Monday, July 7, 2008

SCREWDRIVERS


Slotted
Hex inch, hex metric, ball hex
torx
torx plus, security torx
square drive
pozi drive
precision tech, chip lifters, microbits, softfinish bits
insulated electrician's
nut drivers

oh.

And Phillips, of course. #1, #2, #3. When in doubt, carry a #2.

Wired has an article about the invention of the Phillips screwdriver here.

It used to be so simple. Just grab the right sized slotted screwdriver and you're in! Now we groan when we see a slotted screw. For many furniture makers, the square drive is the cat's meow--positive drive, minimal slippage. When it was first introduced, lots of guys didn't want to use it--you never could find a driver when on the job site. The Phillips has always been a good one, but one tends to power-spin the driver when the going gets tough. I've drilled out and extracted more chewed up Phillips screws than I care to count, or carefully, slowly dragged them out centimeter by centimeter, carefully keeping the driver seated. One of the joys of the trade.



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