Welcome back to Albany County Fasteners - Fasteners 101.
I'm Bob and today I want to go over the most popular drive bits.
So I have here the most popular seven types of drive 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.
You hear all this great noise in the background?
This is our warehouse at work you know, we got the processors over here making all kinds of noise
throwing fasteners into the bags, filling people's orders.
That's all this great noise you hear in the background.
So you have to excuse it but we film these in our warehouse.
Anyway getting back to what we're going to discuss here.
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, skew 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 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 to drive 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.
It's cool creations winner time. Congratulations to Matthew P of Malvern,
Pennsylvania. Matthew uses our stainless steel deck and wood screws to construct
the wood furniture that he sells. He picked our stainless steel hardware
because his furniture is designed for outdoor use and he knows that stainless
can withstand corrosion and lasts a lifetime.
Beautiful Adirondack chairs and a handy cooler table are just a few examples of
Matthews work. Thanks again Matthew for
sharing your cool creation. Keep
submitting your projects for a chance to win. Visit AlbanyCountyFasteners.com
for all of your fastener needs and thanks for watching.