Learning from mistakes

[johnelliott]

No, I don't mean picking up something hot, burning your hand and learning not to do it again. I mean situations where a mistake made brings new knowledge andleads to an improvement in one's ways of doing things
Two examples-
1)I ordered a load of screws from Axminster, lots of different sizes. When they arrived I found I'd ordered Torx screws. B***er!. Still, dug some Torx bits out of my tool box and tried them anyway. Brilliant!. Haven'#t bought a Pozidriv screw since
2)When I make painted furniture, or kitchen cabinet doors, I paint them with Dulux Luxurious Silk. One day I went into B&Q, picked up the right colour but when I got it home, found it was Rich Matt. Decided I would swap it next time I went there. In the meantime I ran out of the Silk, and tried the Matt as an undercoat. Excellent! Now, whenever I buy a colour I buy a pot of Matt for the undercoats and a pot of Silk for the topcoat

Anyone else have some positive mistake-driven advances to relate?
John

 

[CYC]

John, can I ask why you think the Torx screws are better? I am interested
And sorry but I haven't anything coming to mind, yet!

 

[Alf]

I ordered cotton waste from Axminster in mistake for cotton rags. I'm not a French polisher (yet), but it does come in handy to make a nice padded cloth and much softer than just the cotton rag folded over on its own. You also get the reservoir of finish, just like a polishing rubber, if you want it. I also inadvertantly ordered the wrong replacement dozouki blade and it didn't fit the handle I had. So I made a western style pistol grip handle instead, and it's become one of my favourite saws for small cut-off tasks.

I'll also second the request for further thoughts on the Torx screws, if you would.

Cheers, Alf

 

[johnelliott]

Couple of reasons why I prefer the Torx screws-
first, having six points instead of four it means that it's quicker to apply the bit to the screw, the most you could be wrong by is 59 degrees instead of 89 with Pozidriv and 179 with slotted
second reason is that very little pressure is required to maintain driving contact, unlike Pozidriv which tend to have a cam-out action which needs to be overcome with forward push on the driver

One dark winter night a neighbour's french windows had blown in and I was applying some plywood to the frame- as I needed one hand to hold the ply in place the fact that torx screws stay on the bit better made that job a lot easier.

I use a lot of screws in the course of my work, and anything that saves a few seconds or a couple of ozs of effort is well worth the initial cost of the bits and some manual torx screwdrivers (T15, T20 and T25 does it for me). I use the 'premium' (because I'm worth it )Spax screws from Axminster, same price for Pozidriv as Torx
John

 

[Philly]

Hi John,
Only a simple one from me. When ever I build something with four sides (i.e. a box, or most items of furniture!!!!!) I always seem to cut one (or more) piece too long/short, making gluing up a square, 90 degree angle impossible, at least on one corner!
So, after numerous embaresing projects I have learned to gang pieces together of the same length and cut them together. That way it doesn't matter so much if your measuring is off. At least they are all the same length and 90 degree corners at guaranteed.
regards,
Philly

 

[CYC]

I see your point John, thanks for that. I'll give it a try sometime, after I run out of my stock of Pozidriv !

 

[Aragorn]

Just thought it might be worth giving another view to Torx screws.

I too use lots of screws in my work. I gave Torx a try recently and found that the head was easily worn. The flip side of having 6 points of contact is that they are relatively smaller and once worn down you're left with practically nothing for the screwdriver bit to grip on to.
In this case, I needed to remove a Torz screw and found that the head was slightly worn. The screwdriver ripped through it and just spun around in the head It was extremely difficult to remove the screw! :?
I find that when removing old pozidrives, even if quite worn, there is usually enough of the cross shape left to get a grip with the bit.
Also, as I mentioned in a previous post - if you're trying to remove a Torz that's been painted over - good luck trying to get the paint out to get enough of a screwdriver grip!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi John

Would I be right in thinking that the furthest out a screwdriver can be on a slotted screw is 90 degrees, 22.5 for a posidrive and 15 degrees for a Torx? :? Isn't 179 degrees out the same as 1 degree if you go back the other way? :?: Having said that if you're only turning in one direction, then your figures are right! :shock: This hasn't been any help at all, has it? I'll go now... :roll:

Mike

 

[Chris Knight]

Aragorn,

I wonder which make of screws your used? I agree with John's assessment of Spax Torx head screws and use them exclusively nowadays.

It is possible on some sizes to use a size smaller screwdriver bit than the one that is actually needed and still get quite a bit of torque on the screw. I have done this a couple of times inadvertently and then, indeed you will find the head can be spoilt by the bit.

 

[Aragorn]

I don't know the make. These ones were stainless steel from a dedicated nut and screw hardware store. (It's nut heaven!)
I'm not averse to using different types of screw, but as yet haven't had enough trouble with pozi to warrant a permanent change - especially as Torx have got off to a poor start with me.

 

[trevtheturner]

Hi Aragorn,

I stand to be corrected but believe that some 'stainless steel' can be quite 'soft' so I suspect therein, possibly, rests your problem with the screws you have. Spax screws, probably the 'top' brand, may be the answer. Might be worth trying a few of them, with the correct bit of course (sorry, grandmother/eggs joke!).

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[johnjin]

Hi Trev
Yes you are quite right IMO. Stainless steel is soft as far as steels go, but from a machining angle it is also very tough. There is a big difference between hard and tough. So yes I would not think it is the ideal material for a screw head, but on the other hand it sure has a lot going for it if you don't want rust.

All the best

John

 

[Aragorn]

Thanks for the tips about stainless Torx.
With such favourable recommendations from John and Chris I'd be a fool not to give them another go sometime!

 

[Anonymous]

errr hasn't this thread been rather hijacked into a Torx discussion??

Back on topic, I found that my cut pieces invariably came out at different lengths despite very careful measuring. Clamping stop blocks on saw or router table faces fixed that.

Cheers

Tony

edited thanks to cambournepete

 

[cambournepete]

...Clamping stop blocks on saw or router table feces fixed that...

I hope you meant "faces" !!