Types Of Screw Drives

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ARCHINSTL
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Types Of Screw Drives

Post by ARCHINSTL »

I had occasion to check this out when I did a Google Search for Pozi-Drive screw heads, as I'd never heard the term.
Oh My! I had no idea there were so many different types of screw drives!
I think I'd only heard of maybe four or five types before and one, the Robertson type, just this year right here on our site!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives
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keith
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Re: Types Of Screw Drives

Post by keith »

Wikipedia left off the torx plus that Nissan uses.
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Petros
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Re: Types Of Screw Drives

Post by Petros »

I have also seen another, it is a composite of Robertson and philips, allows you to use both. I hate it even more than the Robertson, it does not grip that well with either type bit, though the intent was you could use either tip with it.

my favorite is the Torx, grips well and will not strip out. The Roberson is a mistake, you can not put a lot of torque on it without risking either the screw head or the tip getting buggered up. when I have to take a lot of them out that are really stuck I just drill them out, and not even bother buggering up the screw head anyway, and breaking off several tips. Completely useless, has no advantage at all, weakest one of the common type, would much rather have a plain Philips. I curse the guy who invented them every time I have to use them. Canada, you can keep them!.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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Re: Types Of Screw Drives

Post by dlb »

you're nuts, peter. i find robertson to be the strongest of the big 3 (phillips, robertson, and flat-blade), with the blade style being the worst by far. if you're going to hate on a screw type, that one deserves it.

i agree that torx is probably the best but it's not common enough so i get annoyed when i find them and have to go back to my kit to find the torx drivers.

just did some work on my friend's suzuki sidekick he had taken apart. it had at least 10 different screws used to attach various trim pieces. figuring out which ones were used where was almost as annoying as having a flat blade screw bit slide out of its screw for the millionth time. every car i work on just makes me think better and better of tercels.
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Re: Types Of Screw Drives

Post by ARCHINSTL »

OK, boyz - will I have to throw water on you?

My last Morris Minor 1000 - a '67 - had SAE, Whitworth, and metric. Talk about a PITA!
But - I loved every fastener on that Minor (and all of the other Minors, to tell the truth).
Tom M.
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"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Re: Types Of Screw Drives

Post by splatterdog »

I wish they could settle on one or two. Seems every 5-8 years I have to buy another set of sockets. Torx+ and triple square have shown up on cars.
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Re: Types Of Screw Drives

Post by keith »

If you drive a lot of wood screws with a cordless drill, then without a doubt, torx is the best. It's the only one that never strips or jumps.
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Re: Types Of Screw Drives

Post by Petros »

I agree, the blade is is the worst, especially if even a bit worn. It is a long obsolete screw type. I have had to install lots of different screws in building wood boats, or installing gypsum wall board ("sheet rock"), I find the Robertson tips will wear out faster, and damage the socket in the screw head far more often (like tens times more) than a regular Philips. I see no point in the Robertson, the faces are at an oblique angle to the tangent of the torque loading, add the taper it will actually want to push the tip out of the socket, often rounding the corners off in the process. Do that once or twice you have to throw away the tip. both the Philips, and certainly the Torx, will actually grip the screw good enough to hold it on the tip good enough to install it. In one project where I installed 95 sheets of wall board, I had not noticed that Lowes had sold be a box of Robertson screws (made in Canada), I installed more than 6000 screws on that project. Have way through I was about ready to throw the rest of the screws out and go shop some where else for Philips head screws.

They have no advantage that I can see what so ever. I will not buy them if I have a choice.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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