In every way imaginable, the Robertson screw head is vastly superior to the Phillips. And yet Robertsons remain rare in the U.S., as far as I know.

Question for the American posters - why cling to this inferior technology?

 

Nobody wants to throw away their Phillips screwdrivers. Look in any toolbox; you'll see a bunch of Phillips of various sizes, and how many Robertsons will you find?
And of course, you need to keep all those Phillips drivers to use on all the phillips screws that abound on our older vehicles. Plus, (and probably the biggest reason) we're a society resistant to change. We refuse to embrace the metric system, so sure as hell nobody's gonna take our Phillips screwdrivers unless they pry them from our cold, lifeless hands! -TD

 

Mainly, it's a supply issue I think. I see them in deck screws, but that's about it - unless i start getting close to the Canadian border.

I don't own any dedicated square head drivers, except for the ones that come in bit sets. Nice thing about Phillips is, in a pinch, I can make a #2 work with either a larger or smaller screw. With Robertson head you better have the right size.

 

I love and use them on all my decking and fence projects. Part of the problem may be the widespread use of posi drive screws. It still suprises me howmany folks use them (posi drives) and dont realize what they have or why they keep stripping heads with their plain phillips bits. Posi drives are good if used with the proper bit but square drives or Robertsons are the best I have used. Its only in the last few years that I have seen them making their way into smaller hardware stores, larger chains like Home Depot and Lowes have had them for a while.

 

Actually, I'm still wonderin' why we see 'slotted' fasteners still being used.

There may be a minute need for them in SOME manufacturing applications, but enough allready. Time to move on.

 

The biggest reason is probably good old neighborly competition since Robertson was invented in Canada and Philips in the U.S.
Plus in a pinch you might even be able to use a flat head on a philips.

 

For those who do not know what screw people are talking about:

http://www.robertsonscrew.com/index.html

 

We use the square drive screws exclusively here.. They don't cam out, or slip like phillips and flat. We still use phillips when we can't find the right size with a square drive.. If we have the choice we get the squares..

 

Any of you guys that are going to KC interested in some test/practice Robertson screws to see how well they work ?

 

Red Robbie #2 is the BEST screwdriver ever! Holds like crazy and fits so snug! The bestest!

-Matt

 

Ditto!!!

Well said, TD.

(I'll add that I have at least 6 Robertson drivers and ??? Robertson driver inserts.)

 

The ace hardware I worked at in 96' had them..

 

I work in the fastener biz and the answer to both problems is a quadrex drive, a combination of phillips and square.

 

I prefer using the ole hammer and nail system. LOL

Do they make screws with the torx head on them?

I don't remember if they do.

And what the hell is a reed screw driver for?

 

The ole hammer is the best combination driver there is! It'll drive em all, square, phillips. slotted.
But on point, square drives came on strong here about 10 years ago (great salesman, i guess), but the demand never developed. They've become difficult to find, even though i personally feel they're the best all-around screw (rimshot).