List of screw drives
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Just to make the point: I've stripped out more torx drivers than I have torx heads.
I can say I truly don't understand how phillips ever even took hold over flatheads. Cheap phillips head screws seem designed to strip out.
Somebody elsewhere in this thread made the point that they are self-centering, and make industrial manufacturing easier. I guess that makes sense.
Flathead screws only restrict the movement of the screwdriver in one dimension and allow it to move in the other one. This leads to the screwdriver to keep sliding out when you put force on under even the slightest angle.
Phillips screws improve on this design by restricting movement in two dimensions and force the screwdriver to always be in the center, but they slip easily and wear quickly.
Torx are superior because they fit much more "snugly", though at the (minor) cost of being less forgiving of using the wrong size of screwdriver.
The drill will bite into the screw and start unscrewing it
Came here to say the exact same thing. Rusty flatheads, ah, such joy. Literally lost hours because of it.
It would probably even cause a measurable increase in lifespan due to removal of a significant stress source. But I can dream...
Hence: Kill on sight.
To make them work even better you can burnish a slight edge one the blade which will dig in and stop slippage.
A good flat head screw is better than a crappy Phillips but a bad one is worse. The bad ones seem to strip by design.
You don't really remove pocket hole screws much (though you certainly can with much less cam-out than Phillips head) so it's optimizing for the presumed one-way trip. I would assume anyway.
Almost every time I remove a pocket hole screw it's because I'm trimming something glued up (like a table top) and didn't plan for the saw blade when I put in the screws. Every time I think "heehaaw" and then I do it again the next time.
It's not cheap ones; Phillips heads were designed to strip out. It's the very reason they're used.
The whole idea was to use them in factory assembly, so that workers wouldn't overtorque them. You put them in and tighten, and when they cam out, you're done.
If you want a fastener that can be easily removed, and maybe reused several times, Phillips is the wrong choice.
And if you have a torque-limiting screwdriver, as should be common in any modern factory, then Phillips is simply obsolete and unnecessary.
<I'll see myself out.>
I've had Phillips over-torque and eat threads. I've had them strip to a raw steel crater long before the head even meets the surface it's being screwed into.
Definitely agree that Phillips is obsolete. God I hate them. I may have a problem. I've worked on a lot of old engines in my life and seeing a torn-out cross is like a big middle finger from the previous person who worked on it, usually the manufacturer. An engine is something that deserves an easily removed fastener that is applied with a torque wrench. Who knows how many newton-meters a Phillips head takes before it cams? Does anybody? Probably a huge range.
>Who knows how many newton-meters a Phillips head takes before it cams? Does anybody? Probably a huge range.
Yep, that's the problem with them. Maybe they made sense decades ago when assembling aluminum aircraft and they didn't have widely-available torque-limiting screwdrivers. But now they're ridiculously obsolete, and the only reason we still use them is because of sheer inertia (i.e., everyone has a Phillips-head screwdriver handy, but lots of people do not have a set of Torx drivers at hand; also, the inertia makes them cheap). They should have been retired ages ago. If I were dictator, I'd simply ban them (not allowed in new designs, no new Phillips screws allowed to be sold, but drivers of course are fine for removing old ones to replace with better fasteners). There is simply no good reason to use Phillips now.
I just bought myself some Wiha drivers after years of using shitty tools. I am so much happier now.
We abandoned Phillips and Pozidriv completely and went to Torx for the screws (we were already using hex for bolts). Haven’t really had any issues stripping out screws since.
My daily driver is a 25 year old car that I'm keeping on preventive maintenance. I got it when it was 16 years old and still in pretty good shape since it was barely used and always kept in a warm garage. I've always had pretty old, but well maintained cars in order to minimize the total cost of ownership of them, and kept them running until something too difficult or expensive breaks. I never value them for what I'd get for selling them, because I've never sold a car nor planned to. To me, the car value is always the utility and TCO value of knowing the state of them via preventive maintenance repairs. Usually the failing part not worth fixing is the body, either due to a collision or rust damage.
