Phillips or Square Drive Screws

[Brian Penning]

I always reckoned square drive to be better than Phillips in the driver slipping until I bought a C12 Festool drill. The phillips drivers that came with that are a revelation in not slipping at all. Maybe a lot of problems are poor driver quality, getting quality drivers is an issue though most are junk compared to the Festool ones which cost 3 arms and a couple of legs.

I agree.
Some drivers fit nice and snug into the screw heads while others don't. The long bit for my Kreg pocket hole kit is my best one.

[Ken Shoemaker]

Framing nail, stapels, duct tape and glue... Screws will never catch on....

[Curt Harms]

Before the advent of the cordless impact I was partial to square drives. Since I have purchased the impact driver It has eliminated the need for square drives as it dose not cam out like a standard driver /drill when using philips.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Tom

If ya gotta use borg screws..... noisy li'l critters though . I don't think I've cammed out a phillips screw since getting mine. I'm no fan of slotted screws but if I gotta use 'em one of these screw holders helps http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ima...&n=228013&s=hi

along with the right size bit.

[John Coloccia]

re: camming out vs not camming out

Phillips cams out because it was designed to cam out. Reed and Prince, which looks a lot like phillips but isn't, will not cam out as readily with the appropriate driver. If you want something that looks like Phillips but won't cam out at all, look at Posidriv. I've twisted many posidriv heads off before I got the hang of driving them. Very solid.

I can't figure out for the life of me why on earth Phillips is still being used. It was designed to cam out in the early days of powered assembly lines. There was no torque control so the system was designed to cam out before damage to the driver or the workpiece would occur. There is just no good reason to keep using this monstrosity of a driver.

[Gary Muto]

Both, square when I can but I'll use slotted screws from my old stock if it's the right size and all I have.

[Paul Ryan]

Good phillips drivers have "teeth" on the sides of the bit. If you look at the bits on the sides of the ridges the maker will put "teeth" or little groves. Those help to reduces stripping greatly.

Going on three years ago I built 2 decks on my house. One out of green treated. I chose stanless screws for that that were sqare drive. After that fiasco I swore never again to use square drive screws. With in the 1st hour I had to stop drive the 30 min back to the store return all 25lbs of screws and buy phillips. I have since started using square drive but at a limited basis. The other deck I bought the materials from a different location and bought torx to build that one with. I cant remember the cost difference but the torx were really nice screws but were about 5X the cost of the phillips. Cheaper torx screws are comming out now, I have seen them at menards. But that scares me because I don't think torx screws made with cheap materials will be any better than phillips or square. I dont even include slotted because I hope I never see one again.

[Stephen Edwards]

I voted "other" because there wasn't an option for "both". Square is my preference.

[Lee Schierer]

I prefer rounded-off philips...much more challenging tightening them and loosening them....

I'll save mine and send them to you so you can recycle them into your projects. Can you also use the ones with the drilled out heads?

[Rod Sheridan]

How is Robertson different from square drive?

Or is this just the Canadians taking a swipe at us down south for being so..... all feet and inches?
.

Mitch, of course it's us taking a swipe at you.

Actually Robertson is the original manufacturer of the screw, and the company continues to manufacture them.

A true Robertson screw has a slight taper in the square socket, which if fitted to an accurately made screwdriver, holds on very tightly.

Sometimes they're hard to pull off by hand, they fit so snugly.

I have bought some "Square Drive" screws from the BORG, they don't fit properly, and don't seem to have the correct internal taper, or maybe no taper at all?

That may be due to low quality fasteners being sold, or perhaps "square drive" is really an inferior copy of Robertson screws.

Regardless if you buy a box of Robertson screws, and try them out with a proper Robertson bit, you'll be amazed.

Regards, Rod.

[Darnell Hagen]

I'm a Robertson man, all the way. When I ship over the border I include a bit or two, taped into a hole in the side of the crate.

Slotted screws are pretty much only good for period work.

Like John said, Philips are meant to cam out. They were designed to be installed by machine.

Robertson screws were designed to tighten up when torque is applied. They can be driven with the driver at an angle. They "stick" to the bit.

I've heard that square drive are different from Robertson, but I haven't seen them and can't find info to back that claim.

[Art Mulder]

How is Robertson different from square drive?

Or is this just the Canadians taking a swipe at us down south for being so..... all feet and inches?
.

Mitchell,

I cringe when people refer to Robertson bits as "Square" almost (almost, but not quite) as much as I cringe when people refer to Phillips as "Star" or "Cross" or some other shape-related adjective which is not the proper name.

Call me picky.

Or call me a Canuck taking a swipe at you down south folks...

...art

[george wilson]

I must have put at least 400' of shelving into my new shop,and more into my wife's jewelry shop on the 2nd. floor. I used 3" or 4" screws. At my age,trying to hold a bit into phillips head screws,that I didn't drill a pilot hole for(hate ruining my good drills in plasterboard!) was a hassle. I was also on a ladder. The square head,and Torx were so much easier on my carpal tunnel. I think I had to go to Home Depot to get them. IIRC,Lowes didn't stock them,or didn't have a decent assortment. I may be remembering wrongly,though. Several years ago.

[Karl Card]

once i got turned onto square drive, phillips does not have a place in my shop.

[Chris Padilla]

I'll save mine and send them to you so you can recycle them into your projects. Can you also use the ones with the drilled out heads?

I dunno, Lee, if you can strip a Philips head like *I* can. I'm quite good at it and I do it in a very repeatable way. I'm sure trying to use Lee Schierer stripped out Philips head would be a lesson in futility.... I like a challenge, mind you, but I need a glimmer of hope....

[Tom Adger]

square drive is good, but for my money the best is star(or torx) drive.