How To Extract A Plastic Ikea Cam Lock

[@ThePermanentMoose]

5 years later, ikea is still using the same locks, and I'm still grateful to this lovely man in the sonic t shirt. If I ever run into you in a pub, I definitely owe you a drink.

[@coffeeandfeather]

My girlfriend was a few minutes away from a meltdown about this new dresser and you have saved us, you sweet amazing man.

[@aishad21]

Which dresser lol, because I’m having the same issue. My dresser is the Songesand

[@joeguerriero3841]

Lol same

[@Pankydinky]

Hahaha sameeee

[@Edwardify]

Just done the same ...

[@leviwendigo1811]

God, me too. Meltdown included

[@HiITotallyRock]

I literally never leave KZbin comments but I had to here. This is so simple yet so genius and I could’ve sat here for a million years and never thought of it. Im also putting together that same shelf and I thought I was cooked. For anyone reading the comments, after the first screw which I did like him I found that just screwing the screw in a couple times with my fingers then pulling it out with them (ie not using my pliers) worked just fine.

[@TheOriginalSnial]

Thank you very much!

[@Tere584]

This video is one of the most helpful videos on KZbin! I was building a new piece of furniture and used the wrong cam lock. You have saved me time and money!!

[@caseyhafley]

😮

[@ZoeBevan-z6g]

there is always a dad on the internet that knows how to fix things, bless you.

[@Ad-Infinitum]

The 'place cam lock in open position and lift off' approach people mention in the comments wasn't an option for me as I had the whole MALM 6 drawer assembled including the back nailed on. I managed to pull out two cam locks using your method and replace them with the correct longer metal locks. Thank you so much!

[@jasonglenn7064]

I followed this instruction and it worked perfectly. Only after I removed all the cam locks did I realise, all I had to do was unlock them (arrow pointing up) and the section of the TV stand just slid out. You don't actually have to remove the cam locks. Just turn them to unlock and pull the incorrectly positioned piece off. Twice as easy ;)

[@emminem17]

This worked for me, man. Thanks. Saved me the hassle of having to go get some replacement locks

[@islandliving2713]

Wow! I have spent the last 24hours wanting to cry. Finally decided to check KZbin. Found this video but couldn't get the small screw in. This comment was exactly what I needed and it worked! Thank you!!!

[@knightingg8324]

Omg I love you ❤❤❤❤❤. It worked like a dream. I am so happy I looked in the comments❤❤❤😅

[@olivianew8419]

Whaaaaat

[@alana1108]

This saved me thank you so much!!

[@mcflygirl1977]

THANK YOU. You are a life saver. We were actually watching another KZbin video to help us along with the manual to do this, only he didn’t specify which cam locks to install and which to hold off on before you mean to attach the long side panel so we thought we were ‘screwed’ for good when the side panel wouldn’t connect fully. This is our first purchase from IKEA and it’s been...an experience.

[@mikaylaflikweert6922]

Wow you are a genius!!!! This worked for me after I made a mistake on my dresser! Awesome, thank you!!!

[@PaulaBaczewski]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I messed up the 7th piece of IKEA furniture that I assembled over 3 days. You saved a Malm dresser to live another day. It was my final piece to assemble - for now and, I think, for life. (And yes, IKEA is still using the same plastic Cam locks. If you know of a petition, I'll sign it.)

[@anf669]

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I messed up on the Billy bookcase and all the videos I watched were about curved screwdrivers or splicing a pin. THIS WORKED. I am not crying anymore lol

[@TheOriginalSnial]

So glad about that!

[@Flight411]

It's 2021 and they're stil ruining lives with this one. Thankfully, there's your video. Thanks mate.

[@sarahzendejas4266]

Still 6years later I needed your video, thank you!!!

[@conorh4882]

I buried my plastic ones into the deeper holes made for the metal cam locks. Used the long screws and it came out in ten seconds. Thank you very much

[@conorgallivan6043]

You are quite literally the greatest of all time. You saved my day with this video. I used a hammer and a nail, which worked quite well!!

[@chanppang]

cannot thank you enough!!! although the screw+plies didn’t work for me, you mentioning that there’s an up arrow on each cam screw saved my life. was able to pop out each cam screw by wiggling them out once the arrow aligns. thank you!!!!!

[@heathersmith789]

Thank you!! I handed my husband the wrong one and we spent almost an hour trying different ways to get it out. This worked, though! You're a lifesaver.

[@Zarouge]

Discovered that scooping them out with an L bracket works quite well too! Screws worked best for the more stubborn ones though so thanks for this top tip 🙂

[@melanierosalie]

Thank you! I was not able to put the screw inside the Cam lock but managed to pull the two plank pieces apart which got me to the same goal. This was still very helpful!

