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I have a "Inca HC Hilo 72" built-in range hood over my stove. There are two small light bulbs in the hood, each one sitting in a bracket which is held in place by two small screws. These screws are flat head with a Phillips drive. The screws hold the bracket against another sheet metal part.

During bulb replacements, I've damaged these screw heads to the point where it's very hard to remove them. I'd love to find a replacement screw (hopefully something other than Phillips) to replace them.

Snooping around the Faber web site gets this exploded view: http://www.faberonline.com/partslist/incahcssparts.pdf but no identifying information about these tiny screws.

Four tiny screws, ruler for scale, light bulb bracket

This photo shows the four screws and one of the light bulb brackets.

The screws are about 1/4" long (top of flat head to bottom), with a minor diameter of something like 5/64", and a thread count of something like 20-22 TPI.

Are these a standard screw size? Can they be replaced with an easy-to-find screw, preferably without that cursed Phillips drive?

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  • Reason you are calling it the "cursed Phillips drive" and the reason the heads got messed up is likely to be one of several factors. 1) Not using the proper sized screw driver. 2) Using a screw driver that has been already chewed up on the end. 3) Using cheap tools. It is important to note that there are plenty of cheap foreign made Phillips screw drivers that are total crap. The end is not the correct shape to fit the screw heads properly and the screw driver tip is soft steel. When you get your replacement screws also purchase a quality hex style Phillips bit that fits correctly.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:13
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    Why is it that the lamp ring needs to be unscrewed to replace the bulbs. It seems rather odd that it would be necessary to disassemble to this extent to replace a bulb. Especially something held together with sheet metals which are at best normally only expected to survive one or two disassembly / reassembly cycles.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:19

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That diameter would be very close to a M2.5 at 1.993mm minor screw. A hex head cap screw (AKA Allen head) could replace the Phillips.

Its also a bit smaller than an ANSI #4-40 at .0805inch minor

You could try the approximate size and get the matching tap for the closest interference fit.

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    This is a good start, but the thread on these screws is much coarser than the machine screw standards you mentioned. Are there standard sheet metal screw sizes?
    – andrewtinka
    Commented Jan 27, 2015 at 15:37
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Those are sheet metal screws. They never fit very well and it is easy to strip the socket.

Phillips head will usually do better than a slotted head as long as the screwdriver is a tight fit.

You cannot normally get a hex-type head on a sheet metal screw, especially one that small.

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