easier if the screwdriver did not cam out so easily

Never used a driver that cammed out on a switch plate. Actually never used a power driver at all on switch plates.
But like metal covers, the phillips head does make it easier to install without making sure the slot is vertical

 

I like that reasoning aas to not having to have the slots straight. It means nothing to me, but to most customers it does.
As to power screwdrivers, you know that you can get slotted driver bits.

 

Seems like using a straight screwdriver is a skill that has been mostly lost. I have never had a problem with these because my dad taught me the technique to keep it centered while twisting. But if you don't do it right you will ruin the screw head and then it becomes a real pain. Why do you need a power driver for a cover plate? I think you would crack the plate very easily.

 

Now I'm curious. What's the technique your dad taught you?

 

So, OCD people like me can keep all the screws in the house in the same position, lol.

 

Thing is doing that way than can tell when a home owner has. messed with it. Most of the time. LOL

 

the answer is simple,

slotted heads are more decorative, and look better, it is for asthetic purposes

I would never use a power tool for a cover plate, in fear of cracking it

 

Bingo on the aesthetics being the answer.

I always spring for nylon cover plates. Hard to break them. That said, screwing down a cover plate is a really easy job, and you don't want to use much torque.

If it bothers you, you could also go with screwless cover plates.

 

I total agree with Peter. A phillips head is not as clean as a straight head and if you are anal as I am you want the slot to be vertical, or horizontal on devices that are installed on the horizontal.

 

I total agree with Peter. A phillips head is not as clean as a straight head and if you are anal as I am you want the slot to be vertical, or horizontal on devices that are installed on the horizontal.

With a Philips you could go with. + or x I only use nylon midsized plates, you can't crack them.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

 

Post removed.

 

RJ....GREAT SUBJECT....And a Phillips is so much easier to land when you're old and it's in dark corner and you don't have your glasses and your hand shakes a little..!!!!!!

I think the NEC , who every three years has to invent a new code to keep their jobs, should be concerned with this.😁

And who are the idiots that think the slotted go vertical....OH sorry Larry and CestMoi 😀

 

We could get a good argument going here; vertical or horizontal?

Personally, I don't care, but I do line them up so they're the same, just out of some sense of aesthetics.

What I don't understand is slotted screw heads on things like terminal blocks. Especially 12V terminals designed for a boat. Last week I was flat on my back in a tiny, cramped space trying to re-terminate a ring terminal overhead in among a tangle of wires. I think I dropped the screws at least 20 times. They'd bounce and often go somewhere inaccessible, starting a whole new project to find and retrieve them. Who thinks this is a good idea???

 

sometimes slotted screws are used on purpose so it is difficult to over torque them,

it's easier to get a lot of torque on a robbie or phillips as opposed to slotted

 

Use the new plates

 

Use the new plates
View attachment 712671

I like the Lutron version as well.

 

My SIL has all his slots vertical, so I always turn some away from vertical when I visit...

 

That's what I'd do, although I've never really paid attention to my own or anyone else's. Turning screws so they are all the same direction seems like some kind of type A personality trait I didn't know existed.

 

I don't care for slotted scews at all, that being said I can see them being used on cover plates for the aesthetics. I absolutely hate breakers and lugs that use slotted set screws.

 

Far too many years ago the electronics shop I worked in reconed the speakers in a huge cabinet. There were 70-80 phillips head screws holding the back cover in place and the owner made me go back and set every last one of them to exactly the same position. 🤬

 

When all screws were slotted and everyone had a yanky driver, you used both hands.

 

When all screws were slotted and everyone had a yanky driver, you used both hands.
View attachment 712687 View attachment 712688

That is Yankee screwdriver, Northerner.


The trade name "Yankee" screwdriver was first marketed by North Brothers Manufacturing Company in ≈16 April 1895, with the No. ≠130 spiral ratchet screwdriver. Yankee soon became and still is a well-known name in automatic spiral ratchet screwdrivers, with several other models, and model improvements patented by North Bros. over a 40-year period.[1]

The term "Yankee screwdriver" is often used to describe push/pull type screwdriver other than one manufactured by North Brothers Mfg. Co. or Stanley Tools, who purchased the rights to the well-known Yankee brand or trade name in the 1940s from North Brothers.[2] North Brothers always marked the tools they manufactured with the Yankee name, and in most cases the North Bros. name and location as well.[1]

All spiral ratchet screwdriver models made by Stanley did have the Yankee trade name on them, or at least until the 1960s when the Handyman trade name became as well known as the Yankee trade name, so Stanley Tools marked certain models with both the Handyman and Yankee brand name on them, and usually the Stanley name was on them as well. The Handyman trade name was not limited to a line of screwdriver models, as the same name was marked on a complete line of planes, drills and other tools specifically marketed to the home user.

