Source for quality tiny torx screwdriver bits?

These might help:

"Who owns what brands" Husky is in the lower right corner.

Currently, the Husky name is owned by Home Despot: There are multiple listings under the Husky trademark, one for each type of tool sold by Home Depot. My guess is about 300 listings.

Husky tools now have a lifetime warranty. Since the quality of Husky tools seems to be going downhill, it's cheaper for Home Despot to offer a lifetime warranty to replace those few tools that are returned as defective, than to fix the quality problems for everyone.

More:

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Jeff Liebermann
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No. It's the way the bit is made that's the problem. Torx drivers and screw heads have a torque limit: Exceed the torque limit and bad things happen. However, this table assumes that the bit and screw head are perfectly mated fit, with no air gap anywhere on surfaces perpendicular to the direction of applied force. If there's an air gap, the force (torque) will be applied to a much smaller area than with a perfect fit. It doesn't take much of an air gap, especially small screw heads which don't have much mating area anyway. That's why the tapered sides of the new and not-so-improved Husky bits are a problem. There is quite a reduction in contact area near the too narrow tip, and quite an air gap due to the tapered fit.

I beg to differ. Look at the max torque specs at the above URL and test your ability to apply torque with some kind of torsion torque tester. This one should cover T2 to T10 screws: I just tried it with a small torque wrench and found that I could do about 8 ft-lbs or about 11 newton-meters. That's sufficient to hit maximum for a T20 screw head far more than necessary to strip out the tiny screws found in cell phones.

Maybe. If the bit was a good mating fit for the screw head, then yes, it's probably junk. However, if it was a sloppy fit and/or had air gaps, I could also blame the screw or bit depending on which one was poorly made. There's also a question of metallurgy. If the bit were properly heat treated, only the outside surface would be hardened and annealed, while the core would be softer steel. That would give the maximum hardness to protect the surface from gouging, and a somewhat flexible core to give the bit strength. However, as the bit becomes smaller and smaller, more of the material becomes hardened and annealed steel, until the tip becomes very hard and very brittle. Do anything wrong while driving this type of brittle bit, and it's going to break.

I have a collection of screw extractors and center drilling jigs. I rarely need them.

Most of the bits are electroplated with some kind of chromium anti-rust compound. In the past, screwdriver tips were hardened giving them a darkish color. This was the symbol of quality for Proto, SK, and other quality screwdrivers. Now, every manufacturer does this, except there's no hardening and the darkish color is either an acid etch or paint.

Hint: If you feel the need to use an impact driver to remove a screw, it's probably a left handed screw thread. (e.g. early Motorola DynaTac and MicroTac).

Suggestions:

  1. Don't use driver bits. There's nothing really wrong with them except that the handles are too large for smaller size Torx screws.
  2. I have a few of these "precision" Wiha Torx tools: which I use for working on smartphones. They work very nicely.
  3. Test the fit of whatever driver you purchase against the screw head before applying main force. There are some really weird screw heads out there.
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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

ote:

doesn't work out they are like a 8 dollar loss or just return them

g.

hbor's job and well-being are meaningless to you.

OK, you're making a fuss about Harbor Freight and I get your point BUT ther e are times where I want something I'm only going to use a few times and ch eapo is good enough. BTW that Husky tool for $6 from Home Depot includes fr ont/back photos of the package which clearly says Made in China.

Reply to
stratus46

On Monday, December 17, 2018 at 6:14:15 PM UTC-5, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote: c

ey are not made in China, they are also not made in USA. They are German.

ha and to add insult, they cost more.

Not so much on the German or Swiss stuff. That will be premium, and I conc ede that need for those that need that level of ultra-reliability. When I w as working as a machinist - and signing off on aircraft parts (full signatu re, not initials), the tools I used were either Swiss, German, or Starrett- level American. And those things that measured got calibrated every quarter .

Point being that if one needs tools of that quality, one has few choices.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Reply to
peterwieck33

Jeff, Didn't know they changed. I have the old version.

Reply to
Chuck

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