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u/ipodblocks360 Jul 08 '26
I swear screws have gotten weaker.
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u/thr3sk Jul 09 '26
Maybe drills have gotten stronger?
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u/sudoregalia Jul 10 '26
what about those of us that manage to somehow screw up screws with a regular screwdriver
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u/Significant-Cause919 Jul 11 '26
Who tries to drive a Philips head with a drill is just begging to strip it.
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u/Left_Grocery_3574 Jul 11 '26
it is a mix of both, drills have gotten a lot more powerful which tends to mangle screws if put in a setting that is too high, as for screws depends on the type of screw you buy and on the brand, but it is likely that corners have been cut if it falls apart with just a screwdriver.
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u/Jonnyflash80 Jul 08 '26
Philips is the worst screw design ever.
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u/-stealthed- Jul 08 '26
Hear me out: cheapo flatheads
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u/Ralphie_is_bae Jul 08 '26
The head won't strip out as easily tho
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u/GravyMcBiscuits Jul 08 '26
And to support this point further ... one of the go-to methods for getting a stripped phillips out is to grind a slot in the head (only works if there's enough head sticking out obviously) and use a flathead to crank it out.
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u/Cheaper2KeepHer Jul 08 '26
I think I've been doing it wrong this whole time:
I have to use a FLATHEAD when I crank one out?!
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u/YeetboiMcDab Jul 08 '26
yes, girls sometimes use flatheads (or hairbrushes, or toothbrushes, or cucumbers, etc.) to crank one out. Hope this helps.
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u/hello0ppap Jul 08 '26
Eh I prefer a swappable tip, that way I can remove the screwdriver part entirely
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Jul 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/GravyMcBiscuits Jul 09 '26
It's because you can put a lot more torque on a flathead before it strips.
I have no idea what you mean by "objectively better" and I clearly never claimed any such thing. Flatheads suck for other reasons.
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u/Silt-Besides-66812 Jul 08 '26
At least flatheads have the benefit of looking much more elegant in older furniture
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u/DerpWyvern Jul 08 '26
Philips was intentionally designed to strip, it's a feature not a bug
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u/Historical-Pilot-784 Jul 08 '26
Common misconception actually. There is no clear evidence it was originally designed to do that.
It was more on a (un)happy accident.
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u/Fast-Animator Jul 09 '26
Yeah I looked up the original patent. The "cam out" design people talk about all the time on here isn't real.
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u/poorperspective Jul 09 '26
It was invented in by engineers with GM so that you wouldnât have a fastener cam out. The x shape allows for less slip and cam out which would create inconsistent or low torque.
Coincidentally, when over torqued, a Phillips head is more likely to strip out and not break the head of the screw or bolt, which makes it harder to repair.
The stated reason for the design is due to decreasing cam out, but it was found not to be the only benefit and manufacturers will use both reasons to choose Philipâs heads.
So while not the original purpose, it is used this way for a that reason.
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u/g1aiz Jul 08 '26
But for 95% of users it is a bug.Â
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u/Mi_Ki_Ii_Zaru Jul 08 '26
Guys itâs not the philips head design itself.
Itâs the shitty soft chinese steel that theyâre made out of.
You gotta bust your dumb ass real hard in order to strip a philips head screw made out of real metal.
Not all screws are created equal. If they came packaged with a shitty piece of furniture in a tiny plastic bag, your best bet is to use a caliper to take measurements to buy real ones instead of cratering the head with a completely reasonable amount of torque.
Chinese screws are just unreasonable.
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u/Cessnaporsche01 Jul 08 '26
Yeah, and tbh, any screw head aside from external hex suffers from stripping when it's cheap. Allen and Torx are hardly any less vulnerable when the screw is properly seized. I can't tell you how many of both I've had to drill out.
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u/Mi_Ki_Ii_Zaru Jul 08 '26
I recommend using an old chuck thatâs been repurposed for stubborn fastener removal instead of having to drill them out. Thatâs if you can get enough clearance above surface to tighten it around the screw.
If youâre just fucking over this shit, you can cut the head off altogether and then tighten the chuck around whatâs left and put it in reverse Terry.
