Problems removing tray from housing

[Trevor JC Brown]

Hello, I have an ikelite dual arm tray attached to an olympus housing. I want to remove the tray but it's been attached for ten years and the screws are most likely locked by corrosion. Is my best bet to soak in diluted vinegar? Any other ideas?

 

[bvanant]

Soak in CLR and if you have it use an ultrasonic bath. If that doesn't work try heating a bit with a torch.
Bill

 

[stepfen]

Another thing that might work is an impact screw driver.
Good luck...

 

[TostitoBandito]

CLR, and a brush to scrub off as much of the corrosion as you can, then some PB blaster or WD40 and let it soak and hopefully drip down into the threads for 24 hours or so.

You don't really need to be gentle since it's the bolts fused to the aluminum tray, not the acrylic housing. So impact tools or some heat are all your friends. Differing metals like the steel/zinc bolts and the aluminum tray can like to sort of corrode together in salt water. Worst case you can try drilling them out or cutting off the bolt heads and then using a screw extractor to remove the threaded portions from the housing.