Star head screws

[stuckmotor]

I'm rununing across more and more screws with the star shapes holes in their heads also called torx screws. I often find myself having to drive the screw into the head with a hammer. Are they supposed to fit that tight?

 

[sidecarist]

Get yourself a set of torx bits and save yourself a ton of headaches. they used to be hard to find, but the screws are so common now the bits are available everywhere.

 

[Ford850]

If you have to drive the Torx driver into the screw, you probably have the wrong size. Either that or poor quality driver set or screw.

 

[Code54]

Most of the better screws come with the bit right in the box. Used a few 1000 this years and only had 2 or 3 screws with a head that the bit didn't fit correctly.

 

[k0ua]

I can't remember having much trouble fitting the torx drivers to the screws.

 

[motownbrowne]

If I had my way, I'd never have to use another Phillips head screw again in my life. Torx screws are such a dramatic improvement. I love not having to push the driver into the screw. Try driving 10 Phillips screws into something over your head, or by your ankle, then repeat with torx screws. Night and day. Like others said, you may have the wrong bit size. For general construction screws, T20 and T25 are the most common sizes, and they do look similar.

 

[oosik]

Out of a 2 1/2 pound box of galvanized Torx head wood screws, I did find a couple where the galvanize completely filled the Torx hole.

 

[dickfoster]

I'm rununing across more and more screws with the star shapes holes in their heads also called torx screws. I often find myself having to drive the screwdriver into the head with a hammer. Are they supposed to fit that tight?

I've never had that problem out of boxes and boxes of screws. Larger screws take larger torx bits but they usually come in the box of screws. Most drive bit sets also include torx bits in several sizes. I love em over even the square drive screws. in order of preference torx, hex (allen), square drive, phillips then common slotted which should be banned from the face of the earth then phillips drives should be done away with.

 

[Deere Dude]

I needed to use some 3-4" screws so got a bunch of torque head screws and of course new bits. What a nightmare using them. Although the torque level was high it seemed to strip out the heads of the screws way to easily.

By contrast, long #3 screws give me the least amount of trouble but are getting hard to find.

 

[dickfoster]

I needed to use some 3-4" screws so got a bunch of torque head screws and of course new bits. What a nightmare using them. Although the torque level was high it seemed to strip out the heads of the screws way to easily.

By contrast, long #3 screws give me the least amount of trouble but are getting hard to find.

I haven't had that problem with Torx either. A good impact driver sure helps with larger screws. The impact makes driving larger torx screws easy that would likely have been impossible with phillips head screws. I have a DeWalt DCF886 that will drive almost anything I put to it with up to 1500 in/lbs (125 ft/lbs). I've snapped some screws in half or twisted heads off but haven't stripped any torx heads yet. It makes for a nice little impact wrench in tight spaces too.

 

[Xfaxman]

Now you need two Torx driver sets, inch and metric.

Edit: Wrong, see post #18

 

[cqaigy2]

I've not had any problems with the torx head. Like dickfoster, i use impact driver, mine is a smallish cordless Ridged and they go in like butter. There are "security" torx that have a little nub in the center, those are hard to use with a normal torx bit, ive tried until i put on my closeup glasses and saw they weren't normal torx.

 

[JRobyn]

Now you need two Torx driver sets, inch and metric.

Nah, there's only one sizing spec - Torx - Wikipedia

But there is now "Super Torx".

 

[motownbrowne]

Now you need two Torx driver sets, inch and metric.

Haven't seen those. Any links? I thought torx was torx. T25 = T25, no room for SAE or metric interpretation.

Anyone stripping torx screws should double check they aren't using a t20 in a t25. It actually works alright, but for long screws it will strip them. I've driven thousands of t20 and t25 screws. Lots of 5" screws even. I even reuse them frequently. Out of all of them, the amount that I've stripped wouldn't fill a pocket of my Carhartts.

 

[Egon]

I feel for those folk who spent years with Phillips Head screws. ( blame Henery )

Up north we got to use Robertson Screws. I do like the Torx better though.

 

[hslogger]

the star head screws come in different sizes and so they have different headinsert sizes also. It is incredible the way they have revolutionized building today. With he onslaught of cordless and fuel cell systems it is a heck of a lot easier to build with screws of this type. A really great aspect is that if you put up a wall and don't like it, or find some measurement off, you can go back to those star head screws and back them all out. In doing lay out work they are invaluable that way. They very very seldom don't fit, hardly ever strip out and will take about all the punishment imaginable.

 

[dfkrug]

If you have German 2-stroke equipment (Stihl, Makita/Dolmar) you will need Torx T27.

Note that what looks like P2 Philips head screws on Japanese machines are often JIS
cross, not Philips. They are marked with a dot, and shallower than Philips, tho
a P2 screw driver works in a pinch.

 

[Xfaxman]

Now you need two Torx driver sets, inch and metric.

Sorry, wrong, I thought that I had a metric torx bit, so I searched "Metric Torx Screws" and got a lot of sellers. But it is the threads that are metric, not the torx head. My bad.:confused3:

 

[EddieWalker]

the star head screws come in different sizes and so they have different headinsert sizes also. It is incredible the way they have revolutionized building today. With he onslaught of cordless and fuel cell systems it is a heck of a lot easier to build with screws of this type. A really great aspect is that if you put up a wall and don't like it, or find some measurement off, you can go back to those star head screws and back them all out. In doing lay out work they are invaluable that way. They very very seldom don't fit, hardly ever strip out and will take about all the punishment imaginable.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to type.

Every now and then the store I'm at will be sold out of star drive screws. I will not buy another type of screw, but will drive to another store to get them. It's night and day better then anything else!!!!

 

[motownbrowne]

Sorry, wrong, I thought that I had a metric torx bit, so I searched "Metric Torx Screws" and got a lot of sellers. But it is the threads that are metric, not the torx head. My bad.:confused3:

Thanks for letting us know. You had me worried there for a second.