"Square"? "SQUARE"??!! Excuse me, we fought a patent war over Robertson drive, and WE FUCKING WON.
this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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This guide is trash, they don't even know the proper names.
Calling it a square not a Robinson makes me doubt everything else on this including the ones I know are right.
Same with 6 lobe instead of torx
Torx is a trademarked name, 6 lobe is generic Torx.
Like how everybody calls a tissue a Kleenex.
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in america everything must be named after a company
also isn't it Robertson?
Slotted screws should have gone away after the 1800s. God, I hate them so much.
Screw drive arguments are my absolute favorite, thank you OP for posting such divisive content!
RIP
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Phillips/square? You mean pre-half-stripped and here I come with a too small screwdriver to finish the job.
Philips/Square/Slotted (all three combined) is really common in North American electrical. Switches, outlets, breakers; all commonly use them for terminal screws.
Great for lower torque applications; you certainly wouldn't use them for like a deck/structural screw.
You can torque a Roberson until either the screw, driver, or motor break
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What is this square?
It is called a Robertson not a square.
Technically Robertson has a taper to it, while square drive doesn't. Though nobody really differentiates it in common usage.
At least with star drive, while they are the same, pretty much everyone calls them Torx.
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I hate phillips head screws with every fiber of my being. All they are good at is becoming stripped.
They are better than slotted. The driver always slips and you always stab yourself in the arm, they are impossible to work with. Why were they even invented, what purpose do they solve, it is literally the worst possible way to design a screw.
They are the easiest to machine, so they were invented first. Being first and being cheap leads to abundance. Ubiquity means every toolbox needs a flathead screwdriver, and most of those also prove useful as prybars.
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Just wait until you have to remove some old slotted screws! Phillips are great compared to them. My house was build in 1925, I think slotted was the only option back in those days...
Found this on Wikipedia "The credited inventor of the Phillips screw was John P. Thompson who, in 1932, patented (#1,908,080) a recessed cruciform screw and in 1933, a screwdriver for it."
You would think the screw and screwdriver would come hand in hand the same year. But I guess even he struggled with how to not strip them.
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A square screw is a Robinson, fyi.
There's some anti-Canadian bias in this chart for sure.
Don't call Philips after the inventor but Robertson after the shape.
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Robertson
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Never heard of Phillips the screw before. We call it Kreuzschlitzschraube and the tool for it is a Kreuzschlitzschraubendreher, and I think that's beautiful.
But it's absolutely fascinating that torx on the other hand is here with its generic name.
Although in my opinion there are three slots only: torx, hex and wrong.
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What is labelled "flat" here I've only ever heard of as "countersunk" and what's labelled as "slotted" I've only ever heard of as "flat head". Also wtf is "PF"?
PF = Plastic thread Forming. They are basically a self-tapping screw meant for plastics.
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I had the same thought! Also I’ve only ever heard “torx” instead of “six lobe” although I’m guessing torx is a brand name.
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also relevant Bonus xkcd
I worked as a supervisor where my predecessor thought square/Robertson were superior without listening to the others who were used to torx. I very quickly changed back to using torx.
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Torx torx torx torx!
I use exclusively torx or tamper-proof torx for my projects and I love it so much.
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I'd like to go on record as saying six-lobe tamper can die in a fire.
Use a hammer and punch to break off the pin.
And if you lack the screwdriver. So long as the head is not the flat style and you have room. Angle grinder/dremel and everything turns into a slot head screw.
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