60
What am I doing wrong?
If you're stripping the heads, Phillips head screws probably aren't the right kind for the job. They cam out under excessive torque [1]. And once they do, the bit becomes a grinding tool, chipping away the head. They're good for uses where high torque isn't required. Phillips head screws intended for use where they might require ...
49
I would not mount the latch to the door skin. Even if you can attach it well, chances are you'll pull the skin off the door over time. It's not designed to withstand that sort of stress.
Instead, use long bolts with acorn nuts to sandwich the two sides to the door, or use coupling nuts and bolts from both sides. The latter requires larger holes through the ...
45
You may be having one or more of the problems as follows:
You are using the wrong size driver bit for the screw type. Make sure the bit fits perfectly in the slot of the screw.
You may be trying to use a driver bit that has its edges rounded off so bad from previous usage that the bit is next to useless.
You may have a really cheap driver bit chosen from a ...
42
For this you can use wall drilling anchors as shown in the images below. They are also known as wall plugs or rawl plugs. You can get them from any hardware shop.
42
To "tap" in this context means to cut threads into a hole. For this topic, we can think of three basic things a screw can do - drill its own hole, tap its own threads, or just force its way into the material tearing out a hole or threads in the process.
Using this image from that wikipedia article:
The top screw is self-drilling. The sharp, split point ...
40
Locking pliers, which is the generic term for a class of product often called by the name of one registered trademark (Vise Grips® - no particular endorsement implied, but some of the cheaper knock-offs are quite useless. I believe Mole Grips® in the UK)
You need them clamped on hard enough that they actually bite into the screw head. With that presentation, ...
37
Partly you're being confused between "wood screw", and "machine screw" aka bolt. Wood screws self-thread by nature. Bolts are not meant to self-thread at all (unless they are).
When you fit a screw, there are two functions going on.
Drilling the hole in the virgin material
This is not what you are asking about. Wood screws can self-drill, as can ...
answered Feb 21 '20 at 16:47
Harper - Reinstate Monica
175k15 gold badges155 silver badges397 bronze badges
32
As you are a perfectionist for installing hinge screws perfectly it turns out that there is a product made just for this purpose. It is a self centering pilot drill that aims the pilot drill bit right on center in the hinge hole.
There is a spring loaded sleeve around the drill bit that pushes back as the bit bores the hole. The tip of the sleeve centers ...
32
It appears that the hex sides of that screw head have been rounded off due to the use of an ill-fitting hex wrench. A metric and an SAE hex wrench will both fit in there, but the use of the wrong one, while it feels like it fits properly, can be just loose enough that if the set screw is corroded in a bit, the wrench can slip and round over the edges.
You ...
32
In the Netherlands (and other parts of Europe) we use a 'patentbout' for this situation.
The holes are through the entire door and line up with the shields.
31
Wood glue, hands down. Wood glue is designed to penetrate the wood for a tighter bond. Properly done, wood glue is stronger than the surrounding wood. I have chairs I've wood glued and clamped and they're still fine years later.
Epoxy is OK, but you have to make sure you get the right epoxy too. Many are exothermic (they get hot) and might eat your wood. ...
28
What am I doing wrong?
Using a drill to drive screws. I used to have the same problem as you, until I switched to using an Impact driver instead.
Drills are designed for drilling holes. They deliver a nice consistent torque. When the resistance of the screw increases this tends to cause camming out.
Impact drivers are designed for driving screws. They ...
28
As long as they are normal screws and you unscrew them they won't compromise the studs or their integrity. If you rip the screws out (with a hammer for example) that could compromise the studs.
If you plan on reusing the exact same holes there are things you can do to help future screws grip just as well by adding toothpicks to the holes, but otherwise you ...
26
I mostly agree with FreeMan, but I think this was originally a Torx (six-pointed star) drive. The corners look deeper than I'd expect from an Allen drive.
I would get a set of Torx bits and look for the largest one that fits (which is the correct size for any screw head). Gently tap it in with a hammer, then attach the screwdriver or ratchet handle. While ...
25
You already discovered the answer for your monitor. I'll leave a general answer for others with a similar question.
The Video Electronics Standards Association has a set of standards for mounting flat panel displays like TVs and computer monitors. It is usually referred to as simply the VESA Mounting Standard. Pretty much any modern display that has ...
