How to repair a completely stripped backbox lug | backbox saver 

Had to replace a back box today as it was completely stripped on one side, will buy some of these if it happens again, thanks for sharing 👍🏻

The backbox saver is useful, if you ever come across a completely stripped backbox screw lug. I hope everyone has a great Sunday 👍

Pricey for what it is, but priceless when it gets you out of trouble :)

I drill the lug to 4mm, then glue a tapped piece of metal behind lug, keeping it aligned with a simple clip (bend metal/paper clip/small bulldog clip). Once glue is dry, remove clip and use as normal. You bend a piece of metal, as a clip, around both sides of lug, but only tapped on back. Lots of ways to do it but the second method outlined may not work if you don't have space.

I have a 25 piece kit of these for use at the building I work in. The building users can be quite harsh on the sockets so many get damaged and there's over 1000 kids here it so I need a quick, safe fix for obvious reasons and found these get the job done in minutes with zero risk.

Damn great idea that. Because like you said trying to remove the metal back box can also be very messy indeed. Top dollar solution.

That's brilliant! I had no idea there was such a thing

Most motorcyclists will be familiar with this one- "Tinnerman" nut or Fastener. They are used to attach many plastic/fibreglass fairing panels to each other or brackets. Essentially identical to those things you show here, they are simply a tight squeeze fit U shaped springy piece of steel, with a screw hole in the middle, one side is threaded. They come in many sizes, and they are waaaaaay cheaper than those shown here...

That's something else learnt 👌

brilliant product. Thanks for posting

Simple but effective 👍

Three other options and these are only on the account of the fact that you rarely go inside such a box, so any fix, is ok as long as it doesn't damage the thing more: 1. take any rod that's one fraction of a mm smaller than the thread. Place the rod in the hole, take a pair of good quality pliers, your best, and gently squeeze the metal tab over the rod, to ovalize the hole, then remove the rod and use a tap. It will work, but you need to be gentle with it. I usually leave a small marker dot on the screw's cap to let me know it's a problem. I'd only do this one in my own stuff, never for someone else tho. It depends on how quality the box is, how good the fix is as well. If it's a cheap box as there are maaaany cheap boxes, yeah... that's not gonna last. If it's a quality box, that's gonna last you a long time, provided you don't munch the screw again - hence why i put a dot on the screw to let me know it's an issue. 2. take a nut, and use epoxy putty to secure that nut in place. Be liberal with the epoxy. Use a greased up bolt to make sure the threads aren't coated in epoxy when you set it in. This one's pretty permanent, i'd be ok with doing it anywhere, especially if you push the putty in the hole where the tab was formed from. The chances of it coming undone are pretty small. I'd use a putty meant for wet environments, not because the electrical box would ever get wet, but rather because wet environment epoxy putty has special compounds that make it extra sticky. This one takes a while to set tho, sooo... yeah. 3. buy an individual nutsert of the right size, and use a wooden backer to hand (no power in the drill) ream the hole to the right size of the nutsert, then use the bolt trick to crimp the nutsert into place if you don't have the nutsert tool (tho, honestly, i'd buy a set of all nutsert sizes and the tool if you don't have one, because they are super useful in every place in the house. I recommend having aluminium, steel and at least a loose variety of stainless steel nutserts in the most common thread sizes). Last step once the nutsert is set is to grab the nutsert with a good pair of bent nose pliers, and using a flathead screw driver, placed on the crook of the bend of the metal tab, push the nutsert slowly and firmly one mm behind. This is because the nutsert's flange sticks out one mm (usually) from the face of the tab. Bonus round, which is super funky because you rarely find them, buy a tap and screw in imperial, next size up. The differences are not that big, but they usually are good enough to allow you to rethread the hole with a confident thread. I've done this quite a few times, BUT, that means you have to make sure the owner can't swap the screws... you either put two screws in, "upgrading" both threads to bigger size or you write a nice message on the back of the box for the owner. Like i said, funky fix. I usually up the size of both screws. From the other side of the equation, the installation, i never trust the tabs, so if i have a place that's about to be finished and the boxes are about to be installed, all these tab holes receive an actual nut, that's spot welded into place. Spot welders are cheap these days, especially one of light duty variety that'd allow you to spot weld a small nut. Unfortunately, it can't be done once installed, the jaws of the spot welders i have are entirely too large. If one goes for this, two things: a. the nut's face facing the metal tab needs to be ground to remove any coating (same with the tab on the inside) and b. flange nuts are to be used, as they have a bigger surface area.

Uhyman I had that problem and didn't know about these fittings so I super glued a nut on rear.

great video, thanks. Been looking for a solution like this.

Perfect video thanks man 😊

That is a genius solution. 👍

Metal back box mate Snap the lug off a good one and mitre fix behind the stripped one 👍 works like a dream, also you can take the threaded piece out of a dry lining box and place that behind the stripped lug it will tighten up perfectly

Useful to know. Thank you. 👍

great little tip. a bit pricy but its a nice solution to have in your box ready to go without having to rig up something i would like to see you try out a few of the sugestions and compare them. could make a great video. i have used socket extensions wrall pluged into the wall behind before i used an express anchor with a 6mm plug inside cut to the gap behind the lug and then grip filled it there. there was a thin wall and a quartz worktop behind so didnt want to drill deeper

👍👍👍.Thank you

Much tidier then than ramming a self tapping wood screw through the front of the socket ! Seen this done too many times

Excellent. Use screws with a lead-in as well. It can be infuriating if your screws aren't long enough as well , if they only just do the job it is difficult to align them and this is where damage can be caused to threads. Go out and buy some longer screws from B&Q or wherever and keep them in the kitchen drawer where they are easy to lose🤣

Yeah might seem pricey but when you have just rewired a kitchen then tiled it was the only way as happened to me on a kitchen job in April I tried everything first time that's happened to me in 25 years so now I keep some in my fixings box👍

Looks very useful. What is the material that is holding it to the lug?

👍

Most of these problems are caused by cheap Chinese boxes with very thin steel, the boxes by Appleby and MK are very good the same goes for plasterboard plastic boxes yellow/ white Appleby are the best.

Superglue an m3.5 nut on the back of the lug.

Is it possible to use a rivnut for that? Should be way cheaper...

🤘😎🤘

For a quick fix I've found you can crush the metal lug slightly with some vice grips, that closes the hole slightly and allows you to re-tap the hole. Not perfect of xourse but can get you out of a hole 👌

It must be made of metal, because the screw act as earth or ground with metal back box