[@MoneyBee2009]

Thank you - your little trick with the screw to extract the cam nut was the little trick that made this process so much more easy !! Thank you for the trick and posting!!

[@eish19]

Thank you thank you it worked!!! My last two locks and realize I put two in the wrong place. FYI..if your assembling the malm 4 dresser together the bottom of the dresser takes the two metal locks not the plastic. 🤦🏾🤷🏾

[@YunusNedimMehel]

Thank you man, even just figuring out about that little arrow saved a lot of hassle

[@sr52050]

You are a freaking genius! An additional tip for other people, tighten the screw closer to one of the ends so that if you need to twist the CAM there is space for your screw driver.

[@benscott8111]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. Absolute life saver.

[@NasirKhan-vh9bg]

Wow!!! Love you my friend. Amazing innovative trick. You are a real problem solver. Got Ikea closet last week and while assembling, by mistake connected wrong panel using plastic cam lock. Spent hours and hours to remove cam lock with no success. I am grateful to you, as your tip helped me resolved the issue. And I also agree with your comments on Ikea for using such a stupid lock.

[@geoffreyhunt695]

Mate, just needed to move a Billy between rooms and had to take it apart. The cam locks stumped me until I found this. THANK YOU!

[@ellenro9443]

Thank goodness for you and your picture thumbnail! Almost went crazy trying to figure out how to describe the plastic bit. THANK YOU!

[@partofbeingme4579]

YOU sir are AWESOME!!! I was struggling so much to fix this for my dresser and it took me 30secs to undo my mistake... I totally agree that ikea needs to fix this... It was a nightmare...

[@DimiS1978]

I know this is a late reply but you DO NOT need to pull them out, just screw them into the "OPEN" lock position and you can pull em apart.

[@TessaMarie14]

Dimi omg love you love you love you!! The screw wasn’t working, but this did!! Life saver ❤️❤️❤️

[@michbak1347]

I pulling it out I managed to pull out two and one broke but then I tried ur idea and it worked smoothly and effortlessly Tysm!

[@sorshfa412]

i thought of this as soon as he started calling ikea out

[@warwickbrown1914]

Thank You

[@ShelfyAndCo]

YOU'VE SAVED MY LIFE THANK YOU❤

[@conniestanley4253]

Worked like a charm after I skipped a step before applying the cam locks. Thank you!!

[@sh-df1bb]

You are AMAZING thank you for posting and sharing this idea I was about to burn down this entire desk LOL because I could not figure out how to get three of these simple looking locks out! FINALLY I have them out thanks to your help Your patience btw is very admirable

[@ashleysayles9416]

saved me so much time! put the top on wrong for my ikea malm dresser and they popped out in 30 seconds with this method! and it worked with the metal ones too! thank you x100!

[@SabrinadelLupo]

God Bless you! I might want to marry you over my boyfriend because holy fudge. Thank you so much for being a genius. You just saved us from hours of work. Go Brits!!

[@TheOriginalSnial]

Thanks! Best offer I've had yet! It's OK, I did it for free, just to improve the world a tiny bit! Besides, my wife (who did the videoing), might complain 😉 ! Glad everything's worked out!

[@priscjackson]

Thank you!!! I was almost going to break it apart with a hammer but it costs me alot 😭 you’ve saved the day!!

[@shanicestephens3342]

You are an absolute legend!! The most helpful video on youtube I have ever come across 🙌🏼

[@TheOriginalSnial]

Thank you very much! Glad it helped!

[@joshuadavidson3689]

Thank you for sharing! You saved my build and another $150 trip to ikea!

[@carxeco]

You are a life saver. I thought I was screwed (pardon the pun) specially because I stripped the cam lock, therefore it was harder to take out and split the wood a bit but won’t matter since it’s the inside of a wardrobe.

[@MM-gu2ys]

Thank you so much, this is an utter lifesaver! I wholeheartedly agree that it’s ridiculous to include such hard to remove fixings...

[@julimt7]

You are a wonderful human being!! Thank you for sharing

[@karinjohnson839]

Worked like a charm! I was being SO careful, and still messed up my shelf placement. THANK YOU!!!!

[@rajeshmadhavan8751]

It's working.. thank you..Important note: Arrow mark should point towards upward direction before you pull out using screw..Shame that IKEA has a such Cam and it's pain in the neck for consumers..

[@MariaGarcia-nc3sm]

Rajesh Madhavan i

[@ptyxs]

Maria Gs But for what reason do you want to extract the cam as if yiu have the arrow mark point toward upward direction you supposedly free the screw ?

