Which style of screw drive do you perfer?

[nickleinonen]

out of the 3 major types of screw drive's avalable [robertson , philips, and slot] which drive do you perfer working with?



count posidrive and philips as the same

 

[illflem]

Would have voted for torx but...

Phillips and straight slot should be banned.

 

[Dkevdog]

I agree with illflem- Torx - but given the choices, robertson, then phillips. Sloted screws should have never been invented.



Kev

 

[Whitmore]

SLOW... ... ... ... ... oh and slotted

 

[nickleinonen]

i personally don't like the torx drive that much, and my ? was more to the lines of machine screws. i don't see too many torx machine screws. my fave is robertson.

 

[bighammer]

Who's Robertson? A friend of Phillips?

 

[Whitmore]

is that u Phil

 

[jwgary]

what is a Robertson?

I don't have my Machinery's Handbook here at the house, but I don't ever recall a Robertson head. Is that like a socket (allen/hex) head? If that's the case, I'm changing my vote to that. Any time we can use a socket head cap screw at work it gets used. The only thing the slots are good for are small wirig terminal blocks.

 

[nickleinonen]

the robertson screw head is the canadian designed/created "superior" screw head. it is the square drive...

#ad

 

[Wayne M.]

I have the 3rd. edition Audel pocket manual right here, and It does not show a robertson fastener head.

I like Torx, but they are sensitive to dirt getting in and not allowing the driver to engage properly. I have to say that there's nothing like using a proper, quality phillips head driver on the right fastener. mistaking a reed& prince or posidriv driver for a phillips can turn out in disaster.



I looked here, http://www.barnhillbolt.com/acb26/heading.cfm?&DID=7&CATID=69&GroupCode=400&MenuCode=MAIN

and there's no robertson.

 

[nickleinonen]

if you stick a philips screw on the screwdriver, then invert the combo and hold the screw only, will the driver fall off? with the robertson design, it doesn't... with the work i am doing right now, all i use is robertson style fasteners. everything else is a waste of time, which wastes money... when you are on 32' ladders reaching out a bit too far, to screw in a window capping. . you need that screw to stick to the bit in the cordless drill. sometimes though, the screw sticks too well to the bit, and it can pull the bit out of the bit holder if you don't have a spring loaded magnetic type.



http://www.robertsonscrew.com



it is there, but the USA likes to call it square drive, which is what the screw head looks like. but robertson was the designer, so that's what it is called offically.

http://www.barnhillbolt.com/acb26/S...upCode=434&MenuCode=414&GroupIcon=434desc.gif



i fight pasionatly for the proud canadians and our robertson screws

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



man, my spelling is real bad this time of night. . and looks like i broke 200 posts!! next milestone will be the 500 mark!

 

[Deezul1]

I am with you square drive are the best for construction type screws. I think most of these guys are thinking mechanical application rather than construction and for that give me socket head (Allen).

 

[HVAC]

Milwakee

Give me hex head self tappers and a Milwakee 12v cordless drill. I use magnetic hex bits to retain those self tappers wherever I may be working (upside down).



I'm not a fan of torx, why can't we just use allens?



Ditto on the phillips and the flat headed fasteners.

 

[illflem]

For a large assortment of square drive screws try McFeely's

Their catalog is worth ordering if only for the humor.

 

[E7mack96]

slotted pieces of ****

I cannot stand to use a slotted screwdriver, or screws. Whenever possible, I at least convert to phillips.

 

[Rob Thomas]

Illflem is right on, McFeely's is the way to go. American Made, hardened, milti coatings available, and mostly square drive. I use them(McFeely's and square drive) exclusivly, my last order was 15,000 screws, those screws are the best I've ever used. One hand operation, you just about havta yank to screw off the bit, nice tight fit, and they NEVER strip, EVER, breakin' them is a feat also. The best invention since the cordless screwgun, IMO.





So, yea, I vote fer the square ones.





Later, Rob

 

[emarsh]

the square drive "TEKS" self drilling are fantastic to use with a battery powered drill. I started using the hex head type twenty years ago, but now that they are imported, they don't FIT the magnetic driver worth a darn; so now I use the square drive, it sometimes works too good, you need pliers to get it out of the driver!

 

[Scot]

I just wish I could get my hand around the throat of the bozo that invented the slot/phillips combo head. Works poorly, at best, with either one.



Must control fists of death!

 

[WOWZY]

The most poular is the square slotted (Robertson) fateners.



Just look at the inside any mobile home and there's literally thousands of them. I guess time is money.



Slotted should be banned except for electrical terminal blocks. If every big company realized how many workmans comp cases were because of slipping screwdrivers, they'd been banned a long time ago and I would have less scars on my hands.



Slotted (flat tip) screwdrivers should only be used for what they were meant to be used for and that's a prybar!!

 

[ETOBICOKE]

Robertson

The Robertson screw is one of those things thats everwhere in Canada and didn't catch on in the US. In fact we throw away the Philips screws that come with most hardware and buy Robertson replacements. P. L. Robertson was a traveling hardware salesman, he mostly sold tools, one of which, the Yankee type screw driver, was his inspiration for the square recess screw head. Seems he has demonstrating the Yankee driver when the bit slipped out of the screw slot and he injured his hand. The reason that the square recess screw did not sell very well outside of Canada has a little bit to do with P. L. Robertson wanting to have control over his product and not licence his patent. Henery Ford loved them, found he could significantly reduce the assembly time of a Model T by using Robertson screws. Only problem was at that time Ford wanted control of his entire product and didn't like buying items from other companies. The Philips screw was not invented by Philips, he bought the patent from the inventor and just licenced it out to different fastener manufacturers. The interesting thing is that all screws and most bolts made today are made from wire stock in a two hit process that Robertson developed in order to produce his screws, The square recess was formed in the second hit and was ready to thread. Previosly Slotted screws had been machined from solid, then later headed from wire stock, and in either case the screw slot was saw cut into the screw head. This of course also allowed Roberson to make his screws at a lower cost, although he always managed to charge a premium price for them. The other neat thing about the Robertson screw is the screw driver, it's the least expensive to make, they use a tubular mild steel shank and insert a hardened square tool steel tip into it.



Neil