I finally figured out why so many beginner strip-downs end with chewed shutter screws
I've had three cameras come across my bench in the last six weeks where someone had mangled the shutter housing screws, and all three times it was the same thing. Folks are reaching for a Phillips #00 when the screw is actually JIS, and on a camera like a Pentax K1000 that head will strip before it ever turns. A JIS driver set costs about $25 and saves you a $90 parts body every single time. I know because I ruined two screw heads myself back in 2019 before a guy in Sacramento set me straight. Do any of you keep a dedicated JIS set at the bench, or are you grinding down your Phillips tips like I used to?
Man, a buddy of mine went through the exact same mess with his K1000 last year, stripped two screws and ended up drilling one out with a busted bit. He finally grabbed a JIS set off Amazon for like 20 bucks and the next teardown went smooth as butter. It's wild how much trouble one wrong screwdriver tip can cause on these old bodies.