[@ct2630]

So glad I found this video! ☺️ thank you so much.

[@TheOriginalSnial]

Glad to help! I honestly feel really encouraged too, when someone replies!

[@roh5217]

Thank you! Thank you! I was also assembling the BILLY bookcase when this happened. You saved me!

[@lRecKorDl]

Made a quick mistake. I only have to do 4 times but took 30 seconds to look up video. Thanks for the shot and sweet video.

[@galiosom_greimonc]

You saved my life 😭😭 bought a new study table but at the end did mistake and was so depressed cam lock wasn’t coming out. Finally got to see you video and it helped me . Thank you so much

[@321Sapphire123]

Thank you so much for this video! I couldn't second your message to IKEA about being like sadists enough aha! Quick tip: popping a nail instead of a screw in works too and would require less work than screwing and plier-ing out

[@allisonhergert7046]

I know this is an old video but the way this saved my day! Thank you!

[@TheOriginalSnial]

My pleasure!

[@debu2striker]

Thanks for sharing this... Put the cam lock in the wrong slot while fixing our dresser. Was thinking of gluing a string to pull it out, but will try this first.

[@rebeccaelliott8906]

You sure just saved me hours of frustration- you are now one of my favourite people !!!

[@clavedostres]

Thanks very much!!!! I was putting a desk together and sure thing made a mistake that could not be undone until I saw your video. Thanks a lot!!!!

[@traianivanescu24]

Man, you put an end to my agony. I was looking for the name of that thing for so long. Thank you for this video.

[@etherworlds]

Thank you SO much. Worked like a charm!

[@tonyrojas7367]

Wonderful! Saved our sanity and Friday night.

[@applesteve004]

Bro you are a KING!! This method is fullproof! And thank you for a protip about the tiny arrow. This solved my issue. Thank you !!

[@sianfxckingamazing]

Moving house and I have to take down an entire chest of drawers that took me five hours to build two years ago. THANK YOU so much!

[@genesisuzcategui3064]

Thank you so much! After 2 hours and almost crying, I found you!

[@LpSC2online]

Thank you very much for this video. Trying to disassembly 4 Billy cupboards right now and I was like how the heck am I supposed to get this done. Especially because those cam locks are diabolical. But even if I do that, I still have no idea if the Billy can be disassembled since the back panel is fixed with nails to the shelve's mid section... Those things definitely were NOT designed to be taken apart which is actually baffling. Anyway, thanks so much again!

[@mulorla]

Was about to give up on it when this solved it, thank you so much.

[@CourtneyCaudill]

OMG THANK YOU!!!!! I screwed up putting a dresser together and thought all was lost. This video/tip was a lifesaver!!

[@zeiipher]

I was about to loose my mind since I put one of the boards on backwards, this was an absolute lifesaver!

[@irishinoslo]

A woman here. Just built my first flat pack. So excited with myself. The Billy bookshelf looking grand EXCEPT the top of the unite the wrong side out 😮3 cam locks to take out aaahhhhh

[@szeszil]

Thank you so much, I just managed to put the cam locks from an ikea chest and I am so happy!!!! Thanks again, it was a big help!!!

[@anavalentinapatton8597]

Thank you SO much! Happy to sign a petition so Ikea fixes this problem 😂

[@chughes156]

I couldn't get this to work, but found two techniques that did: 1. By far the easiest - handheld vacuum cleaner using the thinnest attachment! 2. (Not great, but worked once) Small pliers with one end jammed into the lock, the other pinching the plastic.

[@KatyDubu]

I hope I can get this to work. I realized I put the shorter plastic type into a very deep metal longer cam lock hole. I also got the rest of it together including nailing on the backing. Not happy. Hope this works

[@ju759]

Katy Dubu me too :(

[@mayjaviniar612]

You’re brilliant!! Thanks!

[@Esther-le8jf]

Thank you so much. It helped a lot when I screwed the top the wrong way on the malm dresser.

[@natoefke]

Perfect solution! Thanks

[@MarkShark07]

YOU SAVED MY DAY TODAY! Thank you so much. What the heck, IKEA.

[@chevygod5162]

Thank you for the trick! Great advice!

[@TheOriginalSnial]

Sure thing!

