Screw rule

Torx is the only head that needs to exist. The rest can go fuck a rusty chainsaw.

Square is really good too.
Phillips and flat head bits fit in a variety of sizes of screw heads. We seem to have chosen convenience over performance.
- If memory serves me correctly square drive is patented, & thus requires licensing, which is why it's less commonly used.
- And then bolts
This is the way. Also I'm new to Lemmy so forever will this be how I start my experience here.
Torx is hands down better in every way than flathead and Phillips.
Slotted heads, Philips, posidrive, torx, 6 pan and Robertson.
Each has a use, for instance a slotted head, when you don't need much torque is good enough (like for a screwed in battery compartment).

phillips worst screw self stripping garbage

That is actually a feature of this design. They were the answer to in-line screwdrivers who had no precise stopping torque: cam-out before the thread is damaged.
- I know it's an intentional feature, but it's a bad feature. Camming out damages the head of the screw. This exchanges repairability for manufacturing simplicity. Additionally, the sloped shape makes it possible to use slightly oversized or undersized drivers, further increasing the chance of camming out and damaging the screwhead.
- Bug turned into a feature: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Engineering:Cam_out

The torx are the most resistant, the rest can also cease to exist.

Anyone who willfully uses a slotted screw on a new project in the presence of even somewhat reasonable alternatives should have a lifetime ban on designing any items for anyone.

Also, use Robertsons, gink.

it’s single valid use: somewhere that you may not have tools but might require an impromptu fix… preferably paired with a much larger screw than technically required so you can use things like coins as a driver
- Yeah, like mounting plates for cameras…. Um, I think that’s the only place I’ve appreciated a slot screw
- No.
  Thumbscrews, or wingnuts.
Fuck electrical wall plates I guess then? It’s so hard to find any switch plates or device plates that come with Phillips instead of Slotted.
- Yeah fuck them, i hate those stupid slippery slotted bastards

Torx is great but fuck security torx

security torx
Do you know what's the deal with them except having to pay / find extra bits?
- They're designed so the average person isn't gonna have the tools to mess with them.
- If you're determined enough you can jam a slot screwdriver in a torx and turn it, the security bit makes it so that you have to be REALLY determined when you jam the slot screwdriver in
You could drill your torx but (not advised) or drill the pin(?) on the screw.

Situation: There are 20 screw standards.

John Corporate: "20 standards... I know, I'll create a new type of screw that will be unique to my corporate overlords and prevent users from repairing their own devices!"

Situation: There are 21 screw standards.

Relevant xkcd:
- To be fair, UTF-8 did win the character encoding wars. Kudos to the Unicode designers I guess.

My favorite is hex, self centering and doesn't strip easily

Hexagons are the bestagons
- Only in 2D. Screws are 3D. There is no known optimum in 3D.
Torx are the better hex as they apply torque to six planes, not six lines. It's right-out impossible to strip a torx.
The disadvantage is that it's harder to machine but that really doesn't matter for cast screws. Tools are also cheaper that's why IKEA etc. use them.
- Torx tools are cheaper? I didn't know that. I've never really come across them, so I didn't think they were an option for universal replacement.
- Unless they are in a facemill or something for a milling machine

I strongly dislike how many times I've stripped a Phillips and used a die grinder to force it to become a flat. Torx is fine.

I used to restore "barn bikes", most of them were Japanese. It took me a while to figure out the difference between Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) and Phillips screws. Of course over the years, a lot of the fasteners had already been cammed out by previous owners using a Phillips screwdriver in a JIS screw. I had to resort to the die grinder method far more than I'd have preferred.

Canadian here. I'm offended the Robertson (square) has been shamed like this.

Square is called a Robertson and is the standard for construction in Canada. None of that bullshit Phillips trash.

The real "actual screw".
Not only the standard screw but a very effective head shape. The head is both self centring and can hold on the screw securely and without the use of magnets.
- I will die defending Robertson screw as a top contender. The rest of the world must learn our superior Canadian ways, by force if necessary.
Canada is a very progressive place it seems
Robertson or gtfo
Lately I’ve seen a lot more Phillips Square, which is nice when you strip the fuck out of the Phillips head. Those are alright.
- Pozidrive is basically a Robertson and Phillips on top of each other.

I hate phillips. It seems like their only purpose for existing is to strip out so that you can never remove them.

Personally, any time I have a project, I always opt for torx (star). The screwdriver bits for them are not tapered so they don't push themselves back out of the screw-head (unlike phillips), so they tend to stay in place and grip much better. It's a lot harder to screw up a torx screw or bit than a phillips one.

I. Love. Torx! They just work! Don’t mind the angle, don’t mind the force! They’re just perfect! Never going back. (At least for everything related to woodworking)
Same. I use torx for everything. Also gotta love the square Robertson ones, they're just not common where I live. I hate Philips, although for anyone not aware, there is a difference between posi drive an Philips and going to the effort of making sure you have the correct one massively reduces torquing out and damage to screw head.
- IMO, phillips is for electronics and some small applications. Something you're really not putting much pressure on and probably driving by hand and not a power tool.
They actually were designed to cam out in low torque applications so consumers could not over-tighten them. The problem is now those consumers only know what a phillips is, so they're used for everything.
- Hilariously, that "purposeful cam-out" was the manufacturers/patent-holders trying to turn a bug into a feature. https://handwiki.org/wiki/Engineering:Cam_out

Torx or Robertson, are the only ones worth a damn.

I'm a Philips type of guy myself.
- You have chosen....poorly

Hex screws are sick tho. Great when there isnt much space to tighten regular screws.

Robertson, hex and torx should be on that list, the rest of that shit can stay in the scrap bin of designs

I like pluses and squares. Minuses need to be removed from existence

Minus is great because you can use a butter knife on a pinch to unscrew/screw it
Pozidrive is both!

Square drive on personal projects, forever and always. Maybe I'm buying the wrong torx, Phillips, and flat screws, but they strip out way too often. I've never had issues with square drive screws no matter where or how I use them

Yup, anytime I'm driving into solid wood, it's square head screws. Phillips heads slip out under the stress and end up stripped.
- Look at the history of Phillips screws. They’re designed to torque out. Automobile assembly line workers can’t be trusted to not overtighten them

Americans will do anything the hardest way possible, huh lol

Robbie superiority.

6-lobe is life. I got a box of them for a set of stairs I had to rebuild, and the sheer ease of use makes me never want to go back.

Never heard anyone call Torx "6 lobe". But yes, Torx all the way.
- That's what it's called on the image and tbh I've never been quite sure what a "torx" was until now.

Square is my favorite but never used in industrial maintenance much. The square combos are on new electrical devices for construction though. I use mostly Phillips/slotted. A few security torx. Lots of hex heads, and all the small electrical terminals are slotted.

We stan Phillips/slot

Phillips/slot: the pansexual of screwheads

Sadly, some of the more exotic ones have been used to dissuade third-party repair. Some repair shops have been on a mission to replace iPhone screws with more common standards to facilitate general access.

Triangle, but with bevels. I believe old McDolan toys had those

Also, why has Python its own screws?

Oh god as a vintage camera collector spanner screws are the bane of my existence

Relateable lmao

You all shit on Philips, but it seems almost all screws are philips crosses where I live. I've never seen a square screw lol.

If you or any of your friends have wooden decks, check there. That's where I've seen them the most.

Hex is the best, cmv

And please don't forget that spile and double-hex are different, despite both having 12 points.

nah you can throw flathead in mental disorders too phillips is the one screw to rule them all and all those nerds can shut up about maths of why the others are technically superior that's all great on paper but phillips is actually a thing you try using your "perfect" torx screwdriver on any scree you can't cause none of them are torx phillips is good enough and actually used flathead isn't even really used that much anymore it's only slightly less rare than the others and it just plain sucks

Phillips is terrible, it's literally designed to cam-out, which means it strips if the screw has got seized in position.
Pozidrive is a million times better than Phillips.
- This is the way (assuming you want to torque the hell out of something, but that cam out is actually useful, but no one uses them that way.
- don't care I've never seen a pozidrive screw in my life my autocorrect even just changed that to positive it's such a meme that no one uses so Phillips is better by virtue of actually being used

More like screwed in the head

I usually see Spanner type screws in my local hospital.

spline screws >:(