OT: Useful screwdriving trick

Roadrunner

Roadrunner

Joined
Jun 9, 1999
Messages
4,729
While putting together my workbench (see shop pics thread for pics), I had an absolute bitch of a time driving all the screws the project required. Between the bench and the pegboard I think it took close to 60 screws, many of them 3" long for strength. My electric drill could drive them but it was hard to keep enough pressure on the bit to prevent stripping the heads. Then I had an idea; what about using my socket set as a screwdriver? Turns out that those little screwdriver bits fit into a 1/4" socket perfectly. I used this setup to drive the screws that hold the L-brackets into the wall and it worked beautifully. It was easy to keep pressure on the bit and turn the handle at the same time. Here's a pic of the setup:

shoppics013.jpg


shoppics014.jpg


Hopefully some of you will find this useful if you ever have a really stubborn screw that needs driven.
 
That trick works wonders, RR. My family has been doing it for years when we have to remove a pool pump off of a base pack that is shoved in the corner of a pool house. Bracket screws are waaay in the back and hard to get to. They are also rusty and you can't get any torque with a screw driver. We use the same set up as you do except we put an extention on the socket wrench to get the handle above the motor so we can turn it. Excellent tip:)

Jake
 
Great adaptation of what's on hand
Nice long handle

tool stores sell sideways rachet screwdriver / mini-socket wrench
but those I've seen are very small
 
Before the invention of the battery powered screwdriver/drill, those bits came with ratchet screwdrivers. Any decent mechanic of 40 years or so ago had a set in his toolbox and used them with his 1/4 socket on stubborn screws.

Everything old is new again.
 
I thought a guy who owns a set of them Captains of Crush grippy things would relish a good forearm workout. :confused: :)
 
:p Good one Bruise. There's a point at which a fun hobby turns into a hellacious chore. This was one of those times.
 
just rub a bar of soap on the threads. wax works too (as in candle). also good for saw blades that bind, including bandsaw or handsaw. melts from the friction and lubricates.

ab
 
Last year I built a router table to mount on my table saw. The final design required several big, 3-inch screws through the aluminum saw fence rails, into some very tough birch, then into MDF. The power drill wouldn't get more than halfway in before grinding to a halt, and I was leery of making the pilot holes any bigger.

My final solution was to mount a phillips drive bit into the business end of an old fashioned brace -- then lean my belly into the brace knob and crank away on the handle just as easy as pie. You can develop an awesome amount of torque that way with hardly any danger of cam-out.

-- Russ
 
Russ Kay said:
Last year I built a router table to mount on my table saw. The final design required several big, 3-inch screws through the aluminum saw fence rails, into some very tough birch, then into MDF. The power drill wouldn't get more than halfway in before grinding to a halt, and I was leery of making the pilot holes any bigger.

My final solution was to mount a phillips drive bit into the business end of an old fashioned brace -- then lean my belly into the brace knob and crank away on the handle just as easy as pie. You can develop an awesome amount of torque that way with hardly any danger of cam-out.

-- Russ
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right, but the danger is snapping the damn things off with so much torque. As ablebravo said, I keep an old can of turtle paste wax around, and liberally coat the threads with it. I also use the special semi-serrated phillips bits that come with deck screws, and they really bite into the screw head and prevent slipping. I have had some weathered red oak that even with a good pilot hole snapped off screw after screw until I waxed them. Then they glide in and the wax heats up and melts, and they are in there _forever_!

Thanks,

Norm
 
The main reason the socket head Robertson screw never caught on was the invention of the Reed and Prince screw. The R&P is a modified Phillips with squared cross slots, a wider angle, and a deeper sharper slot.

It can take more torque without slipping, and is self centering making it better adapted to automatic or power driven drivers. Reed and Prince screws are the standard in the automotive, aircraft, and electronics industries.

Because they look like Phillips screws, most people are not aware that the drivers are not interchangeable and end up chewing up both the screws and the driver blades thinking that they are Phillips screws.

A Phillips bit is rounded on the tip. A Reed and Prince bit comes to a sharp point.
 
I've never seen any of those. Or maybe I have and ruined a few screwdrivers. :)

I've become a fan of the hex type fasteners. However the smaller ones are too small to apply a lot of torque on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top