Screw help needed please

Daisy_84

Bendy_House said:

Oh, the tension is almost unbearable... :-(

Haha. Sorry for setting high expectations. 

I’ve had a busy day at work. I think Friday and Saturday is when you will start getting updates .

Bendy_House

It is very important to have things to look forward to in life.

Daisy_84

Drilled more, but it’s still not loosening. 

The crown on the nail seems large and is blocking the top. Any tips on this? 

grumbler

Use a small screwdriver to remove the remaining small bits of the screw head if there are any. Drill more if needed. When you see that the head is gone, nothing holds the handle anymore except scale/rust or similar.

plumb1_2

As a apprentice we was always told to loosen tap heads and retighten before fitting new taps.
most plumbers or diyers would never do this.. old school = best school

Bendy_House

Daisy_84 said:

Drilled more, but it’s still not loosening. 

The crown on the nail seems large and is blocking the top. Any tips on this? 

Don't understand the issue here.

The screw is probably a dome-headed type. It'll have a head which will be anything up to 10mm diameter. The threaded shaft part will almost certainly be M4, which means a metric 4mm outside diameter thread.

You therefore need to use a drill size that's in between these two sizes. 5mm might do, but only if you manage to drill through the head dead centre. 6mm would be better. 7mm will also be fine. You simply drill down until the hole has gone through the head's thickness and is starting to cut in to the top of the threaded part, at which point the head will/should fully detach.

Crudely:

What size drill bit are you using? Is the drill in good condition? If so, it should cut through the soft brass with no difficulty.

Once the screw head has popped off, the tap head should be removable, tho' it might also be tight so need gentle tapping. But, first, get the screw head off. :-)

GDB2222

I agree that you just haven't drilled enough of the screw head away, yet.  Have another go with a bigger drill bit.  There's no harm using a drill bit that almost fills the hole. 

Ideally, use an HSS drill bit, designed to cut metal, although these brass screws are pretty soft, so you would get away with the wrong type of drill bit. Probably.