Inverse Screws

Mar 21, 2011 5 Replies

Need to disassemble a motor (see cooling fan thread) which is held together by four long machine screws with a head that I have never seen before. Imagine a slotted machine screw but with a 'slot' that is raised rather than sunken. Anyone come across this before? Does it have a name?



Andrew


There are umpteen types of tamper resistant screw head available. This may be a custom one made solely by the motor manufacturer. I'm sure you can hacksaw or file a matching slot in something you can then drive with a socket or similar. A bit of scrap bar with the slot at one end and a cross hole drilled through it at the other to take a tommy bar would suffice. You might even be able to just grip the ridge on the screw with mole grips if it's high enough.

None that are printable.

Drivers are easy enough to make (old hex bit, cut a slot), but they're a very fragile head. Enough torque to put them in clean, not enough to get them out once manked into place. Maybe they're deliberate?

I've had some out, but never a whole motorful as there was always one that was too tight and the head stripped. I ended up dremelling a new slot, then taking them out with a conventional screwdriver.

Maplins usually sell them:

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also search for security screwdrivers on eBay.

rusty

Any idea which out of that set is the raised slot? Would be useful to have the correct name for further searching.

Andrew

screwdrivers on eBay.

to be fair, I found my set of bits, but there's nothing exactly like an inverse screw. There are 4 plain screwdriver bits with a rectangular slot in the middle which are 4,5,6 and 6 mm diam. Might do if the screws aren't too tight.

rusty

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