Why I quit using a scriber to mark lens ring screws after 12 years

I spent 12 years marking tiny lens ring screws with a steel scribe so I could line them back up, and last month a guy at a repair meetup in Phoenix watched me do it and said I was basically carving a stress riser into every screw head. I switched to a fine Sharpie dot and a phone photo right after he said that, and stripping went from a monthly problem to zero on my last 30 jobs. Has anyone else had a screw snap because the scribe mark turned into a crack starter?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

mark67610d ago

Scribe marks on tiny screws are a bad idea, period. Steel gets a scratch and that scratch becomes a crack every time. Saw it on a pair of old binoculars, guy kept reusing the same marked screw and one day the head just popped clean off. Sharpie dot and a photo is the right move. Costs nothing and saves you a headache.

3