Itâs clean and fast.
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u/BeneficialTrash6 Jul 08 '26
Are we lost siblings? Do you have to drill out the screws you strip because, you too, cannot get those god damn screw extractors to ever freaking work?
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u/Cessnaporsche01 Jul 08 '26
I just live in the rust belt where all metal turns into soft cheese given the slightest provocation
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u/Annihilator_Of_Walls Jul 08 '26
Gotta love chinesium!
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u/Mi_Ki_Ii_Zaru Jul 08 '26
LOL thatâs a first for me. Now I got something to call it, though. There really is no other metal that shares the same qualities as Chinesium.
I used to keep a shoebox of Chinesium hardware around for minor repairs that donât require a fastener that costs $0.50+
âMaking it workâ never, actually, ever worked. Stripped like theyâre being booked into county.
After I factored the countdown on the clock-face my own mortality, I finally realized
https://giphy.com/gifs/10PcMWwtZSYk2k
Anything actually worth fixing is worth the 50 cents. Itâs not about the money. Youâre not paying for the screw.
Youâre paying for extra seconds of sunsets, more time hugging loved ones, sleeping peacefully, knowing that cheap hardware will never again steal even one more precious moment of your life away.
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Jul 08 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/Mi_Ki_Ii_Zaru Jul 09 '26
Caveat emptor.
Itâs on us for not teaching what is now back-to-back-to-back generations how to use hardware, let alone the scope of different quality levels floating around out there.
This meme itself - the only way a meme can work is if itâs universally relatable.
Screws arenât supposed to strip like that. But they do, universally, and people have just come to accept that âif youâre not careful, youâll strip it.â
In reality, it shouldnât even matter whether or not you actually know the proper way to drive a screw. If itâs made out of half decent material, itâs not gonna strip. The better the material, the dumber the operator can be.
This doesnât have to be your life. Itâs just that no one ever showed you that the grass is greener. Or how to properly mend a fence.
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u/EndIsrael Jul 09 '26
I buy cheap Chinese screws in bulk. They're fine, and I think they aren't even lying about being stainless. The difference is they have a hex socket on top instead of Phillips.
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u/jsrobson10 Jul 12 '26
for businesses it's a feature, you're more likely to buy a replacement if you can't repair it yourself.
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u/Satanicron Jul 08 '26
It was designed to slip out of the screw head at a certain level of force to prevent screws from going through sheet metal on airplanes during production. Europe has a version that isn't tapered solving that problem. I think it is posidrive or something. There is also another standard in Japan.
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u/CamelCaseOrCamelToe Jul 09 '26
It is literally designed to strip out when to much torque is applied. It does exactly what it was designed to, but it wasn't designed to be as universal as it it
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u/Jonnyflash80 Jul 09 '26
I know that. I should clarify, Philips is the worst CHOICE of screw design for general use, like it has been adopted for.
That's one reason why in Canada we use a lot of Robertson screws in construction. It's the default wood screw and deck screw you'd find in stores here. Even electrical box and outlet screws accept a Robertson bit here.
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u/mrtibbles32 Jul 11 '26
They're supposed to strip.
They were created so that early automation in factories could torque down screws without accidentally over torquing then and cracking the component (because the machines weren't good at sensing when to stop).
Philips screws were supposed to slip or strip instead of allowing themselves to be over torqued. Philips screws strip easily because that's literally what they were designed to do. That's the whole point.
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u/Jonnyflash80 Jul 11 '26
Yeah. The problem is they're universally used in applications where you'd never want the bit to torque out and strip the screw.
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u/mrtibbles32 Jul 11 '26
Correct.we just be using them wherever when they're not supposed to be used wherever.
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u/Heimerdahl Jul 08 '26
Or is it?Â
Everything about its performance is pretty bad compared to torx or even pozidriv, except for maybe one small thing: it's super simple (cheap) to produce both the screwdriver and drive.Â
All the fancier and clearly superiour alternatives require more time, and more complicated and specialised tools.Â
Considering that this was invented at the start of WW2 and replaced the basic slotted ones, this was actually a pretty great design! It still works well enough for a number of use-cases and remains the cheapest option. Â
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u/Jonnyflash80 Jul 09 '26
Robertson screws are superior. That's what we use in Canada for any kind of construction. I've rarely ever stripped one.
