Hi all. I am building an ensuite it entails screwing 18mm WBP plywood sheets onto studs and then covering with aquapanels on two walls. I am using an 18 volt screw/drill driver to push the 2 inch 8mm double countersunk twinstart woodscrews in.Problem is about half the screws refuse to go flush with the plywood. Is there a way to avoid countersinking-I want to have the heads flush for good contact between the aquapanel and the ply. many thanks
Is it that the driver has insufficient torque to drive them right in, or is the bit slipping in the screwhead? If the former, you may be able to tighten them a bit more by hand.
Are you drilling clearance holes in the ply, or just forcing the screws through, blind? If you're not drilling holes, then drill them. If you *are* drilling holes, make them slightly bigger so that there's a bit a room for the material surrounding the head to crush down into the hole.
Or use a combined pilot, clearance and countersink bit so that there's only one drilling operation for each hole.
I did this for an hour or two last night, thanks to vandals. I used self countersinking screws, the turbo golds from screwfix, I used an impact screwdriver till the battery ran out, then a Makita drill till that ran out, then an old bosch rechargeable, then it was out with the inverter and an old b/d drill, all had no difficulty (while charged in countersinking the screws as far as needed with no pilot holes or countersinking in good quality 18mm ply.
So go for the turbo golds and use wera diamond tipped bits of the right size, your drill should be perfectly adequate.
mrcheerful
Wickes do a 'high performance' range of woodscrews which come in a pack with a blue screwdriver bit. Used with said bit they will self countersink easily into ply, softwood or MDF. Excellent product, I use nothing else these days.
I expect you are using a poorly fitting bit for the screws, or your screwdriver lacks oomph!
I have stuck thousands of screwfix twinthreads into 18mm ply over studwork and never had any difficulty driving them right into the ply. The wiha diamond bits that screwfix sell seem to be a perfect match for the twinthreads - they hardly ever let go.
Never mind the countersinking issue, which others have answered - why on earth are you covering ply with aquapanels? The aquapanels will be perfectly fine screwed direct to the studwork, there's no need for underlying ply.
Dump the ply and your countersinking issue goes out the window anyway!
David
if your screws are really 8m dia, I'm not surprised - most likely theyre no 8 instead. If your equipment lacks the torque, and you dont want to buy better kit, either use a mains drill, use thinner screws, grease the screws, or pilot drill.
PB screws are typically thin and with shallow heads, so they drive easier. Also more rust resistant than woodscrews.
NT
The trick with screwing any two pieces of something together is to make the 'pilot hole' a clearance hole in the top workpiece only. This avoids having two threads that quarrel (and jam) as the screwhead bottoms.
What are these?
Why do a job properly when doing it for yourself, eh? How much is a decent power drill? =A330? And a drill counterbore? =A35 or less? And a box of 25 driver bits? =A310 or less?
I wonder how much he thinks he is saving? And how much aggravation it is worth?
Yes screws are number 8 they come with drive bit per box of 200.My 18 volt drill driver will drive 4 inch screws so power is not an issue Im thinking of using square drive decking screws. The tool guy gave me a very neat Makita flip countersink/pilot hole tool so I might just persevere with it. On the point Aquapanel does nt need ply backing--I agree-but-I ve lived in this house for 20 years-hopefully live here another 20-I dont like the booming reverberation when you fall against the Aquapanel-which will happen frequently as Im disabled. Im not really bothered about saving money on this job as D-I-Y ing it has saved half the cost- or putting it another way I could nt afford the get the pro s in. Mind you I do nt go daft eg B&Q 120mmframe nails pack of 50 £9--local tool store box of 200--£7. B&Q 42mm plaster board screws 1000--£17.99--local tool store 1000--£7.99. I could go on but Im sure this topic done to death.
If your tool only gets them half way in, but power isnt the issue, then one of us is puzzled.
check out screwfix.com and toolstation.com. If you dont need it that day it saves going out to get stuff.
I think screws etc are where the sheds get ya, they advertise the big stuff at keen prices, then screw you on screws.
NT
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