In addition to always inspecting an used car from underneath, a thing I learned early was to replace all the cash-cow OEM parts with upgraded parts when possible. If not, at least try to have repaired parts made that are improved at the point of failure to be stronger than OEM parts, so that they don't fail the same way again. Factoring the preventive repair into the price of the used car is required in order to be sure to afford owning the car. After that initial preventive repair, it's about checking the parts stay like new, or it becomes very expensive to keep very quickly once something fails after a part's worn out.
Anyhow, look at farm equipment, mine equipment and such to see what vehicles not engineered to fail are constructed like, and I don't mean the extra robustness of the loadbearing parts for the much larger workloads they're designed for.
Prefer makes that have excellent rust protection and models with relatively low stress configuration engines rather than high performance models. The two latter are usually mechanically the same or mostly the same, but the latter of them receive much larger stresses in use and hence tend to fail earlier.
If you intend to modify the car, prefer older ones, because they have lower regulations, but this depends on the legislative area you are in as well. For instance cars with OBD-II are too new for engine upgrades almost anywhere.
I think this is a common misconception about car repair economics. The question is not whether the repair cost is more than the value of the car, the question is whether the repair cost + sale cost is higher than the value of the repaired car. I like keeping cars that I know the history of, even if the car is worth <$2,000 and the repairs >$1000, because it is unlikely that I can get a $3000 car that I have as much confidence in.
When in doubt, drill it out?
I used to use a lot of stainless bolts on machines that went into hostile[1] environments. We used a variety of hex socket bolts, with thread lock compounds and calibrated torgue drivers to put them in and uncalibrated drivers to take them out when they eventually came back for refurb.
We rarely had problems putting them in or taking them out.
I don't know why problems were so rare. I think it being a safety critical industry helped: we bought expensive bolts and tools, and people had some training to use them.
[1] These were used on "Chock Control Interfaces". Here's a video. The box he's pushing buttons on is a chock control interface. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmwEB4DY_jc&t=169s
Here's an explanation of longwall mining and what a chock is (simply, powered roof supports that move forward as the cutting tool removes material): http://undergroundcoal.com.au/fundamentals/07_equipment_1cho...
Going on a tangent here, but are miners not supposed to wear any kind of breathing protection?!
Yeah, that's your problem right there. Removing an old Phillips screw will take more (usually much more) torque than it took to install it, so it'll cam out. The problem is that you're trying to get them out. Don't do that. Phillips screws were never designed for removal that way. They were meant to be used for installation only, and to limit torque on installation. If it's been installed with thread-locker, that should be a sign to you that it's never supposed to be removed. If you want a screw that's meant to be removed after years of service, pick something else; Phillips is not designed for this.
If you're working on something really important, like auto mechanics or the like, consider buying new fasteners when you reach re-assembly. Those old stretched bolts probably need to be freshened up anyway.
This is also why you should only use a hand screwdriver and not a power driven driver bit.
Use a torque driver if you can. And always bracket the bit with your fingers.
If you are straining, something is wrong.
The problem is when the tool is telling you the screw is tight enough but it's only halfway in. Or hasn't come out yet. That's where the stripping happens.
If you're getting stuck removing the screw, wait 6 months for the humidity profile to change and the wood to open up.
I'm being slightly factious and I share your pain. The vaseline tip is real though.
"A Phillips bit fits in a Pozidriv screw head, but it will most likely cam out before the fastener is fully tight. This can damage the fastener and is why that cup hinge loosens up so quickly when a Phillips bit is used. A Pozidriv bit does not fit in a Phillips screw."
A Pozidriv bit fits in a philips juuuust well enough for you to not notice it's the wrong bit.
There's no reason to have kept the same form-factor for the two varieties, it just leads to unnecessary confusion. The fact that you can plug an incorrect driver into it is, by definition, broken. Like how USB and Ethernet jacks are the same size, so you can plug your USB stick into Ethernet (which luckily does nothing harmful) but you can't plug Ethernet into USB.
