Screw Starter Noose

Screw Starter Noose

On more then one occasion I have had to install or remove a screw or bolt in a hard to reach location. While there are a wide variety of screw starters available, most of them are designed for slot head or Phillips head screws. There are only a couple starter designs that work with only a few of the specialty head screws. This is a problem.

My solution to this is the Screw Noose, which is made from a piece of string and a straw. Figure 1 shows it in action.

The materials needed are:

A straw or tube that is long enough to reach the location of the screw.

A piece of string that is about three times longer then the straw.

Figure 2 shows several of the tubes that I have used such as the barrel of a pen, a coffee stirrer, and a soda straw.

Figure 3 shows the string inserted in the straw. The string is folded in half and inserted through the tube so the two ends protrude from one end and a loop of string protrudes from the other end. Inserting the folded string in one end and applying some suction at the other end will pull the string through the straw quickly.

Figure 4 shows screws being held by the noose. Note the tape at the end of the straw holding the string in tension.

To use the noose as a screw starter, place the noose around the screw, under the screws head and pull the string's ends to tighten it around the screw. A peace of tape can be used to tape the ends of the string to the straw to keep the tension on the string and noose. The screw is positioned and started then the tension on the noose is released and the screw is tightened.

To use the noose as a screw remover, loosed the screw so there is some space between the bottom of the head of the screw and the object the screw is being removed from. Place the noose around the screw, below the head of the screw, and apply tension to the string. Finish removing the screw and lift out.