Weird screw - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: PerranOak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 03:08:06 pm
content: I found a weird screw but was chuffed to find that my screwdriver bit collection had a driver to match!I undid one screw - perfect. I tried to undo another and one "leg" of the driver snapped - see photo.Can a kind soul please tell me what these are called as I need to get the other screws out.Cheers.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 03:10:10 pm
content: spanner head screw

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 03:12:19 pm
content: Do a web search for this: security bit

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 03:14:32 pm
content: screw driver and angle grinder

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 05:11:28 pm
content: Is this what it looks like? (attachment) It's really not that uncommon. Various ways of making your own wrench for them too.

author: PerranOak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 01:33:46 pm
content: Thanks all.The screw I have looks like the attached. Not the same but functionally similar I guess, jpanhalt.Anyway, it's just that I didn't know what is was called; I've ordered some bits for my collection.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 06:14:22 pm
content: i'm sick of those security bits. if i dont find a driver for them, i'll bring my mini hand drill tool around and deduce them to a flat screw driven...

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 07:07:12 pm
content: I don't know why they bother making up new types of security screw, each time a new one comes out it is practically no time at all before anyone can go buy a screwdriver that fits them. I usually manage to get them out by abusing various other tools, then replace them with standard screws.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 07:39:41 pm
content: The one-way or tamper resistant screw, aka prison screw, is an example of a pretty simple device that is hard to remove.https://www.mcmaster.com/tamperproof-screws/tamper-resistant-one-way-rounded-head-screws/When the vandal trick of removing privacy barriers in toilets became popular, that type of screw became more common. Hence, "prison screw," which is one place it is used. (So, I have been told, but can't vouch for having seen one there.)

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 07:47:22 pm
content: They're not that hard to remove, a file makes quick work of it, or if they are not countersunk you can just grip the edge of the head with vice grips.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 08:18:58 pm
content: The voice of experience trumps my inexperience.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 09:52:03 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on August 02, 2022, 07:07:12 pmmy latest encounter was when my wife's sister asked me to repair her MacBook, what an abomination!

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 11:23:56 pm
content: Probably the best choice for the proliferating security screws is to buy 1/4" hex driver bits as the new versions come out.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2022, 02:56:26 am
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on August 02, 2022, 07:39:41 pmGenerally those are so soft that a sharp bit and some pressure will back them out with no bother. Just treat it like a stupid phillips screw and they behave quite normally..

author: eugene
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2022, 03:13:09 pm
content: A Dremel with a cutoff wheel will turn those into ordinary flat blade screws.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 03, 2022, 08:06:40 pm
content: Quote from: eugene on August 03, 2022, 03:13:09 pmAfter you have already unscrewed them. But by that time you could just replace them by normal screws.

author: AndyBeez
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2022, 08:29:44 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on August 02, 2022, 07:07:12 pmAgreed. Mobile phones are a jungle of freakish heads. Asnowflakehead? Please just stop.I can understand why a designer specifies a torx with pin for medical kit, for example, but on my vacuum cleaner handle which contains zero parts inside? Maybe there is a production line reason for these oddities? The OP's weird screw, is all too common on mains products. Sometimes the head is two inches down a tube; which means the factory had a special tool just forthatscrew.My nomination for most annoying profile goes to the triangular socket bolt head.Why? Did it stop me gaining access to the inside of your product? Hell no.If you want your products tamper proof, sonic weld them together.Will that stop me gaining access to the inside of your product? Hell no.

author: PerranOak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2022, 02:24:11 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on August 02, 2022, 11:23:56 pmI did this in the end!

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2022, 05:03:36 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on August 02, 2022, 07:07:12 pmYyyeah, but realistically, the point of security screws isn’t to flawlessly keep a determined person out. It’s to prevent casual opening of the device. On things like power strips, it’s for safety. On seat belts, to make it harder for someone to defeat. And in mobile phones, to keep curious people from opening them and then causing severe damage. It makes sense to add a bit of a hurdle.As for availability: with the internet it’s now easy to get them. But that wasn’t the case in the past, and even today you still have to know they exist, and what the one you need is called. For many people that’s enough of a hurdle to make them give up, and THAT is the point.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2022, 05:45:53 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on August 05, 2022, 05:03:36 pmI never found it to be much of a hurdle though. Many times I have opened something up by jamming some other screwdriver into the screw, or the tip of a knife or some other implement. I see no reason to provide hurdles to try and prevent curious people from breaking their own stuff. The more you try to idiot-proof something the better the idiots become.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2022, 06:20:45 pm
content: Then you haven’t understood what I was trying to say. People like usaredetermined. But most people are not, and simply give up. Stopping them is the point. And I gave you two examples of very sound reasons for stopping casual device opening.

author: PerranOak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2022, 11:10:44 am
content: Update.I got the bits and unscrewed the screws. On first use, one of the bits broke! They've gone back to Amazon.I'll just jam any old screwdriver in next time.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2022, 07:22:49 pm
content: Next time buy quality bits. Good ones don’t do that.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2022, 03:42:11 am
content: or make one youself from a flat head screw driver and hand drill with sanding disc. flat head screw driver is much tougher or carbonized tempered or some sort. i usually found more luck by diy'ing instead of buying ready made shithunglow.