Unable to remove Phillips screws from Eames Aluminum Group Mgmt Chair  

Try thoroughly heating the arm junction with an electric hair drier and using a new screwdriver that fits the screw head tightly. Preferably one with a square shaft you can put a wrench on to add torque. An impact driver and heat would be the next step if this fails to loosen the screw. Phillips head is really the wrong design for this application anymore. The are much better head design alternatives, Torx for example, available now.

Thank you. I'll give that a try. I still don't understand why all six screws on the two arms are stuck. If just one or two of the screws were giving me trouble, I'd understand. Because it's all six, I suspect that some kind of Loctite or other epoxy was applied to prevent the screws from loosening. I have several of these chairs and I'm unable to budge the screws on any of them. I contacted Herman Miller and I'll see if they write back.

It's certainly possible that HM used screws with an applied friction-activated bonding agent. Heat should help if that is the case. Another problem is that stainless alloy screws tend to be quite slippery making driver/slot engagement less positive especially with Phillips.

Just be careful with the heat. You want things quite warm, not too hot to touch.

It turns out if was just user error on my part (wrong tool for the job). I bought a gigantic screwdriver (#3) and with a little more torque and a better fit in the screw head, they came out as they should.

I'd laugh out loud if similar hadn't happened to me ...once, long ago. Over the many years and hundreds of thousands of screws driven since, however, I've developed an intense dislike of Mr. Phillips' inferior invention no matter the size, if that isn't obvious.