I dunno... I'm thinking the bits that came with my Lisle set were larger t han 1/4" though. Maybe they are 5/16". The Snap-On ones are 3/8" square d rive, they don't use a holder (each bit comes with its own "socket" if you will.) Don't have the Lisle bits handy to measure, they're at my friend's shop ATM.
nate
I think I've got it figured out.
Screw driver bits that come mounted on a 3/8 inch drive SOCKET will typically be 5/16 inch hex. I measured some of my 3/8 inch drive Torx driver bits and they were all 5/16 inch hex. You can pull them out of their 3/8 inch drive socket and put them into a 5/16 inch 1/4 inch drive socket for applications where you just don't need as much force.
The removable driver bit in the above socket will fit a 5/16 inch hex socket.
Try E-Z Grip friction drops. You apply a drop of this to the tip of your sc rewdriver and it greatly increases the gripping power without stripping out the head of the screw. I've had a bottle of this on the shelf for many yea rs and it comes in real handy for stuck screws. Also works to increase the gripping power of a wrench on nuts. I haven't seen it in stores, but it is available online.
I took apart my Wahl Isotip. (They still sell them for $50 or so!) It has a pack of 2 sub-c NiCads and a 0.3 ohm tip. Wow, if all went well, that would be 8 amps and 19 watts!
A circuit with such low impedance would certainly be affected by slight resistance in contact points or batteries, but I don't remember any trouble.
The Isotip on the ship in the early 70s, was very handy aloft. I could accomplish tasks that might otherwise have required a corded gun. Prepare the connection, apply a little paste, melt a little solder on the iron, and hit the connection. The molten solder transferred heat fast.
Weller has come out with the BP865MP, apparently recently. It uses 4 AA cells. They recommend alkaline and say 9W on high and 8W on low. With new alkalines, that's only 1.5A!
Customers complain that they have to hold the button down waiting for it to heat up. I never minded that with my Isotips. I see an important difference in design. With the Weller, you have to wait for the heat to travel down the shaft from the heating element to the tip. The Isotip generated the heat in the tip, for a much faster response.
Customers complain that there's too little heat. With alkalines, it won't be long before you can get only 4 watts. What was Weller thinking! They could have recommended NiMH and used an element that would draw 20 watts!
I have an old no-name iron that used 4 C cells. Like the Isotip, it generates its heat in the tip, for a fast response. It's 0.9 ohms, for
26 watts!NiCads didn't last long, sitting on the shelf or charged with dumb chargers. Those two battery irons ended up useless. Now I'm thinking that if I bought 4 AA to C adapters, that no-name iron would run beautifully on Eneloops.
Any decent soldering iron these days uses a closed loop temperature controlled tip If you wet it or touch it to the work and draw heat out, the loop will turn the power up as needed to hold the tip temperature. Also if you leave it in the holder, it doesn,t just keep getting hotter and hotter, the loop cuts the power back to hold the temp.
Its like a cruise control.
Mark
I don't think they were available in the days when I sat at my bench all day using an iron intermittently.
For applying solder, tip size can be important. A cheap iron with the right tip for a task might be more decent than a temperature-controlled station with an unsuitable tip.
A tip could last longer with temperature control, but one could replace a lot of tips for the price of some of those stations.
Temperature control sounds good for preventing damage when desoldering components on a board.
My last soldering job that lasted more than a couple of minutes was replacing 18 crossover capacitors in 6 loudspeakers. I had a 30-watt iron but bought a 15-watt iron for the job. The smaller iron was less likely to cause damage when desoldering. I plugged it into a power strip that lit up when on. The red light reminded me that the iron was on, so I could switch it off if I didn't need it for a couple of minutes. The tip was less than an inch long, so it didn't take long to reach operating temperature.
I'd call that a shoestring substitute for temperature control.
They pretty much stopped selling screw on tips, that fit my elements. In favor of screw-in tips. I stocked up somewhat, plus I have those two Wens and I think something else. I'd sure hate to have to buy an expensive iron a month before I die, but otoh, if I had the money, at that point there'd be no point in saving it.
Did the OP ever get the stuck screw out?
Nope.
Man, that stucks. You're screwed.
- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
I'm surprised he didn't bolt from the discussion. He must be nuts.
This is a good thread, a bit coarse at times.
- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
Can't you budget an impact driver or a thermostatic soldering station?
At my workbench, I used to have a lot of trouble with stuck screws until I put up a mirror. Then the sweep second hand on the clock on the wall behind me reminded me which way to turn the screwdriver.
Not for two screws, no. I got the rest of them out okay.
Perhaps you have a friend who can loan you one, or come over and do it for you?
- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
I've never been able to get a screw loose unless I could budget.
I already checked the neighbors and nobody has an impact driver (or at least will cop to it while I'm around). The soldering station seemed like too much work.
Plan C would be to say hell with the brass handles, and do the whole thing in white latex paint. Real men use white latex.
- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
I just like the word "budget" when I think about stuck screws. I was kind of fooling about soldering irons, building on Stormy's quote about a red hot nail.
I've got a couple of the kind of impact drivers you hammer. I remember one of them once budgeted a #3 Phillips loose on a car door hinge.
Mostly, I believe in long screwdrivers that fit screws just right. In
1972, I was having a lot of trouble with screws that wouldn't budget because of a reaction between alloys. I bought a 5/16" Bonney flat blade, 9-1/2" overall, with a square shank. I could apply far more torque with that than with other screwdrivers. I used a sharpening stone to maintain a perfect fit.For tough #2 Phillips, I got a Craftsman, 11-1/2" overall.
For all those other kinds of screw heads, I've got one kit with 32 assorted bits and another with 24. They didn't cost much. I can usually find a perfect fit, and there's an extension. A long shaft helps me keep everything straight and apply a lot of pressure as well as torque. Besides preventing slips, pressure can ease the tension on the threads.
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