yeh ok so the little tiny fcs screws are stripped inside the little hole and theres no way i can get them out
does anyone have any suggestions
For starters, be sure it’s the screws and not the wrench. It ( the wrench) is made of softer metal than the screws themselves and usually rounds off first, so grinding a quarter inch off the hex wrench will get you nice, unrounded metal again. Or, go out and buy a good quality hex wrench of the right size instead of the POS wrench FCS sells.
Use a pin or needle to clean any crud out of the screw sockets and such. If the wrench can’t get deep enough onto the socket it can’t turn the screw, it just rounds out and spins. Also, hot water rinsed through there ( just under boiling hot) will wash out salts and such in the screw and the threads and let it turn a helluva sight easier.
Ok, none of that worked? I have had some luck with a star or Torx bit of the right size, pushed in there hard while turning - I forget if it’s a T-10 size or T-15, but sometimes that will grip it enough to get it out. You’ll have to replace the screw ( standard size screws, though, get a stainless steel set screw at your local hardware store ) but that’s all.
That didn’t work? Ok, use a drill bit of the appropriate size ( left-hand is preferable if you can find one, they are a letter or number size drill) and a broken-stud remover ( aka Easy Out ) with a tap wrench to remove it. Be careful not to drill too far and right through fin and plug and make a leak. Again, you’ll need to get another screw afterwards, no biggie. Careful, the easy-outs are made of a very hard steel and can be brittle.
If that doesn’t work, then a hole saw and replacing the plug is the way to go. And don’t forget to lube the screws and threads in the new plug with a little beeswax plus graphite powder or something similar so this doesn’t happen again. Don’t use machine oil, it can muck up the plastic in the plug.
hope that’s of use
doc…
i just got them out thanks doc…
Go to Sears or something and buy a 3/32 hex (allen) driver 1/4" drive, a 4" or 6" extension 1/4" drive and a ratchet or a T-handle 1/4" drive. This will pretty much save you from stripping out the set screws ever again. The little removal keys that FSC includes/sells are junk. Hope this helps you out …
Yea… I gotta support Shaka.brah on this one. I know that it’s suppose to be a safety feature, that strips the wrench before the screw, but lets think about this: Say the screw was so locked in there that the Allen slot in the screw itself would give before you had enough torque to back the screw out, well then, what does it matter? You’d never be able to get the screw out anyway… so what would be the point in having the wrench strip first? Either the screw is able to be backed out, or it isn’t.
If you deal with a lot of FCS save yourself the headache, go buy a decent wrench.
yeah the FCS things really suck i just ended up drilling it out
i used a drill but the same size as the screw and drilled it backwards
it seemed to work
Try a 2.5 mm allen key(could be a 3mm long time since usings FCS!!), I find this fits pretty good into a rounded out FCS grub screw. Also try and stick a little toothpaste or if you have it grinding pasted on a good fcs key as this will help grip the rounded out grub screw as well.
cheers joe
one of my friends has a crazy method that works almost everytime for him. He heats up a soldering pencil for about 10 minutes. Then he heats the screw just enough so that the surrounding plastic has softened. Then using his fcs key he pushes the screw completely through. With the plastic still moldable, he puts his new screw in and re-threads the plastic. I believe this was advice from fcs if am not mistaking.
De nada, man. Something I suggest, though not many seem to do it, is this:
The FCS set screws are pretty cheezy too. So, every year ( pick midsummer’s day, your birthday, something you’ll remember ) have a Ceremonial Replacing of the Screws. Remove the old ones, throw them away and replace them with nice shiny new stainless steel set screws - they cost around 25 cents each, considerably less each if you buy a box of 'em. Lube 'em with a little beeswax and graphite mix ( cold water surf wax will do in a pinch ) so they won’t jam or stick and on that day also pitch the previous year’s Allen wrench and replace it with a nice new one. Total cost, around two bucks US. And it’ll make your life easier and your worries fewer.Well worth it.
hope that’s of use
doc…
Quote:
So, every year ( pick midsummer’s day, your birthday, something you’ll remember ) have a Ceremonial Replacing of the Screws.
Damn Doc… you sure know how to party 
For all the newbs, I might suggest easing into this wild and crazy lifestyle, couple of steps at a time… maybe only do the screws the first year, and the wrenches the second.
All jokes aside, good idea… unfortunately, I have a hard enough time just getting my taxes in on time every year, or my car registered… spring cleaning, every spring? annual replacement of the battery in my smoke detector? …forget about it.
oh, maan… the next party I am gonna be trying to avoid is my 50th birthday, and that’s too depressing for words. I was supposed to live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse…and now I am living disgustingly slow, two or three times as long as I expected ( yeah, if I had known, I woulda taken lots better care of myself) and I kinda doubt I could even donate this battered old carcass to one of those Caribbean medical schools that graduate people who flunked out of junior high…
The income taxes get in first possible moment 'cos I get a refund ( the joys of living below the ‘poverty level’ ) , house taxes are running about a year late, car has been off the road for two years ( then again, riding the bike to work keeps me relatively healthy in spite of myself) spring cleaning has been postponed since the beginning of the millenium or the last live-in ladyfriend, I forget which.
Smoke detector? The battery came out of that during the divorce, when I realised my lovely ex wasn’t going be around to need an audible indication that things were cooked to her usual standards.
Anyhow, when you put your board …okay, your summer board…away for the winter, change the screws and grease 'em up and they won’t have a chance to get froze up in the off season. Good idea to do the same with the screws in Fins Unlimited boxes too, they are also cheap and the stainless can gall to the other stainless if you don’t, making life difficult. Kinda like how you store outboards, power tools and such when you won’t be using 'em.
doc… former party animal, hibernating…