Robertson vs Phillips headed screws

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Err, Jim, some of younger fellas us use a bronze magnet when using bronze fasteners.

Yeah I know they are expensive buggas but I have a couple of old ones that I no longer use and I can let you have them at mate's rates. Pretty sure they still work... The SS ones weren't much chop.

.
Wottie, YOU ARE one of those younger fellas so I can't trust you to not sell me a bogus bronze magnet... likely would be a cheap brass model.

Damn kids...

Jim

[dfelsent]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

.

Wottie, YOU ARE one of those younger fellas so I can't trust you to not sell me a bogus bronze magnet... likely would be a cheap brass model.



Damn kids...



Jim

I’ve found that magnetic bronze fasteners are best installed with a left handed monkey wrench.

Of course that depends on the hemisphere you are in.

[MistyCat]

I think the pro-Robertson fraternity is mostly Canadian, as am I. I have refitted several boats, and done a lot of carpentry. My preference is for Robertson heads as I find they are much less likely to strip when trying to undo old firmly set ones, and much more happy to be driven by power drivers. My most recent project is a MacGregor 26M which is full of Phillips screws that seem to have been installed quickly under a lot of torque during assembly (they rolled these boats off the assembly line at the rate of one every 20 minutes or so). Virtually all of these Phillips head screws are stripped, and I know they were never touched since manufacture of the boat, as I bought from the original owner. I am replacing them one at a time with Robertson screws. In Canada at least it is easy to procure the full set of screwdrivers, bits for power driving and hand ratchet driving. BTW, it is a pain in the a** to take the needle nose vice-grips to remove these old Phillips head screws.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Err, Brian, some of us use stainless and bronze fasteners...

Jim

Well Duhhh, Jim, Blow me over with a feather, I would never have known that,

[roverhi]

I've had very poor luck with square drive screws camming out. Once they came out are a bitch to remove if possible at all. Not talking Roberts but US square drive. The tapered design of the Robertson's may make them better.

When we built our Westsail in the '70s the only SS fasteners available in Costa Mesa, the west coast boat building capital, were slotted screws. Bought screws by the thousands building the boat. Since I was a novice wood worker didn't know about power screw drivers and screwed the first thousand in by hand. Someone finally clued me onto power screw drivers and bought a used single speed driver. The single speed was a challenge to keep from slipping off the slotted screws but got the hang of it. Still have screw driver wrist issues after all this time because of those first thousand slotted screws.

Rebuilt the mast on 1969 Pearson 35 and was really thankful they'd only used slotted screws. There's no way I would have gotten those machine screws out of the aluminum if they were other than slotted. Might think about that when working with fasteners in dissimilar metal.

Had a Series Land Rover addiction and owned ones from 1964 to 1970. The '64 was mostly SAE with some Whitworth thrown in. By 1970 they were using metric, SAE, and still a few Whitworth. Supposedly the Series Rovers, the aluminum jeeps that tamed Africa, were hand fitted and took more hours to put together than a Range Rover possibly because of all the different sized fasteners.

[Briggers]

Originally Posted by smj

I prefer the new and improved torx screws

With you on that SMJ. I have an an American built Hunter 430 that has lived in the Mediterranean much of its life. The combination of screws and bolts is an absolute nightmare. As is the materials they are made of. Over the years they have been replaced with iron, brass and even aluminium screws.

They are all, very gradually, being replaced with Inox (S/S) Torx screws. The fact that the driver engagement is multi faceted with parallel sides makes it almost impossible for the driver to slip. Far superior to Allen screws or any other type for Inox screws - IMHO.

[Martin Sigge]

So do I :-)

[Wandersome]

I read part of the post..... that said, as a USA guy, I’ll take Robertson’s over Phillips or straight any day. Better on screw guns and easier to use. Phillips suck and straight suck worse...... just my relatively informed opinion....

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by svmariane

That seems like a bit of a project. Got a free month or so?

1) Remove stanchion.
2) Grind, drill, use a hatchet, whatever, then repoxy/fiberglass the area.
3) Fashion large s/s backing plate.
4) Install stanchion with backing plate using nut/bolt combos.
5) Curse in mutiple languages then rework backing plate so it fits.
6) Smack forehead with palm, then redo job making it water tight.
(Don't ask how I developed the necessity for steps 5 or 6.)
Repeat for each stanchion.
Alcohol helps.

Piece of cake!

Amazing. This is exactly, step by step, the procedure I developed for redoing my stanchions. So which languages did you curse in? I prefer English, Spanish and Greek with occasional French and German for variety.

[JPA Cate]

I just have to tell you guys, I had a long learning curve with the boat and auto screws that passed me. It was that no one told the girl a lot of things, like fit the screw driver to the screw. Such a simple idea, but I wound up realizing it after a series of buggered slotted and Phillips screws.

To me, the Roberts screws are d--n fool proof. Why wouldn't i like them???

In my youth, girls were not taught even the simplest principles about working on *stuff*. This led to me not knowing that you don't have to torque down nuts on small things to your max strength--long before I had seen a torque wrench. Yes, I peeled them right off. But you don't know what you don't know, and if your engineer husband at the time didn't say anything, sigh!

Learning to work, unguided, with materials is an error driven process.

Ann

[aclmck]

In the Australian Building industry I have seen many changes to screws over the years ,but all of the types mentioned have their place in most of the industries

When I started in the industry straight slotted were virtually the only visible screws used these were used with the standard screwdriver or as a tradie we would use a pump action screwdriver commonly referred to as a “yankee”, these came in several sizes and had both phillipsand straight bits and also drill bits as “ALL” slotted screws were placed in a pilot hole drilled and in a lot of cases countersunk to fit the screw head flush with the surface, these screws offer an easy cleaning procedure to assist in removal and with the correct driver would easily be removed. Because we have moved away from the conventional timbers etc in houses these screws are now rarely seen in new buildings, although when properly dressed were the most attractive screw head available.

In that era Phillips screws were used to fix plasterboards and non visible fixings mostly in cupboards mostly because these screws were able to be set without the use of a pilot hole

Then latter we started to use posidrive in areas we needed a screw to hold on the bit of a driver or screw gun and many were commonplace in areas that the slotted head were used which was quicker because no hole was required and we had started using electric screw guns wth both Phillips and posidrive


Now days Phillips and either Robertson ,square or hex drive are all the rage with most being fixed with the screws being fed into guns in strips or coils so they are quicker again, my latest driver allows me to stand and fix screws in a floor or up into a ceiling without bending or climbing and all I do is squeeze the trigger.

Except the hex drive are all very difficult to remove after painting has filled the heads but as usual these days we normally throw everything away after it’s first use anyway.

I agree with most of the other posters though only I think we are finishing up with too many types, my new car so far has 9 differing type of heads on bolts and screws

As I get older some of these heads look too much like the others and it gets frustrating when you try to get them undone especially if you don’t have vision of the head

Allan

[JPA Cate]

Yeah, ya gotta wear your reading glasses to see up close! Not me, though, i can still see with my trifocals! Welcome to your golden years.

Ann

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Wandersome.

[Mirage35]

Here's how it works in the tech world:

[nwdiver]

Every wood screw I have on my Canadian made and worked on boat uses robertson #2, it’s nice only needing one screwdriver, also in the age of cordless drills they never strip on me.