Reddit mentions: The best thread forming & cutting screws

Agreed with other posters; the plastic material is overwhelmingly likely to be HDPE. Maaaaybe nylon, but probably HDPE (given its semi-translucent appearance). HDPE is food and medicine safe, dishwasher safe, tough as nails, and easy to work with.

If you're thinking of sourcing materials locally, look for a store like TAP Plastics (this is my local plastic retailer on the west coast of the US). You could also order the stuff and have it shipped; here's a 2ft length of 1" HDPE rod on Amazon for $17.00, which would give you plenty of material to make lots of utensils.

That screw on the top is a stainless, pan head hex (or socket) cap screw, which is a nice fastener but not exactly the right thread for the material (HDPE can hold threads, but the thread type on this metal screw could easily strip it out... I know I sound fussy about the fastener specs, but it matters in this case, since you want to avoid having the screw loosen itself all the time). A better fastener would be one intended for plastic; you want thread rolling screws to get the right anchoring in the plastic. You can find a 50-pack of 1",stainless steel pan head thread rolling screws for $6.44 (again, on Amazon). You'd drill a pilot hole in the HDPE bar that's smaller than the screws' thread diameter, and the screws will self-tap and get good "purchase" in the plastic.

For the thumb detent/brace, this again is HDPE sheet that's been formed into that specific curve. The nice thing about HDPE is that it can be formed using a modest amount of heat; boiling water is all that's needed in order to get it malleable enough to easily shape it into the right profile. That looks like 1/4" to me. You can get HDPE sheet and cut it into strips using a plastic cutter ($5 on Amazon), then cut strips to length, form the strips to the right ergonomic shape, drill, and assemble. Here's a 1/4" thick, 12x12" sheet for $8.50.

Finally, to deburr and smooth the cut lines on the plastic, you can hit it with a propane or butane torch, with quick passes that'll melt the small burrs and help the other marks to level-out.

Another thing to note: this utensil adapter is precisely the type of use case where 3D printers shine, and I'm looking at my 3D printer and the quick 3D model of this I just built in CAD, and I know I can bang these off and ship them to you in no time. I hesitate, though, in recommending only 3D printed parts. I have hundreds of functional prints around the house/garage/cars etc, and I love making functional prints, but as good as I get at design, and the better the hardware gets, functional prints from desktop printers still have strength and durability limitations; extruded rod and sheet are just stronger.

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All links in the same list:

- 1" HDPE rod

- Stainless pan head thread rolling screws

- Plastic cutter

- 1/4" HDPE sheet

I just replaced all the shell screws on one of my Rapidstrikes with These
They are a hair shorter but I cannot find 1/2" in 3-24 (in torx drive). The thread is really nice and I prefer torx to phillips drive any day. Much more positive engagement.

If your bosses are stripped there are These If you wnat to go straight to these you will need to drill the bosses out slightly.

This works well as a driver. It includes the T8 and T9 sizes required for each size screw respectively. For the three or so deepest screw holes on an RS do not fully seat the driver bit and it will reach.

Probably not what you want to hear, but you'll probably need to get a new stickbox (desoldering the old one, soldering a new one). It's a straight forward process and hard to mess up, but the cost can be a big factor if you don't already own the equipment.
Video for reference.

Other option would be to just buy another controller off Ebay, open that controller and swap the guts with your old controller.

• Here is a [mini tool kit I use to open the controller] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009MKGRQA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) that I originally bought to open up my Macbook.
  
• the Triwing Screws on the Gamecube controllers suck, are probably rusted, and strip easily. Replace them with some new Phillips Screws.
  
• Here is a good video by Zenith about opening your controller.
  
  You can find a bunch of results for analog stick boxes on Ebay.
  
  Best of luck!

I’m a big fan of thread rolling screws myself. They’re nice for 3D printed parts because they don’t mind if the hole doesn’t print quite right and is a bit out of round or has a bunch of stringing. I bought a few different sizes, but I’ve found these 6-19x1” ones to be the most useful.

hey, i'm sure you got a reply but i just ordered some replacements and want to answer the question for others who search for the answer:

They're standard #2 1/4":

http://www.amazon.com/Thread-Rolling-Plated-Phillips-Length/dp/B00GDZEYOE?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01

Would this work? http://www.amazon.com/Thread-Rolling-Plated-Phillips-Length/dp/B00GDZEYOE/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1457562266&sr=1-2&keywords=2-56+screw

I use these with my Foxfire builds. They are roughly the same size as the screws that come with the Stryfe (the head is slightly bigger) but they are a much harder steel. You won't easily strip them out with a screwdriver.

Phillips

Torx

#3-24 threads, self rolling plastic screws, 3/8 or 1/2 in length

I found some self-tapping screws (aka cutting screws) on Amazon. You drill with a 5/64 bit then screw them right into the Zamac.

410 Stainless Steel Thread Cutting Screw, Plain Finish, Pan Head, Phillips Drive, Type F, #2-56 Thread Size, 3/16" Length (Pack of 100) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GX09FGG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_wMZwCbBQS5M97

They’re M2 screws. You can use these as a direct replacement. Think Worker or Blastertech might sell replacement screws. You could also just thrift some blasters for the screws.

Hey guys, making a post about finding replacement screws. I have looked up previous questions and only found some useful things from it. The basic thing is that for the 'regular' sized screws, I can use this. Not sure about it, because the answers to a question about Nerf on there basically cancel each out. From my measurements, the common screw sizes are 3/8", 5/16", and either 7/16" or 1/2". The only problem I have is the thread count, I don't know whether to use a coarse thread or a fine thread for the replacement screws. I can barely get a quarter of the screws off to tell if they're too rusted or if they've been stripped (leaning more towards rust). The recommended screw is #3-24, but it's likely that I'll be opening up my Longshot quite a few times in the future. So should I just use that thread count or opt for a coarser thread count to keep the blaster together?

TL;DR What the f%&* is thread count and what screws should I use for my Longshot?

P.S. If I read any comments about just thrifting some Mavericks or something for the screws, I'll label it as spam. I'm looking for help, not snark.