Looking for some help on how to remove a circuit board from the standoffs, or the standoffs from the screws. I’ve pried as hard as I’m comfortable. The best I could do is having one standoff slide off a couple of threads. The standoff in the middle isn’t attached to anything, and I already removed the nuts on the corners.
Thanks,
Steve
I looked and don’t see how I can get behind it. This is on a Walking Dead machine. I read where some people snip off the top of the standoff.
Quoted from Astill:pinch the white circular parts together with needle nose pliers.
Ya I was gonna say, if the threaded part isn’t in the hole you should be able to pinch, otherwise you’d have to spin the white part off the thread if it is that tight. Or does the white mount move freely but tight on the thread?
Were there nuts on the tops of the posts? Or is it a push-on type? Like this for instance...
https://secure.microplastics.com/images/newsposts/111107021158.jpg
If so, those look "one-way." Great for fast assembly, not so good for removal. You could try freeze spray on the bolt? Any chance the bolt is only hand tight 
The standoff pops into the board hole and then they slide it over the screws. I tried turning them with no luck, so I went at the end with a set of small offset pliers. I beat the plastic up enough that it eventually gave up.
Next time I think I’ll sacrifice a hollow nut driver and machine the end off with two blades sticking out on opposite sides that will fit in the standoff’s slots. Maybe it will have enough bite to screw them off. There’s got to be a tool that will do this, because everyone has to have this problem.
Thanks for the ideas guys.
CCF4DFEE-2369-436A-BEAB-C85BE6CC4EC0 (resized).jpegQuoted from TigerBall:The standoff pops into the board hole and then they slide it over the screws. I tried turning them with no luck, so I went at the end with a set of small offset pliers. I beat the plastic up enough that it eventually gave up.
Next time I think I’ll sacrifice a hollow nut driver and machine the end off with two blades sticking out on opposite sides that will fit in the standoff’s slots. Maybe it will have enough bite to screw them off. There’s got to be a tool that will do this, because everyone has to have this problem.
Thanks for the ideas guys.
[quoted image]
Some aftermarket boards I have installed came with that type of standoff. I think it is a fairly common standoff today. It sounds like the inside diameter of the hole in the standoff is too small. Any chance it could be reamed out with a drill bit next size up?
Yep - I think Stern either used too big of a screw or too small of a standoff. The standoff should easily slide over the screw.
A bigger possibility (as cottonm4 mentions) is the mounting hole for the standoff is slightly too small and is compressing the standoff's locks. This seems to be the case in photo in post #7. The gap in the notch should be consistent from top to bottom yet you can see it getting narrower at the bottom where it goes through the PC board.
This style of standoff should be free-floating, you should be able to twist them without a lot of effort.
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Collingwood, ON
Wichita, KS