If you're going to update an old standard and that requires an incompatibility with the old standard, you should come up with an entirely new form factor to ensure people won't mistakenly use the old connector with the new technology.
Though to be honest here in the US I've never seen Pozidrive and I just checked, I have zero drivers for a Pozidrive screw. Phillips really is just that awful all by itself.
“You stripped the screw head because you didn’t apply enough pressure.” O’RLY?
I wish governments would gradually outlaw Phillips. And I predict that the EU will be the pioneers in doing this.
I’m half kidding and half ranting.
I sent IKEA an email asking them to specify the difference between pozidriv and Phillips in their installation manuals (many people don't know), but they didn't reply :'(
https://www.belmetric.com/images/MSOVAL5X50SS%20Machine%20Sc...
They are becoming more common; my latest ikea thing came with some, but it's pretty visually obvious, is all I'm saying. Once you know what they are, you aren't gonna get it mixed up.
JIS vs Phillips, on the other hand, is usually way less clear cut. I mean, JIS is supposed to have the dimple, but it doesn't always, and figuring out which of your screwdrivers is the JIS is even harder. (I personally am having a hard time finding JIS screwdrivers that are... decent. most of the sets I see that are clearly marked are really low end sets from Hozan (which is a fine tool company, it's just that the JIS screwdriver sets I see that are clearly marked as such are... pretty low end compared to my wera/whia/xcelite drivers.
You will be surprised how much less prone to stripping it is once you have the correct size driver.
After getting the proper bit though, I’ve started to really appreciate them. I don’t think I’ve ever stripped a single one.
I've seen them too, but only as construction screws. I've never seen a square drive sheet metal or machine screw in the US, for instance.
I have half a mind that they invented Pozidriv just to have a defense for how terrible the Phillips fastener is.
"The key to motorcycle maintenance is knowing when to use anti-sieze and when to use thread-locker"
Not a ton of advantages over Torx for initial assembly, but if you ever need to repair, especially someone else's work, Robertson is second to none.
https://www.ifixit.com/blog/2011/01/20/apples-diabolical-pla...
Given what we know about fasteners (you need look no further than this thread), why else would Apple choose Pentalobe, of all the options?
Robertson drive is an amazing drive for construction work. The screws stick nicely onto magnetised drivers, so that you can screw them into awkward locations, and they're really resistant to stripping the head. In this day and age, you can set the maximum torque on most electric screwdrivers/drills, so there's no need for a drive that intrinsically limits the torque like Phillips drives.
Those multi-driver heads are pretty wonderful!
http://www.instructables.com/id/When-a-Phillips-is-not-a-Phi...
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15748942
However belt feed drywall screws were always phillips. In fact most drywall screws were. It always infuriated me if you wanted to put some extras in with a drill (or take some out) that you had to go searching for a PH2. I wondered if there was some special reason for it persisting with drywall screws, especially when screwing drywall is relative new to the UK, with most being nailed up until maybe 15 years ago? Auto feed drywall guns cam out like crazy...
Now I also wonder why we would always call the drywall "plasterboard" yet call the screws for it "drywall screws"!
Especially as the nails are known as "plasterboard nails" ;)
Note that drywall screws are brittle and worthless for anything other tan drywall even though people use them for almost anything. On the rare case you need to remove drywall you break it out, and then break the screws off.
For some reason my RV (an old 1984 Avion) uses Robertson screws nearly everywhere, which is actually nice. The big chunky square holds up to rust and corrosion better than Phillips. Kinda wish more things used Robertson.
Well, maybe not. New ones probably aren’t added quite as often.
First, a lot of those fasteners are either really specialized or just rare or obsolete. So they can be ruled out.
We look for something that will be easy for our assemblers, and for our field service technicians. They have given us feedback on what they like and dislike, including what kinds of tools are common in different parts of the world. They hate flat head screws. Hex socket screws are really easy, and it's also easy to make them look nice on an assembly.
