Stripped screws

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If the thread is into plastic a good repair can be made using the threaded inserts for wood in furniture making they have a tapped hole in the centre with an allen socket to enable you to screw them in & a spiky coarse thread on the outside that will bite into the plastic a dab of superglue on fitting the insert keeps them in place they come in various sizes & names looking on E bay under threaded inserts for wood will give you an idea of what they are like.
I've used 5mm x .8 helicioils on plastic with good results - recoil, ignition coils, carb support screws.

With helicoils it is important to make sure the screw goes all the way through the coil, or at least most of the way through. If it only snags a few threads the coil can be pulled apart.
 
helicoils are ok for a saw you're not going to use. otherwise use the more expensive timeserts. they work better and last longer, especially in magneseium. the problem with most saws is you only get one chance. if a helicoil fails you don't have enuff meat left. this is really true for husky top cover screws. timeserts have a larger od than helicoils and often the magnesium is too boogered up to hold a helicoil reliably but a timesert works fine.

saws your not going to use? get your head out of your ass lol. i use all my saws and while not all have heli coils some do and hold better then the original magnesium threads by far when done right. loctite in a heli coil with red loctite and try get it out once cured. report back here when done. when done right they are just as hard to get out as a timesert. i've been using green loctite 620 which is high heat and you can't get them out. even drilling the coil out is hard. about the only thing i use a timesert for is spark plug thread repair and even then i'll use a heli coil if that's what i got as i haven't had one fail after a repair.
there is almost always a way to repair. even some area's with hardly any meat at all can be tapped to a standard thread which can then have a bolt inserted to fill the hole. then just drill and tap the bolt to the saws specified threaded bolt. there have been very few stripped/broken/damaged threads that i couldn't repair. definitely gotta get crafty with some of them though.
 
saws your not going to use? get your head out of your ass lol. i use all my saws and while not all have heli coils some do and hold better then the original magnesium threads by far when done right. loctite in a heli coil with red loctite and try get it out once cured. report back here when done. when done right they are just as hard to get out as a timesert. i've been using green loctite 620 which is high heat and you can't get them out. even drilling the coil out is hard. about the only thing i use a timesert for is spark plug thread repair and even then i'll use a heli coil if that's what i got as i haven't had one fail after a repair.
there is almost always a way to repair. even some area's with hardly any meat at all can be tapped to a standard thread which can then have a bolt inserted to fill the hole. then just drill and tap the bolt to the saws specified threaded bolt. there have been very few stripped/broken/damaged threads that i couldn't repair. definitely gotta get crafty with some of them though.

last time i checked, my head wasn't where the sun don't shine. and probably you have more skill than me... but helicoils in boogered magnesium threads have been a problem for me, a problem to the point i have had to replace cases after the dust clears. it's usually a groundman, aka gorilla, who tries to wrench on a saw and doesn't have a clue about his strength. if helicoils work for you that's great. i keep a stock of timeserts. by "saws your not going to use" i mean a frequent problem seen here and in other arenas, saws you intend to sell. however, if you buy a saw from me, i will stand behind it and it won't have any expedient repairs. if it is a saw that i will use at work, same thing.
 
last time i checked, my head wasn't where the sun don't shine. and probably you have more skill than me... but helicoils in boogered magnesium threads have been a problem for me, a problem to the point i have had to replace cases after the dust clears. it's usually a groundman, aka gorilla, who tries to wrench on a saw and doesn't have a clue about his strength. if helicoils work for you that's great. i keep a stock of timeserts. by "saws your not going to use" i mean a frequent problem seen here and in other arenas, saws you intend to sell. however, if you buy a saw from me, i will stand behind it and it won't have any expedient repairs. if it is a saw that i will use at work, same thing.

lol i was just testing your patience with the head up ass joke. i stand behind my work too. i've sold lots of saws here with heli coils and never heard back. i bet the owners couldn't even tell the holes had a heli coil in them. i've used 100's of heli coils in saws. if your just installing them dry you already know why they aren't working for you. although, i have had many work fine dry as well. my confidence in my heli coil fixes is because i have tried to remove them before. usually when i'm building a project where i plan to go with oversized bolts after i already did a repair. hell, i've used heli coils on head bolt threads on aluminum block engine automotive or marine as a repair and never had them fail. way more of a test then any application a saw has to offer. a year ago i stacked 2 2xD 8mm heli coils bolting on a head of a Yamaha outboard. it still runs today and is a year round use motor. not seasonal.
 
lol i was just testing your patience with the head up ass joke. i stand behind my work too. i've sold lots of saws here with heli coils and never heard back. i bet the owners couldn't even tell the holes had a heli coil in them. i've used 100's of heli coils in saws. if your just installing them dry you already know why they aren't working for you. although, i have had many work fine dry as well. my confidence in my heli coil fixes is because i have tried to remove them before. usually when i'm building a project where i plan to go with oversized bolts after i already did a repair. hell, i've used heli coils on head bolt threads on aluminum block engine automotive or marine as a repair and never had them fail. way more of a test then any application a saw has to offer. a year ago i stacked 2 2xD 8mm heli coils bolting on a head of a Yamaha outboard. it still runs today and is a year round use motor. not seasonal.

good to hear of your success with helicoils. i've used them many times too, with mixed results. even cast iron can be boogered enuff that helicoils won't get a good purchase. but in my experience timeserts save money, time and grey hairs.
 
I agree that timeserts are a good option. They just take slightly more meat then a 5mmx.8 heli coil which is the most common repair for saws. At that point in most applications I'd just tap to 6mm. It's an option though. Heli coils don't require more skill to make as strong as a timesert. All they require is a bead of loctite. My suspicion is that you are installing them dry why you are getting mixed results.
 
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