Stripped screw on bottom plate of Minolta X700

[TheSohnly]

Hello APUG,

The Story:
I have two Minolta X700 bodies. The first one doesn't work at all. The second one works, but the bottom plate is partially broken RIGHT where my gorilla-sized right hand rests. I put the minolta auto-winder on the bottom to cover it up for now (I never use it), but the winder gets in the way at times and I would rather have a slightly smaller camera body to deal with.

The Problem:
I want to do a bottom plate swap on my two X700 bodies, but the heads of the screws on the non-functioning X700 body are stripped. I have tried slotting it myself with an X-acto knife. I have tried gluing the head a bit and moving it very slowly. These screws are really in there.

The Question:
Any more tips on how can I get these stripped screws out?

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Use a small drill, say 1 mm, and hold it in a pinvise. Drill into the center of the screwhead until the head is detached from the shank of the screw.

 

[EASmithV]

Use a small drill, say 1 mm, and hold it in a pinvise. Drill into the center of the screwhead until the head is detached from the shank of the screw.

Yikes! Good luck with that!

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Yikes! Good luck with that!

Why?

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

You can also try carefully applying a soldering iron to screw head. Maybe someone decided to put some loctite on it before you had it. I also own a set of precision stripped screw removers but they aren't the best as they are handheld (not enough torque or downward pressure as when using a power drill) and expensive. Good luck.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

You can also try carefully applying a soldering iron to screw head. Maybe someone decided to put some loctite on it before you had it. I also own a set of precision stripped screw removers but they aren't the best as they are handheld (not enough torque or downward pressure as when using a power drill) and expensive. Good luck.

Thanks, forgot about the soldering iron.
Sometimes, a straightblade of the right width will get enough bite in a rounded out crosspoint screw to turn it out.

 

[John Koehrer]

I think E. vonHoegh's first suggestion will be the easiest. If you have a slotted driver that fits the head you can drive it into the screw with a couple of taps of a hammer. Don't jump through anything. All the screw needs is a little bite.

 

[Molli]

I've no idea how large the screws are that need to come out, but I took my camera to a jewellers when I had a tiny little base plate screw stripped that wouldn't budge. He had it out in a second, no charge, just a smile. Then the optometrist across from the jewellers supplied me with a replacement screw - again, no charge.