To an increasing extent, we want tools that can be used with a torque handle. For instance hex drive is better than Philips in that regard.
I hate to say that it's still a work in progress, but we are heroically trying to get away from fractional drivers, especially for our field technicians who presently have to carry full sets of US and metric tools. We even have mixtures of US and metric in some products!
If something is meant to be serviced by a customer (e.g., a lamp or filter that gets replaced), then we stick with Philips, which we are told is common worldwide. Or we use a captive knurled fastener if it's in a place where there's finger access.
So these are just a few thoughts. Other considerations are whether you're in an industry that has already standardized on a particular tool set, such as metric allen wrenches for bikes.
In North America, tire sizes are given in millimeter width, but imperial mounting diameter. E.g. 175-65R14: 175mm width, 65% aspect ratio (sidewall height to width or something like that), for a 14" wheel.
So for instance my "27 x 1-1/8" tires are also ISO 28-630, where 28 is the approximate inflated width, and 630 is a particular dimension of the rim. When I buy a new tire, I look at the ISO number to make sure I got the right size.
I recently restored an old Schwinn with its own oddball tire diameter, but ISO numbers published by modern tire makers got me up and running with new tires.
I think that in a lot of cases, English vs metric is a moot point because a tool is so specialized (spark plug wrench) or because production tools are computerized and switch unit systems as needed. On a milling machine, all dimensions boil down to the number of stripes on a precision glass scale, regardless of what units you choose to specify.
Historically, there are bike parts with mm diameter and English thread pitch, such as some old French pedals.
> Lumber's nominal dimensions are larger than the actual standard dimensions of finished lumber. Historically, the nominal dimensions were the size of the green (not dried), rough (unfinished) boards that eventually became smaller finished lumber through drying and planing (to smooth the wood). Today, the standards specify the final finished dimensions and the mill cuts the logs to whatever size it needs to achieve those final dimensions. Typically, that rough cut is smaller than the nominal dimensions because modern technology makes it possible and it uses the logs more efficiently. For example, a "2×4" board historically started out as a green, rough board actually 2 by 4 inches (51 mm × 102 mm). After drying and planing, it would be smaller, by a nonstandard amount. Today, a "2×4" board starts out as something smaller than 2 inches by 4 inches and not specified by standards, and after drying and planing is reliably 1½ by 3½ inches (38 mm × 89 mm).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumber#North_American_softwood...
Shoe sizes often measure the size of the last, not the foot. One shoe company I've bought from in the past had a warning on their webpage that they use different manufacturing processes for different models, so the same numbered size of two similar-looking shoes actually differ by quite a bit.
(Fortunately, e-stores selling shoes were bitten enough by the ridiculousness of that problem that they ended up providing scales translating shoe numbers to centimeters.)
Ultimately, the best workaround I've seen was the one the father of my SO used - he would measure the foot of his child, then cut a wooden stick to appropriate length, and go with that stick to the shoes store.
There is a bit of insanity in that women's and children's sizes are derived from that in more than one way.
There are two ways of determining size, but they are supposed to coincide, theoretically.
Manufacturers use the "last length" as the basis for shoe size. However, that is not the foot length, and how a shoe with a given "last length" fits a given foot is a variable and so the fit ultimately requires testing. The last length is supposed to be about two shoe sizes larger than the foot length.
The last length formula is L3 - 24. So a last length of 12 inches (one foot) corresponds to size 12. From there, surrounding sizes are 1/3 of an inch increments. Which is the odd thing: where else you do you see increments of 1/3 inch?
Thus, in any case, if you have a 12" foot, that's a US men's size 14.
The foot measuring instrument you see in stores, Brannock's Device, accounts for this and so its formula is L3 - 22.
So these sizing systems are intended to coincide, but are different estimators.