[@livv1255]

You’ve saved my life thankyou

[@kellyelly3534]

You are a genius!!! Thx

[@amymoloney3595]

thank you thank you thank you my dad really messed up making drawers for his bedroom and we needed to fix the ASAP before my mum came home

[@alexedits6123]

omg i’m having the exact same experience with the billy bookcase. so glad i found this. thank you

[@nagamanireddy2376]

Great vedio... Ur way worked after lot of useless trials with other..thanks a lot

[@lindaharriman9064]

Thank you SO much! Is it possible to then reuse the lock? (I REALLY messed up my cabinet assembly. It was not IKEA furniture, and I mistakenly thought my ~30-years past experience with IKEA furniture assembly would hold me in good stead with this new-tech(?) hardware and instructions.) If I can remove my messed up locks, do you imagine the they be re-usable after I turn my screws around to the proper direction?) Thank you again!

[@julianskidmore293]

Hi Linda, yes we re-used all the cam locks in our bookcase. We took them out using the method in the video; then swapped each panel around and then replaced them and re-used the cam lock (after removing the screw). Sorry that's not clear from the video. Happy fixing!

[@sleeps3925]

Thank you! I managed to take it out with leveraging the flat head screwdriver and it popped right out once the arrows were lined up

[@Kingdomheatsox2]

Dude. Thank you so much. I had the exact same issue with the Billy and you saved me a full on cry.

[@lisaarkin9554]

This person should win the Nobel Peace Prize!!! THANK YOU!!!

[@bronwenwade8780]

omg thank you!! i had the exact same problem with the exact same bookshelf. this was a lifesaver!

[@MarcoLongoMusic]

I was looking exactly for this video, I had the same problem. Thank you my lord!

[@Prowler125]

I guess I'm not the only one! Thank you so much for this tutorial! 🥳🙌

[@Martijn-em7hv]

Weird add to this problem people are experiencing. Before you try this, there is a good possibility that you can .. suck .. cam lock out if you made sure they are screwed lose. This can be a lot easier and faster and for the cam locks that keep in there you can try this video’s solution. Hope this helps some people. (I undid 3 within a minute)

[@Martijn-em7hv]

Ps. You will get a little bit of dust / grains in your mouth and be careful not to choke of course.

[@monicabasaverivera3572]

Thank you so much for your valuable help, I truly could not do it with out your video.

[@Lo-td7wt]

Man it's 2 am here and my wife is coming in few hours. U just save my life

[@jodymaguire2660]

Thanks a million for this. Worked a treat and saved me time, money and hassle

[@vickiho]

Omg that worked a charm thank you so much! I nearly finished a roll of sticky tape trying to pull the thing out.

[@_hyeparkinca5215]

Thank you!!! I screwed the plastic thing and took out that. So appreciate for the idea.

[@darrenjoe674]

Life saver! Thank you from 🇨🇦!!

[@kelseywallace1699]

Thank you SO MUCH. You are the best person in the whole world. Saved my life. I wish i could like this 7000 times

[@TheOriginalSnial]

Aw, shucks, thanks for that!

[@mariasuescun9287]

Thank you very much!! You saved my day..

[@lindafangiullo5378]

Thank you, it worked perfectly on a deeply embedded Plastic Cam Lock that should have been the longer Metal type.

[@RatchetPo]

How big was the screw you used?

[@mathiassmeets2396]

Can you use the lock again afterwards?

[@hazeieris4478]

Thanks for sharing this video, this just happened to me with the exact same book shelf! I just managed to get them out with your technique, however when you try to put a screw in, the cam lock turns with it. So I put the screw in on one side and have a smaller screwdriver to turn the cam lock back if necessary.

[@TheOriginalSnial]

Haze Ieris hi yes I found that the cam locks sometimes twisted with the screw, but then they hit a stop and I was able to drive the screw in properly. Initially aligning the arrow as I do in the video is therefore a slight mistake; since it only matters when it comes to finally pulling out the cam lock. Hope this helps!

[@taradown8478]

We used sticky tack!! Press really hard and pull quickly and it pulled most of them out in a few tries!!

[@gloriaocanaolive971]

Thaaaaaaanks😂😂😂😂😂 we'll sleep tonight 😅😅 instead of battling against Billy 😅😊😊😊😊😊

[@laisrosa7090]

This was 5 years ago I needed this today 2022, YOU ARE AWESOME, I was crying so much and I was “man let me try google” FUCKING AMAZING

[@fifing4914]

Wow it works!! Thank you so much!! You're of so much help and totally made all the angry people who were fixing this, celebrate with joy!!

[@Heartwing13]

THANK YOU!!! They gave me a busted one and I didn’t realize until it wasn’t locking, and I couldn’t get it out! I’m going to get a metal replacement at the hardware store I think!

[@nazmax4112]

IT WORKED AND THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!!!!! LIBERALLY SAVED MY LIFE X