I Hate Torx!

O

Oscar Meyer

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
326
yeah, I really hate these tiny little torx screws they use to hold these video cards together. I bought an EVGA backplate to put on my 680. The instructions say that four of the screws you need to remove are torx t6. Well, I have an unbranded reference gtx 680 i got off of Ebay. ALL of my screws are torx t6. Only the four screws that hold the heatsink in place are phillips head. These four are the ones that have the little tension spring. Every other screw on the back of the card is a torx6. And they are way overtorqued, or they just plain suck cause I stripped 3 of them. And the rest were a real pain to get out as well. I could feel the head stripping as I unscrewed them. But these last 3 screws are really stripped at the head. So anyone have any suggestions how to remove them? Is the only way to drill them out? I would hate the get tiny metal shavings everywhere, but if that is the only solution I guess it will have to do. Why can't they just use regular phillips head screws.....
 
I prefer torx screws over phillips all day long. Never had a problem with them unlike phillips. Unless we are talking about bigger sizes - like on vehicles. Anything over t20 or so just use hex please.
 
Are you sure your using the right size bit? I have never stripped a torx head, I prefer them over phillips for that exact reason.
 
yeah, I'm using a t6 torx head. I had a hard time getting pretty much alll of them out. on some I would initially turn it a bit and already feel the head of the screw stripping. I think who ever put these on torque it way too tight.
 
I'm gonna go get a small rotary head tommorrow and try to cut a straight line on the top of the torx screws and see if I can get some grip with a flat blade screwdriver. If that don't work, I'm just gonna have to drill them out.
 
HeavensCloud said:
There wasn't red loctite on there was there? :p
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no, but a bunch of blue loctite. I thought most of these cards only used four torx screws around the gpu area. Think I counted around 15 to 18 torx screws on the back on mine. Got an Accelero Twin turbo coming on Friday and would really like to get the heatsink/fan assembly off, but now it looks like this is going to be a long meticulous ordeal.
 
HeavensCloud said:
I prefer torx screws over phillips all day long. Never had a problem with them unlike phillips. Unless we are talking about bigger sizes - like on vehicles. Anything over t20 or so just use hex please.
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I'm with you. Never had a Torx screw strip on me unlike a cross pattern philips screws. The extra points of contact are great for helping prevent that. I did one time snap the head off a tiny little T6 screw on a mid-2007 iMac audio board when I made the mistake of using an electric screwdriver, but it didn't strip! :p
 
Anyone think JBwelding a hex nut to the top of the screws would work? Is JB weld strong enough? I tried drilling it with some black oxide drill bits and it didn't even make hardly a dent. I really don't want to have to go buy carbide bits.
 
The problem isn't torx -- sounds like some cheap-ass screws. Never stripped a flathead or phillips, eh? Once I had some screw heads twist right off because there were air bubbles in the metal!
 
i have had cheap hex hardware strip out as well if the metal is soft and the bolt is over torqued doesnt matter what type it is its going to strip on you
 
I've never had to do this myself on tiny screws, but you could try to use high-psi epoxy on a bit, let it set into the torx connector while you hold it, and let it cure for 48 hours before you try to remove the screw. Just don't let any of the epoxy stray from the torx head and bit or you'll wind up having more problems.
 
I prefer to use torx over phillips or any other type of screw for that matter. I'll be using a whole bunch of them to re-assemble my Mozart TX pieces once it gets painted.
 
Also technique can help, pin that beast down, and shock it loose with a hard initial twist while pressing very hard.
 
Got some Titanium bits and drilled out the heads of those screws. It was a pretty nerve racking ordeal. While using a 1/16 bit to prime a hole, bit broke and the drill slammed into the PCB. I thought I was toast, but after I put it back together and installed it, the card still works perfectly. I had tried some 2500 psi epoxy to glue on a hex nut but these screws are so small, there was hardly any bond at all. Glad this all worked out in the end.
 
I would have used a screw extractor bit before resorting to that, but still no harm no foul I guess.
 
Galaxy said:
I would have used a screw extractor bit before resorting to that, but still no harm no foul I guess.
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If you have a link to a screw extractor bit that is that small, could you post a link? I might pick one up to go with my fractional drill bit set.
 
When I was installing my GTX 480 waterblocks , the torx screws would always get dethreaded and make the job impossible. I figured out a way however to get the screw out regardless , I got a very cheap screwdriver and used some superglue to fill the screw head then I just put the screw driver into it and waited for it to set for about 15 minutes. Then I did some very careful slow turns and was able to wiggle lose the fucked screw.

Then I used some acetone to remove the superglue from my screwdriver and done and done.
 
Hahaha i had the same with my 2 gtx480's

I handed them to my wife, her hands are alot smaller then those 2 shovels i have. She managed to get those damn screws out in a few min, where i would still be trying if she didnt help.
 
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