You can see that using centimeters doesn't solve all the problems. Suppose centimeters were used, but the manufacturers used last-length centimeters rather than foot centimeters. You'd have to convert your foot length to last length according to some rule of thumb, and then ultimately resolve things by trying the shoe. If manufacturers had to use foot centimeters, they wouldn't be able to measure some trivial property of the shoe like last size to determine size. Foot centimeters aren't absolute; they would have to use some representative model of a foot and base it off that: still no guarantee that a 27cm size based on a representative model foot fits your 27cm foot.
I'm not fully convinced by the argument that manufacturers (or at least distributors) can't use foot centimeters - after all, somehow I can successfully buy shoes on-line by measuring my foot and then using vendor-provided foot-length-to-shoe-size conversion scale to pick appropriate size. From the experience of myself and everyone else I asked around, this works reliably.
According to the L x 3 - 24 rule, these boot should be nearly an inch different (or at least, their lasts). Maybe the US system is theoretically simple, but in practice it seems to be just an arbitrary number that can't be meaningfully compared to anything except the same model of shoe from the same company.
In contrast, I've ordered shoes from Japan 3 times, from 3 different companies, and I did it by putting a ruler next to my foot, and then choosing that number of centimeters in the online form. Every time, I got a shoe that fits great.
Maybe using an absolute length doesn't solve all problems, but my experience (with sample size of probably N<20) is that it works far better in practice. An arbitrary unit of measurement removes accountability, by way of obfuscation, and gains us nothing.
A foot long flat bread is actually longer than 12in.
Read that somewhere.
In some ways that's more useful. If you're designing a gas pipe for a house you probably care more about "how much gas can I get through this pipe" and "what is the failure rate" than "will I be able to fit it through a 0.83 inch hole".
It's annoying that "half inch" etc were the terms co-opted here instead of, say, "a level 4 pipe". But there is some reason for it.
Of course I'm being pedantic - in reality you will probably never encounter the exceptions.
Again, this is only pedantic. In the unlikely event that the above matters you need a professional engineer (a legal term) to specify the exact properties of the pipe.
My experience with flat head screws in a production environment was the driver slipping out of the screw and scratching the paint on the part being assembled. Boo!
My experience with Philips is, works great as long as people use the exact correct driver, which they won't. Which results in a striped screw and a striped driver. The latter like a bad penny will go on to strip more screws till someone holy and wise (me) tosses it in the dumpster.
So Flat, just don't. Philips is okay for light duty. Anything else use a Torx or Hex.
I have a feeling that they push new designs to manufacturers as being 'tamper-proof', then once sufficiently adopted, push them to the sales channel to be open to open these tamper-proof screws. Repeat as needed to keep revenue up.
Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/927/
That's because they don't want you to unscrew them. There's a bit of a feedback loop here - the less user-serviceable stuff you make, the less users expect to be able to fix things themselves, so there's less need to make next things user-serviceable.
It was doubly annoying when I had devices that had regular cruciform sockets (that I could even handle with a knife if in a hurry) on the outside, but then suddenly torx sockets inside.
after a year of toying with devices and watching people on youtube I'm a lot more unorthodox.. anything goes as long as it's not too stupid. Yesterday I used a knife and a wrench to open a braun toothbrush.
Recently I found a lcd tv outside, turns out one chip was partially failing, now it seems stable. Then my neighbor told me it was hers, which was a bit fun and awkward; but to be honest, had they ask me to fix it I would never have touched it. It's easier when it's considered trash and nothing to lose.
That is when you thank her for putting it out nicely instead of banging it up some more, implying that she did mean for someone else to come along and adopt it.
I mean, sure, you need tools to open things up... but the right bit is about a thousand times more important than an expensive bit, and for $10, you can get a huge assortment of cheap bits that are good enough for the home gamer.
This always baffled me about the apple pentalobe haters... I mean, using a different screwdriver head is not the unfriendly part of taking an apple apart. The glued-in bits are the unfriendly part.
