Those dreadful Allen screws on many cameras
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 8:04 amI have found them and cursed them on the SI2K camera, the Metabones Nikon to M4/3 Speedbooster and the Blackmagic camera family. The countersunk variety of these screws are the very worst.
My personal preference for loosening them is to insert the key wrench into the hex hole of the screw as usual. I then press in as firmly as I can, hopefully to relieve just a little of the tension against the threads. I tilt the wrench shaft so that positive engagement in the deepest points of the hex hole occurs at the top and bottom of the hole on opposing sides.
I then use a slight turning motion from my elbow, not from the wrist or fingers, to crack the friction of the screw. I also keep the same sideways pressure exerted into the same portion of the screw as I rotate it so there is reduced chance of slippage. I will then rotate the screw by the same method in a small arc back and forth a few times to polish any remaining thread locker or oxide in the threads.
There should be no rocking or movement of the hex wrench in the hex hole at all or the method will not work. Then using the same tilt and pressure method, I back the screw out patiently in small steps, three or four turns by which time it should become loose enough that normal finger twisting of the wrench is all that is needed to remove the screw.
No warranty of satisfactory performance is made, either express or implied.
My personal preference for loosening them is to insert the key wrench into the hex hole of the screw as usual. I then press in as firmly as I can, hopefully to relieve just a little of the tension against the threads. I tilt the wrench shaft so that positive engagement in the deepest points of the hex hole occurs at the top and bottom of the hole on opposing sides.
I then use a slight turning motion from my elbow, not from the wrist or fingers, to crack the friction of the screw. I also keep the same sideways pressure exerted into the same portion of the screw as I rotate it so there is reduced chance of slippage. I will then rotate the screw by the same method in a small arc back and forth a few times to polish any remaining thread locker or oxide in the threads.
There should be no rocking or movement of the hex wrench in the hex hole at all or the method will not work. Then using the same tilt and pressure method, I back the screw out patiently in small steps, three or four turns by which time it should become loose enough that normal finger twisting of the wrench is all that is needed to remove the screw.
No warranty of satisfactory performance is made, either express or implied.