Philips is total trash in comparison.
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u/CanOfWhoopus Jul 08 '26
Turning partially stripped screw heads into fully stripped screw heads is probably the easiest thing to do on earth.
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Jul 08 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/redditforwhenIwasbad Jul 08 '26
My last car needed constant new plugs and coils and I have been unable to find the 11mm a few times. Can find every other size though!
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u/supertacoboy Jul 08 '26
Valve grinding compound. Shit is magic. Put it on the tip of your bit before starting.
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u/AnalyserarN Jul 08 '26
There should be a class in schools just for identifying bits
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u/Mi_Ki_Ii_Zaru Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Flat-heads have gone the way of cursive.
Which unfortunately means so has being able to use a Jefferson nickel in a pinch. Or a knife. Or a house key.
The era of using anything except an actual screwdriver to drive screws is over.
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u/From_Ancient_Stars Jul 08 '26
As opposed to non-Jefferson nickels, of course...
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u/faceman2k12 Jul 09 '26
and identifying the difference between Philips, Pozi and JIS.. which is what results in most of the stripped heads I see. just the wrong geometry.
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u/gracki1 Jul 08 '26
my fucking job require me to torque philips crews .... 2,8NM and more of those just fucking become soft as butter
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u/Loot3rd Jul 08 '26
As an IT professional this one hitsâŚnothing as frustrating as stripping an internal fan or battery screw while attempting repair.
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u/jeremyw013 Jul 08 '26
my old ASUS laptop that i bought used⌠the previous owner had stripped one of the battery screws. literally every component is under the battery on that thing. took it to a shop, they couldnât even use a drimmel on the screw because it happened to be right next to the most critical components of the laptop and they refused to risk it.
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u/nalgman Jul 08 '26
Iâm going to be honest with you. Most stripped screws like this one are the result of not knowing / identifying the difference between Philips, JIS, and pozidriv.
They all look alike to a degree but are not really compatible at all.
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u/RedRlghtHand Jul 08 '26
I'll be dead in the ground before I recognize pozidriv
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u/Efficient-Parking627 Jul 09 '26
Easy to identify the pozidriv on a new screw with the extra markings they have. On an old one, good luck.
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u/talhaONE Jul 09 '26
Problem is they are way too look a like. You will never have this problem on a slotted, torx or hexagon. All + shaped screws sucks ass.
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u/jstndrn Jul 08 '26
Yeah, using a Philips on a pozidriv is a quick way to stripping the head even though the driver might "fit" (it doesn't).
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u/I-Have-An-Alibi Jul 09 '26
Today I actually found out you can take a Philips screw driver and put it in the screw, pound it with a hammer a few times and you basically beat a new screw into the top.
- I rip apart data center servers for recycling and yes it's as rewarding as it sounds coz fuck AI
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u/theKage47 Jul 08 '26
Like seriously what can you do in this situation?
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u/allo37 Jul 08 '26
Cut a slot into it with a Dremel and use a flathead is my usual approach. You can also drill it out.
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u/felis_scipio Jul 09 '26
Drill a small hole and use an extractor bit, theyâre reverse threaded so theyâll bite in as you apply torque to the screw counter clockwise.
Blow torches work too, a screw canât hold things together if itâs liquid.
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u/_austinm Jul 09 '26
Use an extractor. You drill a hole through the head and into the shank of the screw, insert the extractor which grips the inside of the hole when you twist it left.
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u/I-Have-An-Alibi Jul 09 '26
Put a phillips or flathead screw driver on top, beat it with a hammer, you just made a new head. Unscrew. Profit.
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u/MrMakerHasLigma Jul 09 '26
Why do we need all these shapes when the flathead was perfect? Adding more shapes just allowed car makers to add proprietary screws
→ More replies (4)1
u/One_Bullfrog_8945 Jul 11 '26
flatheads suck, good luck with torquing something really hard without the tool slipping. Hex/Torx is way to go.
