What Screw?

[will_s87]

What is the best screw for fixing plywood to softwood timber...

I have been looking at screwfix gold screws and KTX screws...

Price is a consideration because I will be purchasing 10,000 +

timber is;

18mm ply to softwood timber. NO pilot holes.

Many thanks, Will.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I think there was a Screw Off done by Screwfix and British Woodworking Magazine a while back. I forget who came out tops, but as Screwfix sold all of them, they were definitely the winners!
For myself I buy Spax. Not cheap but absolutely excellent. There may well be other good screws out there, I've not tried the ones you mention, but Spax get the thumbs up from me.
S

 

[Hitch]

I have been using the Toolstation TorxFast screws now and then, very good starting. Certianly much better than the standard thread types.
Torx heads seem better when the going gets tough too.

Thats a lot of screws, probably worth buying a box of the main contenders to try for yourself?

 

[Aled Dafis]

Reisser are very good also. I'd go for torx head though as they have a far more positive location resulting in almost no camouts and a much longer life for your driver bits.

 

[lincs1963]

Hi, I bought 50,000 fischer screws of various sizes from 4.0 x 20 up to 6.0 x 100. They are the best screws I have used up to now and would highly recommend them.
They have 'rifling' on the upper part of the shank to prevent the timbers you are screwing from jacking themselves apart and they have countersinking ribs under the heads which work very well. The supplier we used undercut the prices for spax by a good margin.
hope this is of interest, regards, Neil.

 

[kostello]

ring shank nails...........................

in a gun

 

[Rob Platt]

if you want cheap go for drywall they may well work depending on your ply and your softwood.
all the best
rob

 

[No skills]

I've done a fair bit of this ( ) so I'll stick my 2p in.

Yes you can whack it up with a paslode but the nails must be ring shank if you dont want a bit of movement over time and if you nail a bit up wrong then its a real pain to get off again.

Best I've used so far were fisher's but there wasnt much in it between them and another sheet to timber screw (name escapes me atm), I remember the fischers were more expensive.
In short... most of the goldscrew/turbo gold etc etc will do the job but you will have better results with the special sheet/timber to timber screws that have the self cutting heads etc etc much less screws not pulling in properly or not countersinking into the ply.

Have a play with how to put them in as well, I have honestly found some screws that go in better with a regular cordless drill than an impact driver - slower but had a better success rate for pulling right in and countersinking.

Whatever your using get some decient wera screw bits (and the impact adaptor if your using an impact driver), I use the wera impact bits and they out last anything else I've tried.

HTH

Also :roll: wack the screws in at a slight angle to improve pull in, sorry if this is egg sucking for you

 

[undergroundhunter]

For jobs like that I always use Wicks drywall screws they really do pull in to the timber.

 

[markus]

use screw tite screws. not the cheapest but all sizes are part threaded which stops jacking between the timbers perfect for construction. surprised no one has suggested them on this thread

 

[No skills]

Their one of the other specials that I have used, the fischers I was using last had the same thread layout.

 

[chipmunk]

Goldscrews from Toolstation - if price is a consideration then these will fit the bill.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Screws+Fixings/Single+Thread+Countersunk/d90/sd760

Cheap as chips and free delivery over £10.
Jon

 

[will_s87]

Anyone have any experience with KTX screws...

http://www.conceptdistribution.co.uk/index_main.html

I've driven a bunch of Gold screws and Turbo Screws from screwfix, I'm tempted to go with them.

Thanks, Will.

 

[No skills]

Not used them myself, were you think of using the collated screws with a gun attachment to speed things up?

If you've tried the turbogolds on the materials your going to be using and are happy then why not? they are a pretty good price, I've had very few duff ones. One thing tho is some screwfix's only carry about 5 boxes of each size of screws so if you want a large amount you best get the order in a few days before your going to need them.

 

[matthewwh]

I had a go with some of these the other day and was mightily impressed. They sound very similar to the screw tite ones mentioned above.

We have also just started stocking some called BTI Toptec Vario which are designed with a series of rings under the head so that you can drive the screw home and then back it out again to level the board.