FASTENERS 101™
Drives, Heads and Threads

Types of Fastener Drives Transcript

Scroll Down to Continue Reading

Bob: Welcome back to Albany County Fasteners - Fasteners 101. I'm Bob and today I want to go over the most popular drive bits.

I have here the most popular, seven types of driver, bits used day in and day out and I just want to go over the different types with some tips here on what basically, is used, each day.

So as far as deck screws go, and this is a deck screw, they come in three different drives: you can get the deck screws with Phillips drives, Square drives, and Torx (star) drives.

This one here is a square drive and I want to go over some key factors of using a square drive, which is a very common driver for deck screws, it's one of the most used. Also, a lot of people like to use the Torx drive because there's less chance of stripping.

With the square drive deck screw, if your bit is what I'll call a substandard type of bit and the bit is not properly manufactured where the head of the square drive is not flat and it doesn't sit in here tight, okay, and it has play in it, it's going to strip the screw as you drive it and then you're going to say "oh the screw is no good" or "the screw wasn't properly manufactured." I've heard all the stories already. So, I just want to point out to you if you're using a square drive that to make sure that you buy a quality bit and you'll have less issues installing your desk screws, or there could be a square drive panhead sheet metal screw, same thing: use a good square drive bit. This is very commonly used, it's one of the ones that I use. I do like it.

I also like the Torx (Star or 6-Lobe). This is a standard Torx self-drilling screw with a Torx bit, driving bit. These bits, as far as stripping the heads out, the chances are very slim to create slippage or damage to the head while you're driving the screw. It's actually a very excellent bit to drive your screws in with. It has these points which lock the bit into the head and you get a very good positive driving to drive your screw in. Especially when you're dealing with self-drillers, drilling into steel or metal. Torx is one of my favorites.

This is a Phillips flathead screw with a Phillips Drive bit. This particular one is a number three. If you buy a good Phillips bit, like the ones we sell, you'll have very little issue. The key to Phillips drivers is to make sure you're square with the actual screw. If you're square and you hold it straight and you don't try to bounce it around, off the top of the head, you'll have less chances of stripping out the head. This is one of the most common used bits out there.

Depends on your application what you're going to use it for, but if I had to choose between those three I would definitely select the Torx, if I could, or the square drive over the Phillips.

The next one I have is an (internal) hex which is basically a socket cap screw. It's a button head and I have a hex driver. The hex drivers work very well, they actually work better than a square drive (less chance of stripping out), but the only issue is that you can't get deck screws or self-drillers with a Hex Drive. Very limited and most of it (Hex Drive screws) are used in socket caps. That's where they're used.

The next one I have here is a Torx, I'm sorry this is not a Torx, this is a hex security screw. This is a security set screw with a pin in it. So, once you put this in place it's very very hard for anybody to get it out because they got no way of getting in there to grab a head or try to remove it. There's that little pin there that prevents them from putting a regular hex drive, like this one, in there. It stops them. Whereas this bit has a hole in the center of it which allows you to slide over that pin that's in the socket set screw and you'll see here I'm gonna put it in place. There you go. This is an awesome security screw if you're able to use it.

The next security screw that I have is a Torx security driver and again superior for driving screws in. This is security so, if you don't want someone to have an easy way to remove the screws, this is a good security fastener to prevent them from removing your screws. This is a superior driver so again very, very good.

This is the old-fashioned one. This is slotted head, or slotted flat head, screw with a slotted driver. The key to these is to have it so they're big enough for the head. So, like this one here, you can see that it is almost - 90% - covers the full drive and the slot has to be tight. This is not exactly perfect so if it's loose like this, that I have here, then what's going to happen is if you tilt that bit while you're driving it with a drill, chances are it's going to slip off and it's going to strip the head a little bit.

To recap: if I was to select and depending on what's available out there for the actual application and the screws you're going to be using, my first choice would be Torx. My second choice would be to use the square drive and then my third choice would be Hex and then Phillips and then you have the security screw applications. Those are limited as to where you're gonna be putting those screws. I just wanted to give you this tip and this information, so you better guide yourself as to using these drivers.

Thanks for watching.