Quote:
Originally Posted by RWebb
Even the best can slip sideways in (out) of the slot...
SnapOn's have wedge shaped tips as are Hazets (the latter have or had a nice anti-slip grind or coating on the tips)
PB Swiss uses a parallel sided tip - like a hollow grind on gunsmith's screwdrivers
Zeke, I hadn't heard the criterion in post 12
Brownie points if you can guess where slotted screws are used on 911s...
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What do you need to know? It's basic mechanics. If the blade can wiggle in the slot then there are only 2 points of contact. If the blade is wedged in the slot, the contact is as much as 2wice the width of the blade. Ideally one would chose a screwdriver for a slotted screw that would equal the width of the slot at the bottom and fat enough to not quite reach the bottom.
I suppose the thinking behind the Phillips head was more contact. And I will submit that a brand new Phillips driver in new screws that are properly made (and assuming ones knows a #2 head from a #3) is a very good system.
Better systems have come along but I have no reason to throw away hundreds of perfect good Phillips screws.
Let's face it — some people will never understand the dynamics of the simple screw and abuse every single one they encounter. Give them idiot proof screws, I don't need them.
What I do have frustration with is screws designed to use different driver bits. Dedicate the GD screw to one design and be done with it. A lot of screws found in electrical work have this so called multi bit adaptability and I have more trouble with them than any kind of single drive design.
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Lastly, I had to learn how to use and reuse slotted screws because no one wants to see a boogered screw head in their 18th Century whatnot. I don't use anything but what any project coming across my bench came with originally often throwing away in appropriate fasteners in favor of the original. That's mandatory. So I deal with slotted screws every day.