Moody Tools 58-0670 6-Piece Slot/Phil/Screw Extractor Combo Reversible Driver Set

I had a 1.0mm Philips screw to remove from a SLR camera lens I got on EBay. The previous owner had tried to take the lens apart to clean out a fair amount of lint on the inside of the lens (enough to affect the picture quality). He completely coned out the head of the screw so that there was nothing left for a Philips screwdriver to grab. He then tried to remove the screw with some needle nose pliers. The screw was completely messed up. I figured there was less than a 50 percent chance that I would ever get that screw out.I put a fair amount of downward pressure on the extractor and it slipped about a ¼ turn. I applied more pressure and slowly turned the screw out. The screw didn't have any Loctite on it. So as soon as it broke it loose, it came right on out.One of the things I never did figure out by reading the product description or looking at the Moody Tools website was what exactly did these extractors look like, and how did they work. Looking at the business end of the extractor, it looks like they machined a "V" notch across it, turned it 90 degrees, and cut another notch across it. So what you have are 4 sharp teeth that can dig into the screw. The steel tips are harden high quality steel, so they should last a long time. The blue handle is aluminum and the black spinner on top is plastic. I probably would have preferred metal spinners, but these plastic ones work really well. The silver shirt pocket clips on the side are just plain annoying. Luckily, they are easy to slide off.Overall, these are high quality, and well made USA tools. I don't think they will save you every time, but they definitely put the odds in your favor. There are some tools you should never skimp on and these are one of them.By saving the lens, they have already paid for themselves. I am now a happy, happy, happy camper.

I asked my auto repair guys, went to the Toyota dealer, some nice guy at Home Depot went into the back and tried for 10 minutes to help me out. No luck anywhere.The problem was a remote entry car key fob where the screw on the back had been stripped so I couldn't open it to replace the battery. Therefore, I couldn't lock or unlock my car. Pretty annoying.The problem most places had was that it was simply too small of a screw. I think it was around 3mm to 4mm and no one had any idea. A replacement key fob was $130 even on eBay so I was willing to give this $22 set a try.I opened up the bag, squinted as I tried to identify the smallest one and went to work. It was not easy keeping a firm pressure down and twisting since I had to keep the key fob flat as well. Also, if you believe it, I googled how to use an extractor and got all these bolt extractor vids that were much more complicated. For these, you just put force down and twist left to take out screws.I worked at it for a couple minutes without much luck. I wasn't expecting much anyway considering how no one, not even the dealer was able to help. But then I tried the extractor one size up. It's kind of tough to tell the difference but it's slightly larger. Anyways, the screw was out in 30 seconds.So I suppose this kit is able to get even smaller screws out. I can only imagine it'll be the ones used in glasses or something.So this tool kit saved me a lot of money and as far as I can tell, is pure quality. Like some other reviewer stated, I took off the clip thing. It does get in the way and I don't know when I would ever need to clip these to anything. Careful when taking them off though because they can leave scratches.The tips are reversible so this is a 12 in 1 kit and although I've only needed one so far it's paid for itself a few times over already and since I often work with electronics and computers I'm sure the other tools will come in handy too.

I bought this set because I ran into a few troublesome, stripped screws while re-habbing my kid's old laptop (replaced with newer model for Christmas), and just wanted to deal with them quickly and properly, with minimum risk of damage to any surrounding parts. There's a lot to like about this set of miniature screwdrivers/extractors ... the look; feel in your hand; made in the US by a very reputable tool company; the bits are really nice hardened steel, and they generally do what they're supposed to do. The trick is, e.g., figuring out exactly what that is.Basically what you're getting in this set are two combo phillips/slot head screwdrivers (one small, the other larger, with the bits being Phillips on one end and slot on the other), and five different diameter "extractors." With the exception of the smallest one (1.1 mm at one end and 1.5 mm at the other end) the extractor bits have the same size/kind of tip on both ends ... apparently to give you an alternate bit to use if/when the extractor teeth on one end get dulled or damaged.Now, I've seen some larger screw extractors that work differently than these do, e.g., as an attachment to a drill: you use one end of the bit to "burnish" a hole in the center of the stripped screw head, then the other, conical end of the bit to burrow into the burnished hole, "bite," and thereby remove the damaged screw. These don't work like that. The tip of the bit seems designed to be inserted into a screw hole for removal of screws whose heads have been sheared off. For example, the bit itself is a straight cylinder, right down to the ends of the teeth, which look designed to cap the screw material, cut into/mate with it a little ... hopefully providing enough "grab" in the process to turn the screw remnant and remove it. The problem with putting that kind of bit on a hand tool this small is that it's difficult to apply enough pressure to the screw to seat the bit in the screw material ... especially if the screw is frozen (usually the exact reason its head got sheared off). If you don't get enough pressure on it to seat the bit and start moving the screw, all you end up doing is grinding up the screw material. The ad copy should show a magnified photo of the extractor tips so buyers can see this, and determine from the design of the bits whether or not this tool is what they need for their particular problem. The ad copy does refer to these extractors as "best used when other methods have failed," and they're definitely right about that ...Therefore, what this particular set of extractors helped me figure out was that I wanted to try some other tricks before resorting to them. The tiny screws I was trying to remove were M2, about 8mm long, frozen/set with "locktite", with #00 Phillips drives that I had stripped pretty badly in my prior attempts to remove them. I had several different #00 Phillips drivers to try; picked one that seemed to have the best "bite" in what remained of the drive grooves, AND had a 7mm nut shape on its butt end. I then put that screwdriver into a 7mm nut driver (which allowed me to apply a lot more leverage/pressure to the screw head); heated the screws with a soldering iron, and was finally able to get 'em turning, and out. So, in the end, I didn't use these extractors for this job, but I know they're going to come in handy at some point in the future, and I'm still glad I got them.A few other little gripes I have about this set are: the plastic packet they come in isn't very convenient ... some of the bits are so small/sharp that they want to poke through the material when you're trying to put them back into their slots at the bottom. I would prefer, e.g., a plastic box with a clear lid and rack that holds each tool securely inside, preferably labeled by size. I also noticed that some of the bits wobble a little in their chucks ... they don't fall out, but they don't fit as nicely as what I've seen in other, small driver tools of this type (e.g., simple, lock-ring chuck).In sum, I'm generally happy with the quality of these tools, particularly the bits. I'd just like to see, e.g., magnified photos of the extractor tips in the listing, maybe some detailed user instructions/guidance, nicer container, and better fitment of the bits in their chucks.