The Best Screw Ever

[WEZEL]

Makes sense as the 'staring hole' is concentric.


I read the taper was an accidental discovery. The only thing I can hold against the design is that it needs to be cold forged or broached so if you're making custom screws then that's a lot harder to machine than a slotted screw. 

This has been a good thread. We might have found the perfect screw 

While I'm on a forum with lots of aircraft-experienced mechanics. Has anyone had any good / bad experiences with the following type of bolt:-

(Image removed from quote.)

Only find them labelled as 12-point aircraft grade bolts.

Found a potential source of these in Titanium but have to buy them in bulk.

Yes I have used them, most of the ARP fastener line uses them in the after market world, Ford uses alot of 12pt on the diesel stuff. 


Link for ARP

http://arp-bolts.com/

[nrshida]

http://arp-bolts.com/

Nice kit. Thanks for that link bud 

Yes Ford tech 30+ years now, cars are built for cheap assembly and no thought into how to service them.

Agreed. I think they cut their costs of manufacture by passing reasonable expense off onto someone else. Includes Porsche imho.

I'm only an amatuer mechanic. Some of the things you have to do without a professional toolkit would make your toes curl up at the ends 

[Brooke]

I think that there should be single slot, Phillips, Allen, hex, and that's it -- everything else should be illegal.

[pembquist]

I think that there should be single slot, Phillips, Allen, hex, and that's it -- everything else should be illegal.

Uh oh, The War on Screws.

How many lives are we going to let oddball fasteners destroy before we act?

[nrshida]

Uh oh, The War on Screws.

It's as good a reason as any! 

[Mongoose]

Just spent three days trying to make one good Macbook Pro out of two bad ones. The screen hinges used T5 Torx screws, six of them.

  Apple seems to have developed policy that they don't want anyone working on Apple devices unless they are paid by Apple. 

[donnieboy]

I was taking the spinner off my 182 and had stuck screws. Experienced mechanic suggested using a very long screwdriver, said to apply some torque to it and just hold it -- something about the long shaft seemed to help get them out.

I didn't have a long shaft phillips so borrowed a nice Snap On.  On the first screw I twisted the tip off the driver.  Wow!  Unusual for a Snap On tool.  Borrowed a second Snap On and again twisted the tip off.  Hmmmm.  Luckily the Snap On truck was coming by the next day so those guys could get their tools replaced.  Ended up using a cut-off wheel to grind a slot and used a heavy flat tip screwdriver to get the screws out.

A speed handle with a hardened Apex tip with a little valve grinding compound get's em every time.

[bustr]

Years ago a friend who was a certified Mac tech showed me how to open that all in one Mac dome kind of thing from the late 80's early 90's. There were no visible screws underneath to separate the top from the bottom. But, there were four feet with synthetic vibration pads. He had me remove them and now there were four holes. Except the screws were at the bottom of the holes or, top of the dome over 12 inches away. Then he whips out a phillips screwdriver with a very long shaft made by Apple specifically to fit that very long hole on the Mac.

Then he laughs and says that only a certified Mac tech by Apple will even know about this screw driver or have one. So up front you pay through the nose at a service center to replace the 5 cent fuse for the monitor we opened the box to get at. Because once you open the Mac, nothing special inside including that 5 cent fuse. Or you went to a commercial electricians supply house and spent $25 on a specialty phillips screw driver if you even knew you needed one. 

Yes pinky, Apple don't want you mucking about with their stuff. And they didn't make their stuff for PC & Windows kinds of knuckle draggers. If you can change the spark plug on your car, they didn't make their PC for dumb people like you who can fix your own PC. Or at least that was the gist of what my friend was taught at Apple tech training. Apples were for smart people who paid someone else to fix their stuff and didn't know a spark plug from a sink stopper.

[Bodhi]

I lost count over the years of how many screws, bolts, rivets, and associated hardware that I had to come up with alternative ways to remove without destroying the piece we were working on.  It's amazing.  The two aircraft that I truly came to despise when disassembling were the Corsair and the Lighting.  Lockheed was particularly fiendish with their proprietary hardware, but Vought found a was to top them with the 82 degree countersunk screws!

[Brooke]

How many lives are we going to let oddball fasteners destroy before we act?

  

[colmbo]

I lost count over the years of how many screws, bolts, rivets, and associated hardware that I had to come up with alternative ways to remove without destroying the piece we were working on.

That's like working on a boat. I got pretty creative, my wife calls me Macgyver, figuring out to just get to the problem.  You usually end up hanging upside down using only your left hand and unable to see and touch at the same time.

[Bodhi]

Yep!  Ahh boats... don't plan to do that ever again.  Kayaks don't count!  Lottery win yes, but I probably need to play to make that happen! 

[Bizman]

--- Lottery win yes, but I probably need to play to make that happen! 

No need to play, just send me your e-mail address and I'm sure many of my customers would be glad to share their lottery win messages with you.