Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Pub Talk). This thread is read-only.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw_drive
Man I would cost a small fortune to cover all the different drive types. It’s a cool wikipedia read though about why some of them were invented. I will say I wish Square/Robertson was more common it’s so much better than phillips screws.
95 percent of screws I have seen are Phillips. I wish torx were more common as well. The deck on our rental house was built with square screws (25+ years ago).
I uaually use the robertsons. I’ve been thinking about trying out the Outlaw Unigrip.
Yep, there are a ton of different drives. I’ve never seen a security bit set that covered close to everything.
That’s a great find. Very cool.
A lot of electronics use triangular bits these days, but none of the security bit sets ever have them.
Seems like everything is better than Phillips. I hate using them, especially when I teach new people have to constantly remind them to put more force when driving. Sounds like these people are hammer drilling when driving screw’s using Phillips tips. Only don’t mind Phillips on low torque applications or while using a #3 bit.
Once a Phillips cams out once it is done. May as well get a new screw.
I’d love to see Robertson or Torx render Phillips obsolete.
It’s slowly happening I see more boxes of other screws now at Lowes and Home Depot. I really don’t know why their isn’t a bigger push to get rid of Phillips screws they suck.
Torx and Allen headed screws are common on cars nowadays
Originally Phillips were machine screws for soft metals such as aluminum, and were designed to cam out to avoid stripping. There are quite a few cruciform or cross drives phillips and frearson are the two most common and are usually just called phillips by most folks. One of the biggest problems with what some folks call a phillips deck /wood screw is that they are actually a frearson drive. If you use a phillips bit you are more likely to cam out the screw.
RedSionnach wrote:
Originally Phillips were machine screws for soft metals such as aluminum, and were designed to cam out to avoid stripping. There are quite a few cruciform or cross drives phillips and frearson are the two most common and are usually just called phillips by most folks. One of the biggest problems with what some folks call a phillips deck /wood screw is that they are actually a frearson drive. If you use a phillips bit you are more likely to cam out the screw.
I love learning about this stuff. Never knew that
http://www.instructables.com/id/When-a-Phillips-is-not-a-Phillips/
Another good article.
Thanks DR99, and RedSionnach for the information. Both articles are full of info. I know for myself I try to use square, torx, or hex drive when ever I can.
If it hadn’t been for Henry Ford we’d all be using Robertson’s
If it wasn’t for Henry Ford we would still be using trains and horses. Conductor might be ok with the trains.
I could live with the trains, but horses would be a shitty way to get around.
I still think flat head is the wave of the future. JK.
As often as I cam out screws I should just stick with nails. I end up using a hammer more than a drill anyway. Lol
The fact that there are so many standards reminds me of this: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/standards.png
[External image (imgs.xkcd.com), not copied]
Describes it perfectly.
XCD has some funny comics. The good thing is impact drivers help with cam out. You get the crazy people that like to use drills over impact drivers still for driving fasteners damm weirdos.
I saw my first torx machine screw yesterday. It was in the transfer case for my grandpas 04 silverado. I have seen torx wood screws before but we haven’t used any since we have a bunch of Phillips screws.
Some of us weirdos haven’t a choice but use an old corded drill. 😛 Gotta use what you have, until you can afford better. It was worth the $10 investment, even though she gave up the ghost last weekend. Using a drill without a variable speed was a pain to use as a driver, so I learned to put in pilots and hand drive screws.
NicholasShetley wrote:
I saw my first torx machine screw yesterday. It was in the transfer case for my grandpas 04 silverado. I have seen torx wood screws before but we haven’t used any since we have a bunch of Phillips screws.
GM has used all sorts of weird drives over the years. The were using spanner screws as far back as the late 50’s-early 60’s
I have seen them on a carberautor to adjust the idle on. That is the only one I have ever seen.