Phillips Screws

[Carl Meyer]

We sure got a lot of mileage out of the subject of screws.  Of course I'll add to it. 

Part of the problem with Phillips screws made in Asia is that the tip of the screw driver bottoms out too early making it slip and damaging the screw.  Try grinding off just a bit of the point of the screwdriver so that it will bottom out in these shallow screws.  I generally prefer Phillips to flat screws since the driver doesn't slip out and gouge the surrounding neighborhood.  Power drivers never work with slotted screws. I suppose Joe hates power drivers, too.

We just had to adapt from inch to metric for automotive work, so all mechanics now need both.  Everytime something new comes out we need to have the new tool plus the old.  Sure makes the tool box heavier.

At one time I think Hewlett Packard used only Posidriv screws. Those are better than standard Phillips in that a screw can be stuck on the end of a screwdriver and it won't fall off with thedriver horizontal.  You'd never know they were different though they have a mark on them.  Standard drivers work okay although Mcmaster Carr had special bits.  I haven't seen any of these for quite awhile.  Ilike to keep things simple.  I just had to make a couple of slotted set screws for attaching the fallboard since I didn't want to use an Allen head knowing the next tech wouldn't have an Allen wrench of the right size.  I took a long brass 6-32 screw, ran it through a threaded spacer and used a small hack saw to cut the slot.

Carl Meyer  Assoc. PTG
Santa Clara, California
cmpiano@attbi.com 
 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Jackson" <jurjens@tpg.com.au>
To: "PianoTech mailing list" <pianotech@ptg.org>; "Don" <pianotuna@accesscomm.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 5:41 AM
Subject: Re: Phillips Screws


> Well Don,
> I don't doubt that Robertson screws may be good, but i have only seen one piano
> action that used them. As Ron Nossaman said, "Life would sure be simpler if
> Roberts drives were standard, and had been for the last hundred years", but it
> just IS NOT SO!
> 
> 99% of the newish pianos that i work on are of Asian origin, and they all use
> Phillips screws. If you never have to work on Asian pianos, i am very happy for
> you - you are a lucky man and i am jealous. But surely the majority of techs do
> need to work on them. I thought that some people may not be aware that there is
> a difference between 'American Phillips' and 'Japanese Phillips'. It certainly
> never occured to me.
> 
> I am not the one who is recommending the inferior product, i just have to live
> with it; and unlike Joe Garrett, i am not planning to replace all those screws
> in every piano that i work on. Anyway, you'll still need the correct tool to
> remove them if you do want to replace them - so i thought it was worth
> mentioning.
> 
> Scott Jackson
> Jurjens Pianos
> Wollongong Australia
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Don" <pianotuna@accesscomm.ca>
> To: "Scott Jackson" <jurjens@ozemail.com.au>; "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, 9 October 2002 3:56
> Subject: Re: Phillips Screws
> 
> 
> | Hi Scott,
> |
> | Try a Robertson screw first--before you recommend an inferior product like
> | Phillips.
> |
> | At 12:56 PM 10/9/02 +1000, you wrote:
> | >Don't forget that not all phillips screws are created equal. For the
> | screws in
> | >Asian pianos we need to use drivers designed to the Japanese Industrial
> | Standard
> | >(JIS). I think that this is one reason that people have grief with
> | phillips type
> | >screws.
> | >
> | >For a source of these just search www.google.com for jis japanese phillips
> | >screwdriver. Here are a few links:
> | >
> | >http://dbestco.com/JISandLinkDrvrs.html
> | >http://www.katun.com/products/toolsjis.html
> | >http://www.jensentools.com/product/group.asp?parent_id=3795
> | >
> | >And then of course there are 'Pozidriv screws', which also look like
> | >Philllips......
> | >
> | >Scott Jackson
> | >Jurjens Pianos
> | >Wollongong Australia
> | >
> | >_______________________________________________
> | >pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> | >
> | >
> |
> | Regards,
> | Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T.
> |
> | mailto:pianotuna@accesscomm.ca
> |
> | http://us.geocities.com/drpt1948/
> |
> | 3004 Grant Rd.
> | REGINA, SK
> | S4S 5G7
> | 306-352-3620 or 1-888-29t-uner
> |
> 
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives