At 09:42 PM Friday 5/11/2007, Robert Seeberger wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Charlie Bell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[email protected]>
>Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 8:35 PM
>Subject: Re: Irregulars Question: Screws
>
>
> >
> > On 12/05/2007, at 10:45 AM, Ronn! Blankenship wrote:
> >
> >> Not that kind. Get your mind out of the gutter.
> >>
> >>
> >> There are screws which have a hexagonal-shaped depression in the
> >> head
> >> which require a tool which is variously called an "Allen wrench" or
> >> a
> >> "hex key" to turn them. Then there are some which have a hexagonal
> >> depression in the head but instead of being flat the bottom of the
> >> depression has a raised bump in the center, which means that a
> >> regular Allen wrench or hex key will not go far enough down into
> >> the
> >> depression to turn them. (Which I think is the point.) Any of you
> >> engineering types or handypersons know what the latter are properly
> >> called?
> >
> > Torx.
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx
> >
>Over here, "Torx" only and specifically refers to the t-series "star"
>tips.
Check. And I have those in a variety of sizes,
including some which are both bigger and smaller
than I have ever needed up until now.
>The type of tool Ronn! needs is easiest to find if referred to as
>"Tamper Proof", "Tamper Resistant", or "Security".
As I finally realized right before I saw the preceding message from you.
(I was not exactly expecting Bryce Whatshisname
to start addressing me when I went to that website, however.)
>You would think Wikipedia would have an article that clarifies the
>various security screw types.
>The best set I own has around 54 different tips in about a dozen
>different styles.
I have one (or maybe more) of those which in
addition to flat, Phillips, regular Allen/hex,
Torx/star, hex-head (essentially "sockets" or
"nut drivers") has such things as bits for those
with square depressions ("Robertson") but
apparently no "tamper resistant
Allen/hex" (actually I thought I might have some
but of course when I looked they were all plain rather than tamper resistant).
>Makes my life a lot easier when I have to work on a fire alarm system,
>a building security system, or the odd piece of telephone equipment.
I noticed that the new box the phone company
installed on the outside of the hose has two
screws which allow the cover to be opened to
allow access. One is iirc a Phillips head which
opens the part they think a customer might have a
reason to open and one of these tamper-resistant
Allen screws to get into the rest of it.
>These days you run into security screws in places where they really
>aren't needed.
Like here.
While I'm sure that the company would make the
claim that the ones which are currently a problem
for me are there to prevent kids from opening it
and getting their fingers into where they could
get mangled or shocked, and also to keep adults
who don't know much better from doing the same, I
have a suspicion that one reason they were used
was because for perhaps a few cents more to use
such a screw rather than a more common type they
would significantly increase the likelihood that
when a malfunction occurred the average consumer
would simply throw the unit in the trash and
purchase a whole new one. (My expectation is
that the problem is something like a fuse inside
which has blown but why make it possible for the
end user to check and replace a 25ยข fuse when
they can make you buy a whole new one, since
someone they would consider "qualified service
personnel" would probably charge more for "labor"
to unscrew the back and replace the fuse than the
cost of a whole new device . . . maybe after all
this question does concern that other type of "screw" . . . )
Anyway, thanks!
>xponent
>Screw Guns Maru
>rob
Probably More Like Screw The Consumer Maru
-- Ronn! :)
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