I am trying to take the arms off my desk chair to see if I find it more comfortable. I have almost zero experience with being handy or anything diy, but I though this would be something easy to start with.
Each arm appears to be attached with four screws. But they don’t unscrew no matter how hard I turn the to the left. I swear there’s something up, but I have no idea what it could be. Some sort of fancy screw that can’t be unscrewed?
I’m guessing there’s something simple that I’m missing, and I’d be super greatful if someone could point me in the right direction.
Best Answer
They're probably installed with some sort of thread lock.
Try a few good whacks with a hammer to the screw heads. Then use a high torque screw driver (One that you can turn with a wrench), or a vice grip on the outside of the head, or an impact driver.
Make sure to use the correct bit for those screws. It should be the largest one that fits and doesn't wobble.
Sit the chair upside down, and place YOUR ENTIRE BODY WEIGHT onto the back of the impact driver to avoid stripping another screw head. Hopefully the one that stripped one will loosen enough with the other three off. It not, use one of these stripped screw remover bits.
If you have to use those bits, again, place extraordinary backpressure on the back of the impact driver when you do.
If all else fails (say they literally welded the threads in place) you can use an angle to grind away all four screws from both sides. But be careful not to let enough heat build up to melt or burn the fabric.