I would also like to know because I have the exact same problem with one of my cases!

Are those 6-32 holes? Easiest thing to do would be to drill and tap for 8-32.

Epoxy either nuts or speedclips behind the holes.

Then, you can either swap out the existing screws for matching machine screws for the nuts, or tapered screws for the speed fasteners.

I'm guessing something like M3 machine screws and nuts would be about the right size.

Simplest way might be to get some short pan head self-tapping screws, slightly bigger than the existing holes

In situations like that I have used needle nose pliers to crimp the screw hole protrusion closed from the inside of the case. That avoids using non standard screws, and holds up well (or at least until the next time it is overtorqued).

If you are going to be into the case:

Several times a week: tack weld grade 8 nuts or tapped inserts to the back.... consider buying a box of nylon screws so they wear out instead.

Several times a month: braze, solder or epoxy nuts on the back, or use the speed clips or similar.

A time or two a year, but it's about done now: run solder into the holes, or solder dip the screws. Also if aluminum foil duct tape available, small patches could be cut or punched, put over the outside of hole, allowing about the same diameter as hole all round to have a grip, then poke the hole through from outside with a pencil or pen or awl so it pushes into the hole, then screw into that. If you don't have that kind of duct tape, then cut tinfoil pie pans for patches and attach them with minimum amount of Uhu, Bostick, rubber cement type stuff and poke through the same when glue set.

Also a skilled metalworker can peen the holes a little bit closed to retap. Or you can take hours per hole doing it very carefully with a punch, just collapsing in the edges slightly.

Here is a tip for long term screw hole health: when you start a screw, turn it backwards until you feel it "drop" into the hole, then tighten it. With sheetmetal screws, and coarse screws (few threads per inch) it is all too easy to start a screw into the hole and have it not line up with the existing threads, so it goes in hard and cuts new threads. This makes the screw hole much easier to strip the next time it is taken apart. This is even more important when you are putting screws back into plastic thread holes. It also makes it much less likely that you will crossthread a screw where it doesn't go in square. And never use a powered screwdriver on sheetmetal screws, or screws going into plastic. Even if you set the torque limiter very low, the rotational inertia can still be enough to overtorque and strip a screw hole.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2024-03-17, 00:31:

In situations like that I have used needle nose pliers to crimp the screw hole protrusion closed from the inside of the case. That avoids using non standard screws, and holds up well (or at least until the next time it is overtorqued).

Hey, just did this and it seems to work great! Thanks for the tip!