If you're a pro auto shop, you can probably get your hands on all of the exactly right tools. If you're an individual, it's another story...
It's a matter of lag in the supply/demand loop. The moment Apple introduced pentalobe screws, or in general, the moment a different company introduces an unusual screw head, is the moment when you're very unlikely to be able to get your hands on appropriate drivers. As more and more products use the new head, the demand becomes big enough that eventually, appropriate drivers get available and cheap. From what I've seen, this can take years - longer than the lifetime of the first iteration of a product using the new screws. Enough to destroy end-user repairability for a whole category of products. After a while, the company will change screw heads again, rinse and repeat.
And the glue. That's just companies being assholes.
(Yes, I know there are technical benefits of using glue. They're especially pronounced if you don't consider end-user or third-party serviceability in your design process, and even more so if you explicitly try to eliminate it in your business strategy.)
Meh, I'm mostly talking about getting the right socket for the job... I mean, don't use the ASE socket that is almost the same as the metric bolt you are working on, go down to the hardware store and get the right tool.
That's the thing about automotive work; as far as I can tell, automotive tools are very widely available and cheap, compared to other tools I've worked with, and not only that, but you go to the auto parts store, and the people are helpful and knowledgeable. I mean, if I need some SAC305 on the weekend, well, fry's might have that, maybe, but nobody there will know the difference between SAC305 and sn99. If I need any sort of server-grade parts, I'm almost certainly stuck waiting for monday. Fry's has a very small selection of ECC memory or enterprise-grade disks, for example. And you aren't going to have a Fry's in a small town, but you will have a Napa auto or similar.
I mean, part of it is that I know a fair bit about computers and really not all that much about cars, but when I show up even at the chain auto parts stores, they can answer even relatively difficult questions. This is not, in my experience, true of Frys.
When it comes to tech support, be it a computer or a car that needs fixing, the difficulty of a question is directly proportional to it's vagueness. Newbies are more likely to ask difficult questions than more experienced and knowledgeable people who actually know enough to tell you what the actual problem is.
Just use whatever fits tightest. Fasteners get smaller from rust.
Some people organize their sockets by size and ignore which unit they're sized in.
> they can answer even relatively difficult questions. This is not, in my experience, true of Frys.
This is only because you don't know what you don't know and don't have reason to ask complicated or very specific questions at the auto parts store whereas you do at the computer store. The median parts counter person has the same depth of knowledge across basically all industries.
https://seekerblog.com/2006/01/31/the-murray-gell-mann-amnes...
If you're an individual, you go to Harbor Freight and get yourself a tool set for $10 or $20. Tools are dirt cheap these days, and there's no excuse to not have the right one if you want to work on something.
An interesting property is that there would be no need to carefully match the diameter.
With "normal" screws you can usually improvise something when you are without tools.
Fortunately I had a small sharp file to cut a notch in a cheap flat-bladed screwdriver, and all was well. The device doesn't seem to be listed here.
Great fun
If you want good screw drivers, Klein makes excellent ones. Klein's target market is electricians, and you can sometimes find them in the electrical aisle in muggle stores. Alternately, an electrical supply house (i.e. a wizard store) will probably stock them (or something equally good). Expect to pay $10 USD per screwdriver. It's worth it.
The other option I can personally vouch for is the Snap-On. Their market is principally mechanics. I haven't bought any, only used a friends, so I can't comment on how to buy them (online or find a truck, I'd imagine), or what to expect to pay.
TL;DR: Shop where the pros shop if you want good tools. For most pros, the most expensive part of a job is their time, so it's worth not having tools that take up a lot of it because they aren't good.
Quick and mostly accurate test for is a store a wizard store or a muggle store: Are they open on weekends? If so, odds are it's a muggle store.
[0] JIS is also superficially similar to Pozidriv and Phillips, and also mutually incompatible. Honda apparently uses them. I found out when I mentioned I destroyed a P2 impact bit on a stuck screw (from America's leading purveyor of single-use tools, admittedly) on a Honda form. I was educated.
