Many people who have problems with their Nintendo products want to take them apart and fix them themselves. If you’re one of those people, you probably know that you need a tri-wing screwdriver to do this. You’ve probably also heard that you can use some makeshift household tools to remove tri-wing screws.
Is this true? Yes, but let’s see how effective all the different home tools are and then compare them to the actual screwdriver that was made for this task.
Let’s first take a look at using a flat head screwdriver to get the job done.
This is by far the easiest of the makeshift tools to test. You will need an extremely small one to test it and you may need a few of them. The reason is that the screwdriver is not that strong and after taking out a few screws, you have most likely ruined the flat head. Be careful when using this method and do not overdo it.
the melted BIC pen is the second makeshift method we’ll look at.
This is not a very good method of removing these screws. what you do is take a BIC pen, heat the end until the plastic is soft, and then press it into the screw until the plastic hardens again. You will end up with a mold of the screw head.
Sounds good right? It might sound like a great way, but the problem is that plastic usually breaks because it can’t take the pressure you have to apply. If you are going to try this method, you will need a lot of BIC think and you will have to be patient. I would not recommend it.
The last makeshift tool we’ll consider is using a modified Phillips screwdriver.
This method is difficult and doesn’t really work that well. What you have to do is take a small Phillips screwdriver and remove one of the wings so that it is a T shape instead of a cross. This almost always does not fit well and ends up removing the screws. Of all the methods, this is by far the most difficult to create and the least efficient.
So how do these compare to the real deal?
If you buy a tri-wing screwdriver to do this task, you’ll be just fine. It does not remove the screws, you can use it thousands of times and they are relatively cheap. If you use an alternate method, you may save a few bucks, but it will be very frustrating and is not guaranteed to work. The only downside to the screwdriver is that you can only find them online.