Torx screws

22 Mar 2005 Torx screws

Use Torx screws.
The torx screws are great because they don’t jump out like the phillips screws do. Here is what they look like:

These are on my workbench. Very easy to put on and take off with an electric screwdriver. These are not the same kind as I use on the aircraft, of course. On the aircraft, they are stainless steel screws, both button head and 100 degree flat head..

I bought mine at microfasteners.com:

The 100 degree flat heads: http://www.microfasteners.com/catalog/products/SSCFCMXS.cfm and the button heads: http://www.microfasteners.com/catalog/products/SSCSBXS.cfm
They have 100 degree countersunk screws like we use in the aviation world. They seem to be the only ones who have them. Due to licensing issues, they call them “6 Lobe Drive” screws.

I fell in love with the torx screws back in 1984 when the first Apple Macintosh had them. I was working for Apple, and since the boxes were screwed together with these, and no one knew what they were, or where they could get a torx screwdriver, we didn’t have to worry about customers opening up their computers to “fix” them!

For much more information about the Torx screws, check out this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx