Comment on The torque better not be too strong with this one
Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 6 days agoThis is a bit of a pet peeve of mine - it’s designed purely for automation. That’s why it’s tapered, to allow power tools to slip out before they break. That’s good for automation in the 30s, not so good for hand tools or any modern tool with a torque limiter.
You’re much better off with hex or torx, or even the square driver, which is much more tolerant of imperfect handheld tool usage.
The only reason phillips is still used is because it’s ubiquitous, it’s very much a historical oddity. It’s okay for many tasks but unfortunately the slipping out behaviour destroys the screws after a while.
Croquette@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
A good balled hex driver is such a joy to use. Somewhat align it with the screw, and you can use it at weird angle.
Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 6 days ago
I prefer to only use them when I can’t get alignment. They’re far more likely to round out the head in my experience, but they have their uses.
Croquette@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
Maybe I didn’t use them enough yet, but I bought some Wiha balled hex driver and I haven’t stripped a screw yet, and I use cheap screws.
I also had to dismantle my 3d printer hot end with a lot of weirdly placed screws and it wasn’t even an issue.
Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 6 days ago
Fair enough, I’m talking about big H5 construction screws, so a different use case maybe. Also it turns out when ARRMA uses too much threadlock on their axle set screws you can strip them really easily, and I needed more expensive special hex drivers with tught tolerances to work with them.