Here is the power screw driver I was issued as a telephone installer back in the 60s.

 

When I disassemble something and find slotted screws I trash them and replace with Philips or Torx.

I am to cheap to buy those screw-less cover plates. If I could find Philips screws with white heads I would buy a gross of them. Anybody got a reference.

 

Get one of these for those cover plate screws, handy driver.

2-in-1 Interchangeable Rapi-driv Screwdriver Klein Tools 67100 for sale online | eBay

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Takes practice, but you won't want anything else when in a hurry.

ED

 

They do make a screw driver for it.
Slotted screw holding screwdriver solves a common problem - YouTube

 

Cam out on a cover plate ? 🤔

 

I don't like the Philips/Roberson hybrid screws. It works for Roberson but not so much for Philips high chance of slipping out.

 

That Philips / Robertson combo on receptacles has a special tip made by Milwaukee, called an ECX. They work great.

MILWAUKEE ELEC TOOL 48-32-4443 2" Ecx PWR Bit Combo - Cutters - Amazon.com

MILWAUKEE ELEC TOOL 48-32-4443 2" Ecx PWR Bit Combo - Cutters - Amazon.com

smile.amazon.com

 

I never considered that there was an aesthetic component to screw alignment on cover plates; I've never noticed nor cared. I keep the typical collection or assorted screws in a bin but, like RJ, I toss anything slotted.

I do have a 'screw starter' for slotted screws. It came as part of a Snap-On tune-up kit and was for getting screws started for points and condensers in distributors.

 

Probably just based on cost to manufacture. One slot is cheaper than a Phillips.

 

Guys, they are standard 6-32, 8-32 and 10-32 threads. Feel free to replace all the mounting and cover plate screws with any drive type you want including any of the high torque ones (Robertson, Torx, Hex). Get high security Torx if it floats your boat lol.

Only thing you can't swap is the terminal screws, and the better ones are combo slot+Philipsy+Robertson, and Robertson is plenty good enough.

Between McMaster-Carr and Fastenal, they can get you just about anything.

 

Visible Screws in "Cover Plates" ?
How archaic !

You may (or may not) believe that it has been demonstrated that it is not "beyond the whit of man" to "come up with" "Cover Plates" (etc.) which do not have any "visible screws" (Slotted, Philips or otherwise.).
Such devices are available in certain countries - while the same manufactures providing "devices" in these countries seem to choose not to make similar products available in other countries !

(For example, see the "wall switches", pictured here https://www.clipsal.com/products/2000-series )
Since "Clipsal Australia" is now owned by "Schneider Electric", that company easily could introduce such improved products in their other countries of operation, including those in North America.

(Edit: The prices shown are only "Recommended Retail".
No one pays anything like that - usually less than half the RRP !
See Clipsal 2000 Light Switches - Neat and Classy 2000 Light Switches By Clipsal )

 

(For example, see the "wall switches", pictured here https://www.clipsal.com/products/2000-series )
Since "Clipsal Australia" is now owned by "Schneider Electric", that company easily could introduce such improved products in their other countries of operation, including those in North America.

Nice! I like the idea of a clip-on cover, and I especially like the paint protector. No removing face plates or taping. I've never seen that for US switches or outlets. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

At any rate, many US consumers (and I count myself among them) prefer the old-style switches with a protruding toggle. I know that the "Decora" style is trendy, and easy to switch with your elbow, but it just doesn't seem "right" to me. Same for those tiny switches in the link above. Like the position of the screw slot, it's not really important. They all work just as well. We simply like whatever we're used to.

 

You can get switch and outlet cover plates without visible screws in NA, but they may be brand specific and are like a two part cover plate, screw down the lower one, snap on the upper.

 

I like that reasoning aas to not having to have the slots straight. It means nothing to me, but to most customers it does.