Un-necessary conmplication?

[Robatoy]

PosiDrive screws were designed for automatic-feed screwdriving robots. You can tell them from a Philips by noticing that there are small lines eminating from the centre of the screw-head at a 45 degree angle from the main slots. Robertson screws don't work in automated-feed machines because the driver-bit can (at 45 degrees where the bit refuses to enter the hole) jam the machine. McFeely makes great screws...good steel and they stick to the driver nicely. The guy who invented the slotted screw should be forced to listen to Celine Dion.

0¿0 ?

Rob

[bob]

My old Marantz 8-track tape player is hooked up to my stereo system and plays my old Johnny Cash 8-tracks just as good as the day I bought it.

[Unisaw A100]

And Gordon Lightfoot.

And Anne Murray.

In one continuous sitting.

Seriously though, the guy who invented the slotted screw was a genius considering the alternative of the day. It's the guys who continue to make them/force them on us, they should be the ones forced to listen to Celine, Gordon, Anne and (insert your fingers on a chalkboard celebrity singer here).

UA100

[Andy Dingley]

Me too !

[B a r r y]

She would make me want to bang my head against a spinning table saw blade. How anyone can listen to her and not kill themselves is beyond me.

Barry

[Dave Hinz]

Looks enough like a Phillips to confuse the unwary, but doesn't fit a Phillips bit very well at all. Works excellent with the right bits, though.

We call that "square drive screws" here, the only people I've ever seen call it the Robertson are Canadians (he was Canadian, I'd guess).

Nope, it's an entirely different kind of screw, altogether.

[Dave Hinz]

Reed & Prince maybe?

Dave "Why on earth do I know this stuff?" Hinz

[Dave Hinz]

Yup, although that one tends to be awfully emotionally charged, and people with the inferior technology (Windows) usually don't know enough about the better one (Macs) to know any better. With screws that are obviously hard to use, vs. screws that don't suck at all, it's easier to be objective.

Dave Hinz

[Lee Michaels]

"Dave Hinz" wrote

It is also much easier to be objective if you are the screwor as opposed to the screwee. :)

[Silvan]

Cher.

It's kinda funny, actually. I haven't used any of those Roberson screws, so maybe, just maybe, they're actually different. I hate Phillips and Allen screws because they strip out too easily, and you have to turn them into slotted screws to get them out. Torx screws are a little better, but still, sometimes you have to turn them into slotted screws to get them out. Personally, therefore, I prefer slotted screws for many applications. Like any application where I might have to remove the screw some day. Or lag screws, even better, if I can use them.

Cher, Cher, Cher.

[Dave Hinz]

They really are. I used them for my deck (stainless in - gasp - composite deck boards), and the worked _very_ well.

Wow. If you're screwing up Torx screws, you might be using one size too small of a bit. It'll fit, but it'll strip much easier. I don't think you _can_ strip a Torx screw with the right size bit.

What's that guy...Neville something, big honking mole on his face, and the vocal equivalent of "Kenny G"?

[Ray_Manor]

"Because it doesn't cam out nearly as badly as the Phillips."

One man's "bad" is another's "good". The popularity of the phillips head screw is their use in drywall. Try shooting those screws that don't cam out into some rock and see what happens to your efficiency.

ray

[Doug Miller]

If you ever need to remove the screw, the Robertson (square-drive) head is

*far* easier to use than a slot.

Yabbut... they're not very aesthetically pleasing. :-)

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Dave Hinz]

My drywall gun doesn't rely on cam-out, it has a slip clutch. I'd be surprised if that wasn't universal? Cam-out would leave a (sharp!) bur in a drywall screw, which isn't what you're after. Makes mudding more of a pain in the ass than it already is. DAMHIKT.

Dave "I'll never tape and mud drywall again. And this time I mean it." Hinz

[G.E.R.R.Y.]

Aaron Neville, one of the old Neville Brothers.

Gerry

[Dave Hinz]

There's more than one? That's not good.

[Buck Frobisher]

here's a very short history of the Robertson screw:

here's the company's website: even thought to colour-code the screwdrivers to make the hole sizes easier to remember. "Hey, throw me a red Robertson, willya?"

You can blame Henry Ford's greed and P. L. Robertson's stubbornness if you regret the non-availability in the U.S. even today.

[Unisaw A100]

Cher's Fair Well Tour.

The best four words ever spoken/written.

Now, let's see if it sticks.

UA100

[Dave Hinz]

Of Ford's greed, there's little doubt, but I've been buying Robertson hardware for more than a decade in normal retail hardware outlets. The non-availability of which you speak doesn't exist.

[Larry Blanchard]

Another subject we agree on :-).