Here is a quote from Quigsworth
Pfft...the Atomic clone screws ...in fact, from what I can tell the authentic Atomic's are about the same...two things happen with these screws, if you torque on it to make it decent tight you'll cut your tails "and/or" the screw will cant to one side (the threads in the posts aren't a super tight tolerance) and you run the risk of the screw heads touching ...3 of the 5 Atomics I have had this issue (bad batch?), now for me the screw treatment is just part of the bf job...it takes 5 mins to remedy (really)
first off, you guys are right, the ends are rough...take them out and if you have a pair of pliers hold it by the head, lay a piece of fine grit sand paper on a flat surface grind the ends using a circular motion and make the bottom edges nice and flat and smooth.
2nd, (not totally necessary but great if you can)...if you have a drill, lightly chuck the threaded end of the screw and while running the drill, hold a file to the side of the head to shave off some of it's diameter...take it down till there's about 1mm from the Philips slots to the edge...this makes shorting between the screws impossible...
3rd, if you don't have a drill or file the screws do get better by cleaning up the bottoms but after you build, use for a while, then re-check the tightness (you do that right??? you should be) make sure you can slide a matchbook cover between the screw heads (don't trust your eyes, it's deceiving)
