Warning about tool shipped with Dahua cams!

buckfast

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Hello all

One of those specialisied tools snapped off when I was trying to loosen my Dahua starlight from it's holder. A word of warning, these things will not drill out easily, left handed drill bit or not.

I recommend you buy yourself a high quality hardened tool and throw the tool shipped with the cam straight into the thrash.
 

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buckfast

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yes that's it. Drilling for 2 hours, the bit was going nowhere. Went and bought another bit. No better. I had no choice.
 
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Mr_D

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Are you sure the set screw wasn't cross threaded? I have 8 Dahua cams and used the included tools and never had a problem.
 

buckfast

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Maybe all that vibration messed with the manual focus?
Yes, I think that was the problem. I have managed to get the picture almost back what it was, although it is certainly not as sharp. However, when I zoom in/out, the camera goes wildly out of focus again. After manual focusing, it appears to only want to focus in on one point of the optical zoom range. I must have messed up the focus somehow from a hardware perspective; although it will still actuate.
 

Rakin

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Holy crap. Did you try some penetrating lube and some small tools to get screw out before you grabbed your drill?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

dudemaar

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Wow Looks like a beaver chewed on it. I had this happen couple weeks ago and haven’t gone back to fix it yet. Might buy a screw extractor set or try with a HSS/carbide drill bit.
 
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rocky500

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Might also be worth buying some plumbers white grease and putting it on the threads as they do for some outdoor taps, to make it easy to undo later if need be.
 

Nickg

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Wow ! snapped the tool or stripped the screw? How tight was the screw to start with?
It only needs to be 1/4 turn after initial bottom.

Very strange..this doesn`t make sense to me.
 

c hris527

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Looking at your first pic before you drilled, It would appear that the screw itself is has a flat spot on it and that might be a indication that their was a drop and it might have also messed with your internals.
 

buckfast

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the tool head snapped off and remained in the screw socket. This is very definitely an issue with the tool itself. The torque used was quite low, and I have torqued and re-torqued these screws many times over, but this was my first time using this specific tool as it shipped with a new camera from Andy. I am often scratching my head with the electronics and networking issues, but I know what happened here. Mechanical engineering is my day job.
 

Nickg

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Damn, that thing is mangled.. i feel bad for you. I get the frustration in trying to get the bit out.
Once you`re in it , you just say "F$#% - this" and just want to remove it no matter what.

You have to be patient. There are easier and more effective ways in removing. Machining is my day job :)

Did you try a hard Reset?
 

David23

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one of mine broke off too....i shoved some blue tac in and it pulled the broken end out of the socket much to my relief...might not work if its jammed in
 

Nickg

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Working on the "Honey-Do List" is MY day job....I sneak a read on this forum when she's not looking.:D
i have the same job too!! except after hours and on week-ends .
The fun never ends!! :)
 

Kitsap

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It appears the tool tip that snapped off in the OP's camera was designed for a tamper proof torx screw. Note the hollow center. By design these tools will take less torque to break off.

I have three of the 5231 cameras installed and none of them came with tamper proof torx set screws or tamper proof torx tools.

If your set screws do not require a tamper proof tool, you should use a tamper proof tool very carefully even if it was shipped with the camera.
 

Dramus

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Good catch, @Kitsap! I just examined the four wrenches that came with my Dahua cameras. Interestingly: The three that came with the 5231s are all hollow. The one that came with the 4231F-AS is a smaller wrench, but for a larger Torx head, and is solid.

I'm going to figure out what Torx head sizes these are and buy proper drivers for them.
 
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