Bolt-head stripped on hand grip

OK, good news. The extractor kit worked and the handle is still in one piece!

So here's what I did. A few photos to show what's needed.

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I bought an extractor kit from my local orange-apron home improvement store. It was about $9.00. I could have bought just a single extractor, but I figured this kit could potentially have more use in the future, so the few extra bucks for all of the extractors was worth it. I also used a 5/32 drill bit that I had at home and my drill.

I used the 5/32 drill bit to drill a hole in the damaged bolt. You can see the hole in the image below (pardon the dirty fingernail). According to the little diagram on the extractor kit, because I used a 5/32 drill bit, I should use the #3 extractor. So I did. Their instructions say to hammer it into the hole you drilled. Not going to happen on my camera. So what I did was put the extractor in my drill, tighten the chuck, and set the direction to reverse. I was sitting down so I wedged the camera baseplate and the top handle in-between my legs so I wouldn't damage the LCD or EVF. I pushed fairly hard against the drill while I slowly had it going in reverse. I thought it would never catch but it finally did and extracted the bolt really easily.

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After removing it, I realized that this bolt did not have the spring on it like the other bolt has. Could be why it was able to be over-tightened. I'm not sure yet what type of bolt I want to replace this one with. I'm not sure what type of head pattern would last a long time, but I might grab a few different bolts from Ace tonight and see what works.

Anyways, hopefully this helps someone else in the future.
 
That's a decent looking extractor set. I've not seen that style ever manufactured that well. Your issue with it not catching is why I don't like that style. But you got it out. Excellent.

Button head screws are problematic. Phillips and slot are terrible. Hex has issues as well. Torx is the best solution, but then you need a special tool. If you don't mind changing the appearance, the a socket hex cap screw would be my preference. Otherwise, I'd go with a button head with the hex socket.

McMaster Carr is a good source for a wide variety of bolts. You'll pay a bit more, but they have a wide selection of styles and materials. Get stainless steel.

McMaster.com/#machine-screws/=skt5ct
 
That's a decent looking extractor set. I've not seen that style ever manufactured that well. Your issue with it not catching is why I don't like that style. But you got it out. Excellent.

Button head screws are problematic. Phillips and slot are terrible. Hex has issues as well. Torx is the best solution, but then you need a special tool. If you don't mind changing the appearance, the a socket hex cap screw would be my preference. Otherwise, I'd go with a button head with the hex socket.

McMaster Carr is a good source for a wide variety of bolts. You'll pay a bit more, but they have a wide selection of styles and materials. Get stainless steel.

McMaster.com/#machine-screws/=skt5ct

Thanks for the link Paul. I will check them out. I didn't have any issues with this extractor set actually. My other extractor bit, which has worked on other screws and bots, basically just cut through the soft metal on the OEM bolts and didn't grab anything, hence the need for a different extractor set.
 
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