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Comment by mauvehaus | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, it's super uncommon. Torx is what you find on most fasteners that aren't Phipps or slotted. I've found Pozi in two applications in my house:

1) An IKEA bed requires it for some screws that self-tap into sheet metal with a machine screw thread. Running them in with Philips is hopeless. Does IKEA supply the required driver? Of course not.

2) Blum cup hinges use Pozi for the adjustment screws. By extension, if you want an actual Pozi screw driver, find a local joint that supplies Blum to cabinet shops.

There are at least a few other cruciform drives out there that you'll rarely encounter:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives

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> Torx is what you find on most fasteners that aren't Phipps or slotted.

Torx is also FAR better than Pozidriv. Pz cams out very easily. Once Tx is slotted properly it just won't slip. I'm very happy that Torx is getting more traction here, because I'm fed up with stripped Pozidriv screws.

> An IKEA bed requires it for some screws that self-tap into sheet metal with a machine screw thread. Running them in with Philips is hopeless. Does IKEA supply the required driver? Of course not.

Interestingly, I bought some lamps in (Dutch) Ikea that required Torx and they did add a bit for those. In every lamp package, so now I have 8.

Torx, I was told, came about because robots can insert them more easily (hold them more easily?).

Torx danger is they can be over ... torqued. Sometimes the driver slipping out of the slot is telling you that you're turning too hard. ;-)

Modern drills have better clutches and don't need cam out to not over torque screws. Cam out is a feature from the 1930s and should be left behind now that we have better

Not robots, tools with torque limits.

Pozidrives are pretty common in bigger US bit sets, even cheap ones.

Example: a $10 bit set: https://www.harborfreight.com/security-bit-set-with-case-100... has Pozi #0, #1, #2 (with spares) and #3

That's interesting. Thinking back over thirty-plus years of buying various bits for hand-held and electric screwdrivers (my dad was using battery powered Makitas before I graduated high school in 1984), I can't remember the last set that I bought which didn't include Pozidrive.

And so far as I know, I've never actually encountered anything that used Pozidrive, so I've always thought it was a huge waste that they were always included.

TIL.

the bits and drivers are extremely common. pozi head screws are almost nonexistent in US. unless you consider IKEA sold in US to be a US product

I've never seen either the screws or the bits in any of the many bit sets I have owned, nor have I ever heard of them until today.

IKEA uses them extensively in all of their hardware. If you find yourself, say, assembling a whole kitchen worth of IKEA cabinets it’s worth picking up a few bits.

Even if you're only assembling one IKEA thing every now and then it's still worth picking up. Makes building anything from there less stressful, especially those cam screws. I bought a driver on Amazon.

The Ikea FIXA hand tool set includes a Pozidrive bit. It's a couple bucks, if you're buying IKEA furniture its worth picking up that toolkit. Ikea uses it on most of their furniture, not just beds.

Allen ("hex") is much more common than Torx in the US. Most IKEA furniture (here) uses hex bolts.

In my experience torx is a lot better than pozidrive.

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