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stuck screws

Author: janlynn
Date: 2012-02-25 19:23

I have 2 older clarinets I would like to take apart and clean but I cant get the screws off.

any ideas?

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Re: stuck screws

Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-02-25 20:18

Are you talking rod screws or point screws?

Stuck rod screws are usually due to them rusting in the key barrels which may come undone by applying thin oil (penetrating oil) and heating, leaving to cool and repeating the process until they shift, or cutting them and fitting new screws (which is a pain in the proverbial).

Stuck point screws can be freed by applying penetrating oil and heating and should come undone far easier than rod screws.

But in all cases, use decent screwdrivers which will fit the screw slot well and have large enough handles to allow for good leverage.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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Re: stuck screws

Author: clarnibass
Date: 2012-02-26 04:50

I pretty much use the same method that chris described. I found it might help even more if using a cycle of penetrating oil, regular thin oil, lighter fluid and heat. Not necessarily in that order or equal amounts (usually more pentrating oil and heat, less of the others). If you use a flame to heat be careful especially if it's a plastic clarinet and/or applying it when there is a flamable material there (e.g. lighter fluid). I use an electric heater most of the time.

Definitely use very strong (thick handle) and very good fitting screwdriver. I often slighty modify the screwdrivers' tips to make them more secure and hold better.

BTW one problematic case is when the screw is made from a weird and softer material so you can barely use any force and it will just chew the screw. It's not a major concern and I've only seen a few of these, mostly cheap Chinese models.
Most other models don't have this problem, but you can still chew the slot if you are not careful, or maybe it's already ruined. When this happens I re-slot the screw, without damaging the post, using a tiny reversed bit in a micromotor.

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