electricalreceptaclescrews
The threaded mounting hole in my metal (based on OPs comment) electrical outlet is stripped; please refer to where the top flat-head screw is in the photo.
As a result, the electrical outlet is not physically stable. How should I fix the problem without hiring an electrician? Thanks in advance.
First try to determine if the piece is a solid piece of steel or a casting, sometimes referred to as potmetal. Over heating a casting can turn it to a brittle paperweight The broken extractor bit is likely to hard to drill out. If you have access to the opposite side try to drill a small hole and drive the broken extractor out with a punch. Once the broken bit is removed drill and tap it for a larger screw, install a heli-coil or a nutsert.
I would say the optimal screw hole shape that will allow the maximum amount of torque to be applied, would be no hole.
Removing material from the head of the screw; no matter what shape, will weaken the screw slightly. The only way to maintain the full strength of the screw; and therefore achieve maximum torque, is to not remove any material. So a hex head screw (not to be confused with a hex drive screw), would allow for maximum torque.
Best Answer
If the hole is slightly stripped, then slipping some type of material in the hole to take up space might do the trick. A small sliver of card stock or paper or a very thin strand of copper wire (thin like a thread, not thick house wiring).
If that doesn't work or if the hole is actually cracked wide open, you could use glue to hold the screw in place. Superglue will probably work well and will set fast. Epoxy is another good choice, but it can be a bit messy. Even something as basic as wood glue would work to some degree, but that takes a while to dry. Epoxy will be the strongest choice here. The other glues would probably fail after a while or if you tried to plug in something with a very stiff cord.
Glue will make it impossible to remove the outlet, but since the box is broken already, anyone that would replace the outlet would just replace the box as well. They are usually very easy to replace once you've done it a few times.