About a year and a half ago, I bought an Icom IC-2820H at the Findlay hamfest. It included the UT-123 option, which is a board that you plug into the main board, which gives it D-STAR capability. I mentioned in a previous post that I’d be willing to remove and sell that board as there are non D-STAR repeaters in my area.
I got one offer about a year ago, but that never panned out for some reason. Then about a month ago, someone else offered to buy it. After agreeing on the price, he sent me a money order for the amount, so yesterday, I attempted to remove the board.
I hit a snag, though, in getting the board out of the unit. To remove the board, you have to remove 10 tiny Phillips head, M2 screws. I don’t know who installed the board, but whoever did, really torqued down these screws, making them very difficult to unscrew. I got the first nine out OK, although some of them i had to really bear down on some to get them out.
The tenth was another matter. I stripped the head, making it unremovable, at least by any method I could find on the internet. I tried using a straight screwdriver and then a rubber band, but the darn thing just wasn’t coming out.
This morning, I took it over to my favorite hardware store, Stadium Hardware. The people there are really amazing. They’ll help you with almost anything. I knew that if it was possible to get that screw out, they could do it.
At first, the guy said, “Hmmmm. Looks like we’re going to have to drill that out and re-tap whatever it’s screwing into.” But, then, he walked away from the counter and came back with a set of damaged screw removers and a drill motor.
At first, it looked like he was just shaving more metal from the stripped screw, and I’m thinking that I’m really screwed now. Eventually, though, the screw began to turn and it came out. I ended up buying the extractor set, of course.
I took the radio home, popped the lid, removed the board, packaged it up (the guy who sold me the radio even had the original box for the UT-123), and I sent it on its way. The hardware store didn’t have the right screw to replace the ruined one, so I only had to replace nine of them.
The whole process was kind of a pain, but it was a learning experience, too. I learned how to use a screw extractor, and I now have the right tools to do the job.
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