help please

[trainmaster]

i have a bachmann spectrum k4-4-6-2 dcc-ready.one of the screws in the tender has broken off and now i cant open the shell and install the dcc decoder.what should i do?  note the screw head has been chiped away over time,and  now no matter what i do i can get this screw out it just wont work with a screw driver any more

[CAB_IV]

How has it broken?  do you mean the head of the screw has literally cracked off?  Is there any piece of it left?

I do not have this model so i'm not familiar with how it goes together or comes apart,  so i'm just gonna go out on a limb and suggest that you use some sort of plastic safe penetrating oil  (along the lines of Gibbs oil or WD40, BUT DO NOT USE THESE UNLESS THEY SAY PLASTIC COMPATIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

let it sit for a few minutes, it should loosen up the screw.    if you are fortuneate, you might be able to grasp a bit of the screw with needle nose pliars.   

If you have a small hammer and a strong steel nail, you can hammer the screw at an angle, so to make it spin (only try this after the oil is in), and keep hitting it in a circle.   This is a slow method, but this is how i get broken screws out of anything.   

tell me how it goes.

[Jim Banner]

I too am more than a little confused about how you break a steel screw in plastic.  But I have seen cases where a piece of plastic breaks off with the screw firmly in it.  One trick I have used in that case it to heat the screw with a hot soldering iron and when the plastic around it melts, pull the screw straight out.

Much more common is to undo a screw and have it not fall out of the hole.  If this were the case, then I would be looking for whatever is still holding the tender together.  Sometimes are are plastic clips or latches in addition to a screw.

Jim