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Domestic wiring fittings, screw heads

Alex Barrett
Is there a reason why all conventional domestic electrical wiring fittings use exclusively slotted screw heads, rather than the much more practical Phillips or Pozidrive heads? Don't tell me that electricians can only carry one screwdriver?
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    You do actually need a Slim VDE screwdriver or an uninsulated screwdriver to work with screws in tunnels, if you use a standard insulated screwdriver the head of the screwdriver cannot possibly fit correctly, because it is smaller than the insulation.
  • 0
    Sparkingchip:

    You do actually need a Slim VDE screwdriver or an uninsulated screwdriver to work with screws in tunnels, if you use a standard insulated screwdriver the head of the screwdriver cannot possibly fit correctly, because it is smaller than the insulation.


    All the more reason to use a decent cross head screw. They were invented for ease of use.


  • 0
    If a tunnel is sized to a screw and the screwdriver is sized to the screw, a Standard insulated screwdriver with insulation bigger than the head of the driver cannot possibly fit in the tunnel to access the screw.


    So unless you have a slim or uninsulated screwdriver you will end up using a screwdriver a size smaller than it should be and struggle to do a good job.


    So your tool bag needs decent set slim insulated screwdrivers, plus a micro screwdriver set, Security bit set and a torque screwdriver set, however you may still need to buy a few more bits and drivers to complete your sets in addition to those like pozi number three and big slots.

  • 0
    This assumes you're spending half your life wiring domestic electrical installations. In the real world, part timers end up wiring these things (regardless of regulations) and making termination easier and safer can only help. Making screws demand specialist tools is like doing all your legal work in Latin, jobs for the boys.
  • 0
    Some years ago I went into Toolman in Birmingham, a tool shop that only sold hand tools, I had with me two 15 mm compression plumbing fittings and bought a pair of spanner’s to fit each as the back nuts were different sizes.


    Some years later I was working in a customers home and he said “you aren’t a real plumber, are you?” I enquired why he was asking the question, he laughed and said “you have spanners that fit the fittings, a real plumber would be using a pair of pump pliers and an adjustable spanner”.
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    When I was a kid I could never find a spanner that really fitted nuts on my bike, there were the pressed steel spanners, but they still didn’t quite work.


    Life is actually a lot easier now with a small selection of spanner’s fitting most nuts, unlike back in the days of British Standard Cycle  and other threads that are no longer used, apart from by the Chinese.
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    Denis McMahon:

    It's a bit like those pictures of cars you see in sales brochures. The maker's logos on both wheels are always exactly the right way up. You would hardly ever see this in practice - even in a car showroom.


    Oh no, you have that all wrong. Rolls-Royce emblems always come to rest the right way up. Mind you, it wasn't always the case. ?


  • 0
    Back to screw heads, quite honestly, anybody can chamble the heads of screws of any sort or the tips of drivers. IMHO Phillips are the worst, but the reason for cross-head is automation. I don't think that your ubiquitous electric screwdrivers work with slot-head.


    As Sparkingchip has written above, make sure that the screwdriver fits the screw properly.
  • 0
    I saw a kitchen fitter do up screws to the 2 oclock position this afternoon.  He's a rare breed, one who doesn't bodge his own 'lectrics, he calls us in to do the work. But his eye for 'finish' is perfect.  Asked him why... his response: i was taught vertical or horizontal looks artificial, but a slight italic lean to the screw slot looks 'swish'.


    Words may be a bit odd, but he wasn't wrong. (and it's very rarely i will agree with a kitchen fitter!)


    And as to screwdriver shapes. I agree with the consensus view, it's not the shape of the screwdriver, it's the quality.


    Although phillips are an abomination before all mankind
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    Chris Pearson‍ The only truly admirable screw head I have ever come across was during my all to brief sojurn in Canada... Robertson are a joy to work with, IF YOU HAVE THE CORRECT DRIVER. If you don't, just stab yourself repeatedly with a skewer, it's faster and less painful.

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