cannonfodder wrote:Go to the hardware store. Buy yourself a stubby handled wide bladed screwdriver. They are only a few dollars. Right tool for the right job.

I found that the width of the screw's slot for the E-61 (on the VBM, anyway) is long and wide. Some stubby screwdrivers generally available do not seat well in the entire slot, width or lengthwise. With the possibly limited space the user will have to hold the handle of such a screwdriver as well as the limited visibility because of the short handle combine to increase the chance of tilting the driver and having it slip out of the slot when torque is applied. The result can be a damaged screw, damaged shower screen, or barked knuckles (BTDT too many times over the decades). Some may find it possible because not everyone wears X-large gloves like I do..

Those screws can be very tight. I know mine was, and I tried various screwdrivers including a stubby as you showed, but it was not possible to safely apply enough torque while maintaining a perpendicular angle of attack. With the modified quarter held by the adjustable wrench to apply torque it was VERY easy to break the screw loose. Torque could be easily applied without straining and it was very easy to observe the placement of the quarter in the slot to be sure it stayed seated properly.

This is on an Astoria/CMA machine with the center screw.

I was advised by a Seattle repair guy to pry up the edges of the shower screen with a screwdriver, bend them in and then grab the whole mess with big pliers and turn it. The now completely destroyed shower screen will rotate the screw out when you twist it.

His take on it was that any machine that had a screw that stuck in it had not been maintained and would need a new shower screen anyway. My E61 Futurmat uses the gasket to hold in the screen and it really seems like a much more elegant solution.

WES

djmonkeyhater wrote:My E61 Futurmat uses the gasket to hold in the screen and it really seems like a much more elegant solution.

which answers mindless_fools query re a screwed in screen available from epnw. I was considering such a fools move and am now persuaded not to. I did have a hell of a time a couple of months ago replacing the gasket but first had a Silvia and was sold the wrong size for my Vetrano.

Marvin

The Vibiemme E-61 brewheads (and many/most[?] other E-61s that I have seen or heard of) have the shower screen held in by the group gasket. That is the why Eric's pic has the paint can lid remover tool whshown. That tool can be used to pry out the screen and gasket together as a unit minimizing damage to either thus prolonging the life of both. The dispersion screw in the brewhead is the one to which I was referring, although the method to which we both referred can be used for screen retention screws as well.

Groups that have a screw in the center of the shower screen to hold it in place (the Silvia is just one example) can be removed by the screen-bending method that djmonkeyhater mentioned, but it is more economical to try other methods first wherever possible.

And for the record, the first time I removed the dispersion screw on my VBM, the machine was only a few months old and I bought the machine new, yet it was still so tight that it would not budge with a screwdriver... it happens. And the tool I created only cost me 25¢ to make!

iginfect wrote:which answers mindless_fools query re a screwed in screen available from esnw. I was considering such a fools move and am now persuaded not to. I did have a hell of a time a couple of months ago replacing the gasket but first had a Silvia and was sold the wrong size for my Vetrano.

Marvin

The EPNW kit is to make it simple to do routine cleaning above the group screen without having to wrestle the group gasket in & out to do it. In the course of a year now I can clean behind the screen at least once a week and not dread dealing with the gasket.



Something else to consider when approaching a stuck group dispersion screw is to have the machine fully warmed up...heat always helps in removing stuck screws. Certainly have the machine turned off and protect yourself with gloves or whatever to avoid burns.