• FringeTheory999@lemmy.world
    0·
    11 days ago

    Why wouldn’t they? It’s an efficient design, and aside from the whole force thing they seem to be working with the same physics that we are. Why wouldn’t they invent philips head screws?

    • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
      0·
      11 days ago

      This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine - it’s designed purely for automation. That’s why it’s tapered, to allow power tools to slip out before they break. That’s good for automation in the 30s, not so good for hand tools or any modern tool with a torque limiter.

      You’re much better off with hex or torx, or even the square driver, which is much more tolerant of imperfect handheld tool usage.

      The only reason phillips is still used is because it’s ubiquitous, it’s very much a historical oddity. It’s okay for many tasks but unfortunately the slipping out behaviour can destroy the screws very quickly.

      https://www.ifixit.com/News/9903/bit-history-the-phillips

      I mean it’s conceivable they’d come up with something similar, and it would be weird to expect a props department to find different screw heads just to be lore accurate.

      • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        11 days ago

        A good balled hex driver is such a joy to use. Somewhat align it with the screw, and you can use it at weird angle.

        • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
          0·
          11 days ago

          I prefer to only use them when I can’t get alignment. They’re far more likely to round out the head in my experience, but they have their uses.

          • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
            0·
            11 days ago

            Maybe I didn’t use them enough yet, but I bought some Wiha balled hex driver and I haven’t stripped a screw yet, and I use cheap screws.

            I also had to dismantle my 3d printer hot end with a lot of weirdly placed screws and it wasn’t even an issue.

            • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
              0·
              11 days ago

              Fair enough, I’m talking about big H5 construction screws and impact drivers, so a different use case maybe. Also it turns out when ARRMA uses too much threadlock on their axle set screws you can strip them really easily, and I needed more expensive special hex drivers with tight tolerances to work with them.

      • _bcron@midwest.socialEnglish
        0·
        11 days ago

        Torx is cool and all but all the touted virtues such as less cam-out go out the window if you have to drive them in at wonky angles, like tight fitting spaces. If you gotta angle the driver it’s not gonna seat well at all, apt to jump and wear out your bit. And if your only T20 rolls away and falls under a deck, yuck, 10mm problems.

        Phillips has a place and that place is ‘a wonky place to hold a power drill’. That said I’m a huge fan of square head because it’s a happy medium between those two

        • felykiosa@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          11 days ago

          I have used torx in weird angle with less issue than Phillips . My heart is fully sold to torx and Allen keys ❤️

        • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
          0·
          11 days ago

          Angled screws only work halfway well with Pozidriv or Torx, standard Phillips slip too.

          Btw, why is Torq-set or Tri-wing so uncommon? They seem the best mechanically.

          Edit: no way to change image size in markdown?

          Efitedit: why does this exist? Oval

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      0·
      11 days ago

      Meh, it’s one of those things that’s going to be around forever. I would be absolutely unsurprised if crosshead screws were still a thing in 4800 ce.

      • Sludgeyy@lemmy.world
        0·
        11 days ago

        You’re building a light saber.

        Do you:

        A. Weld everything

        Or

        B. Drill holes and thread the holes for a bolt

        I’m sure they have some kind of crazy riveting technology. Is she installing screws because she wants to be able to easily take apart her lightsaber if needed?

        • Kitathalla@lemy.lolEnglish
          0·
          11 days ago

          I mean, supposedly some lightsabers were built in a cave. They probably used whatever was on hand, and I’m thinking screws are more common in rubbish strewn pits and rankor caves than welding machines.

    • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      11 days ago

      As an American, we made a mistake in not adopting those. Torx or whatever isn’t even as good.

      • Hubi@feddit.org
        0·
        11 days ago

        Torx is better than whatever this Canadian abomination is. You’d only put pressure on the corners in a realistic setting. These would get rounded so fast unless they are massive, like on some differentials or gearbox oil drains.

        • someguy3@lemmy.caEnglish
          0·
          11 days ago

          Never had or seen a stripped Roberson, they are robust AF. Don’t ask me the physics. (They go deep into the screw head because of the simple shape, maybe that has part of it. And they are tapered, it’s not just a square, so they manage to grip the bit like a mofo.)

          • Sludgeyy@lemmy.world
            0·
            11 days ago

            I’ve snapped so many Robertson bits in my life. Screws are fine.

            1 5/8" cement board screws

            They used to be Robertson. They switched to Torx.

            Night and day difference

            Like you said, they do grip like a mofo, and with an impact driver, the bits snap.

            I tried dozens of different brands of bits. Even paid top dollar for special Milwaukee ones.

            I was at a point where I had to pre-drill and counter sink the screws because I was breaking too many bits.

            I could probably drive a torx head one through a board

        • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
          0·
          11 days ago

          Hex already fit that niche.

          Torx was just so they could make wood screws that weren’t Robertson and it bled out from there.

          • anomnom@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            0·
            11 days ago

            Torx bits are waaaay stronger than hex. Like double the surface area and tapered to work when corroded.

            My 30 year old VW axles with hex bolts were a nightmare. The new ones are all Torx or 12pt.

            I ended to driving an oversized Torx but into the nearly stripped hex bolts to finally remove them.

        • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          0·
          11 days ago

          This guy mechanics

          Indeed torx is so good because it attempts to maximize the surface where pressure is applied to. This is good on smaller sized bolts that are more prone to being rounded, but especially amazing when removing bolts that may have been exposed and potentially corroded

            • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              0·
              11 days ago

              Yeah, hex is very nice but torx is improvement over it.

              I have not checked on it, but I’m like 97.25% sure wood screws jumped from Philips to torx however because of corrosion resistance. Hex is very easy to round already as is on smaller sizes, but even more so if the head is exposed to elements and corroded. Of course material matters a lot, but even stainless corrodes over time.

              Torx has to be very, very bad condition for it to round, it’s more likely for the screw to snap

              Sorry for drunk rambling but I really like bolts. And bearings for what it’s worth

  • kamen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    11 days ago

    Ironically enough other standards appeared because of the need of more torque.

    • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
      0·
      11 days ago

      It is a curious fact, and one to which no one knows quite how much importance to attach, that something like 85% of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonnyx, or gee-N’N-T’N-ix, or jinond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand or more variations on the same phonetic theme. The drinks themselves are not the same, and vary between the Sivolvian ‘chinanto/mnigs’ which is ordinary water served at slightly above room temperature, and the Gagrakackan ‘tzjin-anthony-ks’ which kill cows at a hundred paces; and in fact the one common factor between all of them, beyond the fact that the names sound the same, is that they were all invented and named before the worlds concerned made contact with any other worlds. What can be made of this fact? It exists in total isolation. As far as any theory of structural linguistics is concerned it is right off the graph, and yet it persists. Old structural linguists get very angry when young structural linguists go on about it. Young structural linguists get deeply excited about it and stay up late at night convinced that they are very close to something of profound importance, and end up becoming old structural linguists before their time, getting very angry with the young ones. Structural linguistics is a bitterly divided and unhappy discipline, and a large number of its practitioners spend too many nights drowning their problems in Ouisghian Zodahs.