How to get this dustcap off? I have this problem where my pedals seem to be able to be able to rotate on an axis perpendicular to the straight travel of the bike.  To take off the cranks, I need to get past a dustcap.  Unfortunately, the dust-cap looks like this:



That hole in the middle is supposed to be slot for a screwdriver, and I can't get it off.  Whenever I put enough force piece to move it (it's been cross-threaded) the metal deforms - it even feels soft. 

Could someone please tell me how to get this thing off?
At the stage you're at I normally vandalise them out. Get a big flat head screwdriver and use it more like a chisel - wedge the flat under the parts I can see and break them off, trying to break the part that has the thread on it at the same time. Plastic caps usually shatter while I'm doing that and all the bits fall out. 

If not I remove the bottom bracket bolt or nut now it's exposed so I have better access, then I get a knife and shave away the plastic until that remaining threaded ring falls apart. With aluminium that will be harder but is usually still doable.

One alternative that I usually try early on is to cut a groove across the ring (parallel to the BB axis) and try using the screwdriver to turn the ring using that.

So far that hasn't failed for me, so I have no idea what to do next. I'd probably use a dremel or a drill to try cutting that ring.

(I've done this quite a lot, I've been a bike mechanic. But 90% of the "stuck" ones shatter when levered open as described, leaving you picking out loose pieces.)