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One of my greatest annoyances are cross head screw types. You probably just call them Phillips and use the same screwdriver on all of them. You You are wrong.

Part of the problem is Phillips are designed to strip at low torque to prevent assemblers from tightening them too much and causing damage.

Phillips also come in different sizes, the sizes are not compatible and using the wrong one will cause the screw to strip.

Then, it might not be Phillips at all. Here is an incomplete list of semi compatible screw types you might encounter.

Phillips

Pozidriv

JIS

ISO 8764

Supadriv

Phillips II

Frearson

French Recess

Mortorq

ECX

Between these three points, these types all end up getting stripped and creating a massive maintenance headache.

I own a couple hundred dollars in tools just for stripped fasteners. None of them work. I have to carry tons of different bits and screwdrivers to still have constant problems with these.

If you design or build anything that uses any of these screw types, I hate you only slightly less than the people that still choose flat head screws.

Huey 2y ago

Agree generally, but the Phillips type screw is so common that I have accepted that I must deal with it. As a result I mainly use a 12v screwdriver by Bosch with excellent speed control and some incredibly low torque settings. It's also powerful enough to drive a 2" hole saw through 1\2" plywood. The small size is great for tight spaces.

My RV has these screws which accept either Phillips or Robertson which is a decent compromise. Obviously I use Robertson with those.

The Wowstick micro driver is also pretty handy for working on laptops and the Raspberry Pi but it has no torque control so you need to hold it loosly enough to spin in your grip at the desired torque. Needs a manual driver to unstick tight screws first too, but it's a timesaver.

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Discussion

Bill Cypher 2y ago

If you are talking about those screws that are supposed to work with Phillips, square, and flat heads but none of them work well... ECX bits are designed for them and do work well. Common in AC electrical stuff.

Huey 2y ago

These are the two most common screws in the RV. I have probably re-used each of these fasteners multiple times already during my perpetual renovations.

All I'm saying is that if they were straight up Phillips I would have stripped them long ago but with the Robertson option they remain useful.

Both are self drilling too, very handy.

Bill Cypher 2y ago

Interesting. They look like Phillips somebody already butchered at first glance.

Huey 2y ago

Yeah that was what I thought at first glance but they're actually like a Robertson screw first with Phillips as a weak second option. The fit on the R bit is perfect, holds snug without magnetism. I actually have worn out some real R screws in less time than these ones are lasting. Better metal I guess.