Philips/Square/Slotted (all three combined) is really common in North American electrical. Switches, outlets, breakers; all commonly use them for terminal screws.

Great for lower torque applications; you certainly wouldn't use them for like a deck/structural screw.

i don't always strip my screws to death but when i do, what the hell do you mean they got the job started for me?

But it's absolutely fascinating that torx on the other hand is here with its generic name.

Although in my opinion there are three slots only: torx, hex and wrong.

And who renamed the inbus? This is not a maths class!

Star bit.

RIP

Same - this will easily be my favorite post of the day, and it's still early.

I worked as a supervisor where my predecessor thought square/Robertson were superior without listening to the others who were used to torx. I very quickly changed back to using torx.

Torx torx torx torx!

I use exclusively torx or tamper-proof torx for my projects and I love it so much.

Hexagons are the bestagons!

Technically Robertson has a taper to it, while square drive doesn't. Though nobody really differentiates it in common usage.

At least with star drive, while they are the same, pretty much everyone calls them Torx.

It's called Robertson by proud Canadians, in the US, at least, "square" is common. A square drive also wasn't invented by Robertson, he just made the tooling for manufacturing the screws to be economical.

Canadian detected.

Same with 6 lobe instead of torx

in america everything must be named after a company

also isn't it Robertson?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson_screw

"square" aka Robertson

I had the same thought! Also I’ve only ever heard “torx” instead of “six lobe” although I’m guessing torx is a brand name.

PF = Plastic thread Forming. They are basically a self-tapping screw meant for plastics.

damn your area uses dumb names for things then lol

calling a drive type by the head shape, that's wild

Just wait until you have to remove some old slotted screws! Phillips are great compared to them. My house was build in 1925, I think slotted was the only option back in those days...

Found this on Wikipedia "The credited inventor of the Phillips screw was John P. Thompson who, in 1932, patented (#1,908,080) a recessed cruciform screw and in 1933, a screwdriver for it."

They are better than slotted. The driver always slips and you always stab yourself in the arm, they are impossible to work with. Why were they even invented, what purpose do they solve, it is literally the worst possible way to design a screw.

Pozidrive for the win.

You would be correct. Except philip head screws were never really meant to be removed. They were originally designed to be a simple torque limiting fastener for use on an assembly line to speed up the work. I think the screw type was developed for Ford Motor's use on assembly lines in the 1920s. The installation tool is meant to cam out of the slots when the screw hits the proper limit. So one and done. The issue is today designers are often too stupid/lazy to not distinguish between assemblies that need to be taken apart to repair and those that won't be.

And THEN the Japanese walk into this mess by introducing their JIS spec cross-head screws and special drivers. It's very close to the original philips in looks, but it's not. It's designed to not cam out as easily as a philips head screw and be reusable. And It requires a special set of JIS screwdrivers to install or remove. They are commonly found on Japanese motorcycles. Though they have spread and can be found in the weirdest places these days.

So if you have a "philips head" screw you just can't remove, it just might be JIS. So buy a set of JIS drivers, and look very closely, and "try before you pry" to be sure you are getting the correct fit between the driver and the screw head.

Use a hammer and punch to break off the pin.

6-lobe, star, and Torx are all names for the same somewhat common screw type. Torx is a trademarked brand name however.

Separately there's a 5-lobe screw called 'pentalobe' that's looks just like the 6-lobe but with, well..., 5 lobes. It was developed by Apple iirc, to keep people out of their products and make repair harder.

The common hack makes it easier to remember: the common star, or brand name Torx, is the same as a hexagon. If you have a full set of both SAE and Metric star drivers, there is a star that will fit tightly into nearly all hexagon cap screws. If you strip a hexagon screw cap, using a star driver will often work to remove it. This only works because it is the same number of points.

There are many other types, but the common star is the 6 point.