As someone who has spent far more time than I want to think about removing screws and bolts that other people fucked, Robertson is the second most popular fastener to get brought to me with Torx in hot pursuit.
Philips head screws that are messed up come in two types. Soft cheese metal versions and the insidious Japanese style that are just ever sooo slightly different and require their own special driver. And most of you can’t tell the difference or even care.
Plus, Y’all buy cheap ass “turn screws” as the British used to call them. When you buy dollar store quality tools you deserve what you get and I don’t feel sorry for you.
The contemporary square-drive screw has all but replaced the Robertson screw proper and is commonly referred to as a Robertson because it has practically identical drive dimensions and the same colour identification system, but the contemporary square drive socket has parallel sides rather than tapered.
Which is due to simpler and cheaper machining. Properly tapered Robbies are still available, they’re just expensive as fuck and you have to make sure your bit is tapered as well. It’s 1000x easier to seat a Robertson than a square drive, especially if it’s blind.
It’s not a square, it’s better than a square. One of the sides is ever-so-slightly angled, so the screws stick onto the screwdriver before you get them in place.
Robertson = Robertson. “Square-head” is not clear enough, same as saying “hex-head” and not being able to say definitively whether you need an allen key or a socket. It’s not that difficult, just learn things.
Dumbing the world down for Benny is only hurting the both of you. I truly believe that some people are just shockingly stupid and that’s the end of it but you say Roberston enough times, without being an asshole, and even they will figure it out.
Have you ever turned these screws personally before? They are not perfectly compatible, just barely passable if the screw is in good shape and not too stuck.
I’ve rocked a JIS phillips for years, and it works better on ‘regular’ phillips screws than a standard driver does. I’ve actually used that to salvage a screw that was damned near stripped by a standard driver. I stilil have to use my extraction set more often than not when that happens, but it has saved me a few times.
Tell that to guys with Japanese motorcycles. I still get people bringing me engine parts to remove the messed up screws. It costs real money to get me to fixture those parts in my mill and indicate the hole in and then very carefully remove your stupid.
Those at least are easier to ID and a bit more difficult to screw up. Still, I’ve had to dig out may share of those too. All fasteners can be messed up if you try. And there are so many people more than willing to go to the effort.
So, I wanted to go at the guy for not reading your article but in reading it myself I did find possibly missing something. Like, they talk about them fitting within one another but then show that there are definitely differences. Maybe it’s a case of the same number screwdriver not being equal but +/- 1 number gets you back on track, I dunno.
The article definitely isn’t fully selling me on what they’re saying, though. I own a 1986 Ninja 1000 and have done extensive work to it(engine in half, whole bike in pieces at one point) and there was definitely something up with the bolts. I replaced them all with new button-head and socket-head hex bolts and life was much easier.
As someone who has spent far more time than I want to think about removing screws and bolts that other people fucked, Robertson is the second most popular fastener to get brought to me with Torx in hot pursuit.
Philips head screws that are messed up come in two types. Soft cheese metal versions and the insidious Japanese style that are just ever sooo slightly different and require their own special driver. And most of you can’t tell the difference or even care.
Plus, Y’all buy cheap ass “turn screws” as the British used to call them. When you buy dollar store quality tools you deserve what you get and I don’t feel sorry for you.
Roberson = square for anyone normal >.>
We all learned what a phillips is, so we can learn what a robertson is.
But, yeah, most of us need a reminder for now.
Except apparently Robertson isn’t used anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson_screw
So it is a square drive, not Robertson.
Which is due to simpler and cheaper machining. Properly tapered Robbies are still available, they’re just expensive as fuck and you have to make sure your bit is tapered as well. It’s 1000x easier to seat a Robertson than a square drive, especially if it’s blind.
It’s not a square, it’s better than a square. One of the sides is ever-so-slightly angled, so the screws stick onto the screwdriver before you get them in place.
Torx is good. Robertson is great.
Robertson = Robertson. “Square-head” is not clear enough, same as saying “hex-head” and not being able to say definitively whether you need an allen key or a socket. It’s not that difficult, just learn things.
This is wild. They were literally helping people who didn’t know learn.
“Anyone normal” and a side-eye emoji. Not “for the layman” or “in case anyone doesn’t know yet”, but “anyone normal” with attitude.
God, I know literacy levels are in the fucking toilet but are you serious?
I know the proper name, I also know that Benny didn’t finish the 8th grade Smith is going to have no fucking idea what a Robertson is on the job site.
But he knows what a Philips head is? If he was Canadian, he would know Robertson.
Dumbing the world down for Benny is only hurting the both of you. I truly believe that some people are just shockingly stupid and that’s the end of it but you say Roberston enough times, without being an asshole, and even they will figure it out.
And, if you’re my dad, you say “the red-handled robbie” or “point the damned flashlight at the screw, genius”.
I gave up, people I worked with would call both drills and impact drivers “screw guns”
Robbie, if you’re not posh.
Philips and JIS are interchangeable; it’s Pozi that’s not.
Have you ever turned these screws personally before? They are not perfectly compatible, just barely passable if the screw is in good shape and not too stuck.
I’ve rocked a JIS phillips for years, and it works better on ‘regular’ phillips screws than a standard driver does. I’ve actually used that to salvage a screw that was damned near stripped by a standard driver. I stilil have to use my extraction set more often than not when that happens, but it has saved me a few times.
Tell that to guys with Japanese motorcycles. I still get people bringing me engine parts to remove the messed up screws. It costs real money to get me to fixture those parts in my mill and indicate the hole in and then very carefully remove your stupid.
I usually replaced all the JIS with socket head cap acrews for this reason.
Those at least are easier to ID and a bit more difficult to screw up. Still, I’ve had to dig out may share of those too. All fasteners can be messed up if you try. And there are so many people more than willing to go to the effort.
So, I wanted to go at the guy for not reading your article but in reading it myself I did find possibly missing something. Like, they talk about them fitting within one another but then show that there are definitely differences. Maybe it’s a case of the same number screwdriver not being equal but +/- 1 number gets you back on track, I dunno.
The article definitely isn’t fully selling me on what they’re saying, though. I own a 1986 Ninja 1000 and have done extensive work to it(engine in half, whole bike in pieces at one point) and there was definitely something up with the bolts. I replaced them all with new button-head and socket-head hex bolts and life was much easier.