25
It could be that the driver you are using is not a Phillips but a Pozidriv or the screws are Pozidriv and the driver is a Phillips.
See https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2015/09/16/what-is-the-difference-screw-bits-phillips-vs-pozidriv
24
Pretty much any machine screw --
24
There are a few more numbers for a complete description. It's pretty much a world-wide system described by several ISO standards, but there are occasional oddities (slight differences between ISO and DIN standard sizes on a few items for instance)
You asked about M3, M4, etc - that describes (only) the outside diameter of the screw - or the size of an ...
23
That is simply called a threaded insert. It is either first placed into the mold, then plastic injected, or pressed in after the plastic handle is injected. Google images for "threaded inserts for molding".
McMaster Carr or Fastenal if you want to buy some.
23
If there is no wood at all behind this spot anywhere, a plain wall anchor may rip out over time - curtain rails hold curtains which can be heavy, and can flap around in the wind creating vibration which slowly erodes plaster.
Here are some better designs of plasterboard anchor (drywall / sheet rock / gibralter board)
Rightmost is your standard cheap wall ...
23
Those are called breakaway machine screws or just breakaway screws.
They come in handy when installing cabinet hardware (handles/knobs etc.) in materials that differ in thickness or you don't know the thickness. As you have seen, they are also used in many other applications such as bathroom hardware.
The slits in the thread make it easier to adjust the ...
22
M5 Pan head machine screw.
Edit: M5 screws have a 5mm shaft.
Edit2.1 (my apologies): This is an M5-0.80 screw. 0.8 refers to the thread pitch, which (for metric screws) is measured by dividing 9.6mm by 12 threads, which equals 0.80. The picture above shows a minor optical illusion of 12 threads over 10mm (pitch = 0.8333); but M5-0.85 screws simply don't ...
22
I would apply a high-strength thread-locking adhesive (e.g. loctite 270) to the inside of the head, reattach the head to the threaded rod (AKA stud), wait many hours, remove bolt.
LOCTITE 270 is a high-strength threadlocker for maximum efficacy in the securing and sealing of bolts, nuts and studs to prevent loosening due to vibration. The product serves ...
22
Low voltage plates without brackets make for a sad DIYer
It appears the last installer tried simply screwing the cover plate to the drywall directly without a bracket or box to back it up. Unfortunately for them, screws don't hold well in drywall, as you found out the hard way. While you could use drywall anchors, there isn't much left there for them to ...
22
Judging by the pitch and diameter you've measured, what you probably have is an American UNC 6-32 screw.
There are many conversion charts on the interwebs, but if you refer to this one in particular you can see the diameter for a #6 thread is 0.138" or 3.5mm.
The 2nd number in the UNC scheme is the number of threads per inch, so taking 25.4mm per inch and ...
22
I think your husband just wants the shoe bins to remain where they are and doesn't want to buy new ones.. LOL. Removing the screws will not damage the studs even if they were load bearing. Patch the holes with a vinyl spackle, sand lightly and you're good to go.
21
When the boards having the heads are being discarded, a simple way to remove them is to cut through the screws at the joint between the board.
You can use a reciprocating saw (often called by a brandname, Sawzall)
or a multitool
In either case, you need to use a blade intended for cutting metal. Some blades are combination blades that work in wood or ...
21
As strange as this might sound, provided there's a stud back there, you can use toothpicks to fill in the hole. The toothpicks can bite into the screw, and provide friction against the surrounding wood.
If this is just drywall, use a drywall anchor like the other answers detailed
21
Vice grips. If anything is sticking out always go vice grips route.
https://www.amazon.com/VISE-GRIP-Original-Locking-Pliers-68/dp/B00004SBCG/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=vice+grips&qid=1615744106&sr=8-2
20
My experience with monitor/tv mounts is that they're usually metric. If that holds, you should be able to measure the hole, round to the nearest integer millimeter and order those machine screws. (M4, M5, M6, etc.)
Try and screw them in by hand first. If you've got the wrong size, you'll get resistance. (In other words, you won't strip out the sleeve if you'...
answered May 29 '17 at 16:08
Aloysius Defenestrate
13.4k1 gold badge20 silver badges37 bronze badges
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
