it would stick to the head well enough.

 

Heat the plastic surrounding the screw thereby making the screw easy to remove.

 

What about after I fix the thing up and need to get it back together(with new screws of course)?

 

Get the screw back in and heat it up again.

Don't get me wrong, it's a botch, but I've successfully done it before now.

 

Why not take a piece of metal, solder it to the screw, then use your pliers to twist and remove it? No need to damage the case just to get a stripped screw out.

 

There are bits you can get that are designed just for this sort of thing. Usually when I see them they're built for purposes of removing screws from engine blocks and other applications where using something that applies a great deal of torque won't destroy the surrounding material. Assuming you still have something recognizable as a head attached to the screw's shaft with threading you could use one of these if one is small enough and will fit inside the hole sunk in the case.

http://homerepair.about.com/od/interiorhomerepair/ss/screw_extractor.htm

The battery contacts as mention can be extracted from another device. I once had to replace the contacts in a 1989 model GameBoy when some batteries decided it was time to corrode them beyond use.

 

Thanks for the link, I'll order these.