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This might be one for @chiefgrooveguru. I'm trying to remove the horn from a PA cabinet and two of the screw are corroded and the T-nuts are just spinning on the back side with very difficult access to them. Anyone got any genius ideas please?
If the bolts are seized in them you might need to drill the heads off and knock them inwards. If the t-nuts prongs are gone or the plywood has been torn up there’s not much else you can do!
Yeah, thought as much. Trouble is how to stop em spinning while I drill em?
If the screw heads are proud of the surface, you might be able to cut them off using a thin disc on a dremel, cutting at 20-30º?
If they're countersunk, I'm down to wild ideas like gluing a tube onto the screw and drilling down the middle of it - unlikely to work but throwing it into the pot in case it sparks a better idea.
Unfortunately they are countersunk and just loose enough to spin freely.
Can you reach behind and push something like a pin tack in to stop it spinning? Otherwise you might be able to put a small screw in from the front at an angle. Not sure how much space you have around the front of it though
Can you take the woofer out and get some mole grips onto the t-nuts? Or any handles you can take out?
Can you get at them at all? Blob of super glue on a skewer? To hold it in place. Even a small hole diagonally from the front at the edge of the horn would be easy to hide and dribble some thin super glue in.
Heat the bolt with a soldering iron then freeze it with a spray see if you can loosed the bolt.
Apply super glue to the bolt heads and work it under the countersink. That will hold them in place to drill out the bolts (slowly, don't get them hot). Then tap the bolts through and heat the remainder of the countersinks with a soldering iron to degrade the glue.
If you have a small bit of space between the board and the head of the nut, put a hacksaw blade in there and then use an impact driver to turn the bolt. Assuming you can hold the blade and turn the bolt the right way, it will quickly cut through it.
Just got back from work and seen all the new suggestions. The screws are actually pan head machine screws that sit in a counterbore rather than countersunk. Unfortunately they aren't loose enough to get anything behind them. The woofer is already out as everything is front loaded in this box and the handles are fabricated in the ply so no other way in. If I reach in and around the horn I can just feel the t-nuts with my finger tips it's very tight in there. I am going to try some small mole grips but don't reckon much to my chances as I will be working by feel and they will only be able to grip with the front edge of the jaws.
Can you wedge the T-nut with a nail or similar to stop it spinning?
I think I'd be planning on careful slicing the back off and leaving a lip to reattach a new board to at this point. Depends on the construction though.
Got the heads drilled off evetually after using various levers and methods to apply sideways pressure to the bolts to stop em from spinning.