ETA: Not a pro in the domain of electricity or mechanics, but as a woodworker, it's important to have good screwdrivers to avoid stripping brass screws, which are much softer than steel.
(sorry, couldn't help myself)
Ikea screws are not Phillips, they're actually Pozidriv, which is different enough to matter. Do not use a Phillips screwdriver to assemble Ikea furnature, as that combination will easily cam out and ruin the (typically soft metal) screw. It's easiest to buy the correct Pozidriv screwdriver bits from Ikea, but they're also available online.
My understanding is that Pozidriv is as popular in Europe as Phillips is in America. They look so similar that you probably won't know the difference unless you're told about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv:
> Pozidriv and Phillips are not interchangeable. While Pozidriv screwdrivers fit Phillips screws, they may slip or tear out the Phillips screw head. Conversely, while Phillips screwdrivers will loosely fit and turn Pozidriv screws, they will cam out if enough torque is applied, potentially damaging the screw head or screwdriver.
So consider that this is an extremely rare fastener format in the US market, and which looks almost identical to Phillips (the most common US screwdriver). I think many people like myself who are interested in tools and hardware are aware of Pozidriv and can identify it easily, but I can completely see why the average US consumer mistakes it for Phillips.
Robertson for life. When I was young I had a job assembling furniture and that, along with a couple Allen socket fasteners, was the only thing we used. Phillips fasteners that came with assemblies went straight into metal recycling to hopefully get born again as something worthwhile. You can practically drive a Robertson head straight through the center of the Earth with the amount of torque it handles. Never have to waste time drilling pilot holes.
If I was made dictator for a day, I'd immediately outlaw Phillips and Pozidriv. Even flat head is better than those pieces of junk.
There are a lot of Phillips fasteners that will also fit a Robertson bit. Just try both with the same screw. It's ludicrous how instantly you'll realize the Robertson is better.
I would argue that flat head is the worst. They are not designed to be used with power tools.
At least flat head takes uneven torque from hand tools well. It also allows improvised tools to be used in the field. If I'm working on say an off-road vehicle like a dirt bike, I'm going to tend to use just one size of hex bolt (usually 10mm) and flat heads for the screws.
That's true, but using a Phillips screwdriver with a Pozidriv screw is worse than either system by itself.
Robertson may be objectively better, but that's irrelevant to my point. I was I was addressing was one of confusion.
I think your comment more properly belongs at the root than as a response to mine.
It maybe better, but if the manufacturing quality is garbage, it's just as useless as the other ones.
I've only been using torx screws from 2012 onward. Never cammed out once and I'm still using 5 year old bits (they work like new)
Maybe it was just a really bad batch?
If someone doesn't have a drill and is contemplating purchasing and constructing a substantial piece of IKEA furniture, such as my parent's TV stand -- lots of bits to screw together. Under those circumstances, I suggest maybe they want to buy one of the drill kits.
I expect you can get a better corded drill elsewhere, and buy the relevant bits, for not much more. But, KISS, with regard to the amount of shopping to be done.
P.S. Well, what do you know. US $20, now, and cordless.
In this case, I think there may be a few additional factors.
In the U.S., at least, many may view $20 as a "throwaway" level purchase to improve the assembly effort of the furniture they're purchasing/assembling.
Assembly is frustrating. A power tool and appropriate bits help, but then negotiating a cord takes it back somewhat in a negative direction. Plus, it's probably difficult and expensive to made and sell such a drill with a usefully long power cord. So, the purchaser then also need to negotiate acquiring and using an extension cord. And, you don't want them using the cord they use for that lamp in the corner; the drill's potential draw likely exceeds the rating of the extension cord most users will end up plugging it into.
IKEA has some language on the cordless drill's page specifically describing it being engineered to avoid idle battery drain.
People love cordless. Cordless sells. Many of them have no clue about what you describe, and meanwhile, cordless sells. :-/