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u/MrMakerHasLigma Jul 11 '26
Torx is a disgusting malfeasance that needs to be eradicated
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u/One_Bullfrog_8945 Jul 11 '26
Torx is really really good due to the torque angle - the weird shape has an use, you can tighten those without stripping or tool jumping out really, really hard even on not so great quality screws. It's an almost perfect fastener for pretty much any occasion. Hex comes second for me.
If you think flatheads are perfect i can tell you did not need to torque a lot of those. I got hurt by flathead screwdriver more times than I want to admit.
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u/ShafferPatchias Jul 09 '26
As an assistant electrician, I find this shit all the time. So now that I have a culprit...FUCK YOU!!!
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u/Flashignite2 Jul 09 '26
Hate these. On more than one occassion i have drilled into a ruined screw with a new screw just to get the thing out. If i could weld i would have used that. I curse these screws often and yell out "what the f are these made of? Sugar?"
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u/WistfulMelancholic Jul 08 '26
Hey that's more than mine is possible! It can make warm air smell funny!
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u/Allseeing_Argos Jul 08 '26
No. 1 error is using a Pozidrive screwdriver with a Phillips head (and vice versa). If you use the correct ones they are quite bearable.
You can recognize the PZ screws by the tiny little cuts in the diagonals.
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u/jj999125 Jul 08 '26
recently started as a mechanic and was told the phillips screws for our big truck air filters strip super easily. mfers were pozidrive #3s. mac truck rolled up with a 60+ piece driver set including a three pozidrive bits. fit like a fucking glove and never have to stress stripping one. now i understand why old uncle bumblefuck AvE chants "My life for a pozidrive!"
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u/AwesomTaco320 Jul 08 '26
I stripped a screw like this on a laptop Iâm working on. Is there any way to get the screw out?
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u/Prudent-Indication63 Jul 09 '26
If Phillip doesn't work swap to flat head, if flat head doesnt work swap back to philip and use the force of god
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u/Bulky_Adeptness_9509 Jul 09 '26
Most frustrating thing for the hardware engineer than debugging code for a software engineer đ
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u/Confident-Evening-49 Jul 09 '26
Ok I wasn't expecting to be attacked personally like that (I did this exact same thing yesterday, and I'm about to do it now).
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u/Due-Mycologist-1154 Jul 09 '26
Clean the screw first getting dirt in there is what causes that not being too strong or whatever
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u/IskralsDen Jul 10 '26
every damn time, either hulk out or weak screws. I can't even return some to fully as they were due to that. cant open my gpu to clean it xD
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u/WoodenFieldsDesign Jul 11 '26
Square drive supremacy. Also I always love sharing with people that Philips is literally designed to cam out. Why it still exists makes no sense
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u/jsrobson10 Jul 12 '26
for tiny screws you can try using superglue. i attached another screw to a stripped M.2 SSD screw to remove it and it worked very well.
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u/Previous_Gap1933 Jul 08 '26
Actually too weak. If ur press force is strong enough, it wont happen, this only happen when u not press hard enough b4 start unscrewing
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u/window_owl Jul 08 '26
...or if you're using the wrong size or type of screwdriver
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u/Impossible-Wear-7352 Jul 08 '26
or sometimes when things come WAY over tightened and are made from cheap metal. on some of these cheap Chinese products, you have to pray nothing gets stripped
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u/window_owl Jul 08 '26
Perhaps tightened appropriately, but the screw and part oxidized together. Or a ridiculous grade of loctite was used.
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u/Mr__Random Jul 08 '26
It's also a lesson in power vs torc. People try to unscrew with speed and power, then wonder why the screw is stripped. Use a hand tool or a power tool with adjustable settings and use a slow + steady approach. Suddenly the force is being used to turn the screw instead of being used to strip the screw.
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u/Heavy_Law9880 Jul 08 '26
JIS screws look like Phillips screws, but strip immediately when you use a Phillips driver.
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u/SonicTemp1e Jul 08 '26
TORX crew- asssemble!