Basic blender went bad (motor ran but spindle wasn’t rotating). I wanted to disassemble to see if it could be repaired. Three of the four screws were Phillips head. I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn’t unscrew the fourth. It was a slotted spanner.
What brand?
There is a screwdriver that you can get at the hardware store for this type of screw. You shouldn’t have to, I definitely agree. But fuck ‘em, repair your shit with the $5 screwdriver.
Comon, do some reading:
I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn’t unscrew the fourth.
That belt clip is there to make the knife technically legal in some areas. A 3"+ blade can’t be concealed by putting it in your pocket, so the workaround is to have the clip showing on the outside of your pocket, making it visible. That’s why they use screws like that. At least that is my understanding - I could be wrong.
Just a basic security screw. It’s so kids (and people who don’t know enough about repairing appliances to know about security screws) don’t disassemble the dangerous machine.
Though it should be noted this does raise the bar above most people, especially on a budget, single use tools are hardly ever worth it.
Arguably more dangerous things have easier screws too, like electricity outlets
Grinding a notch into a flathead screwdriver is annoying but it’ll still work fine as a flathead even afterwards. I would probably just grind the bulge out of the screw though.
In this case the screw was at the bottom of a narrow slot, and they only found it after breaking things.
I have a set of these that was part of a larger set of precision bits I was buying anyway. I’ve only ever used one of the security bits in like a decade of having them. I wouldn’t have bought the security bits alone.
Comon, do some reading:
I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn’t unscrew the fourth.
Phone camera; $30 digital microscope; $30 Endoscope. There are just so many better ways available to look down a hole to see what’s at the bottom than to tear apart the space around it.
Spanner bits are available in sets starting as little as $7. They are anything but “non-standard”.
Harbor freight has sets of tamper resistant bits. They are also handy for regular Allen and torx heads.
This right here. I bought their security bit set and, true, I’ve only ever opened the case three times in the few years I’ve had it, but in those three times nothing else would have worked without a more destructive solution
Here’s the link, it’s helped me out a bunch of times in the 6-8 years I’ve had it.
2 notes though
- these are hard cheese grade metal. Don’t plan on removing any high torque, Rusty or partly stripped screws with them, they’ll either break or round off.
- if the screw is too recesses down a narrow hole, these won’t help. The bit holders are too wide to fit in. I have a Honeywell Air Purifier with one security Torx that is 3-4” down a hole that this set failed me on.
It’s called an “H-type” head. I found some tools for that on eBay but was reluctant to spend any money on something I’d probably never need again, ever. But this video shows a hack using scissors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA6_S9YkZEc
I didn’t have a pair laying around that worked but the video inspired me to MacGyver my way to remove that aberration against all that’s good in humanity.