Screwdrivers

The Thrifty Rocketeer continues...

Every tool kit has them, and you'd be hard pressed to assemble most anything with at least one.

We're talking about the humble screwdriver.

Now, when I was growing up in the 1960s, there were only two types in our house.  There was the regular, straight blade screw driver, or the Phillips head screw driver.  Why it's called Phillips, I have never known.  Perhaps it's named after Mr. Phillips, or perhaps the Philips company invented it, or put it into wide use.  Who knows?

But it seems to me that I read somewhere that it was developed because it was easier and faster for repairmen or assembly workers to align the Philips head screw driver than a "regular" one.  But I don't recall where I heard that.

These days, there's a wealth of different heads on screws, each requiring a different type of screw driver head.   The first I ran into was a square-hole head that was in Japanese electronics.  To open up the molded plastic case (which you weren't suppose to do), you needed this unique bit or screwdriver to remove the screws.

And soon after, we ran across the style that had beveled heads, meaning you can turn the straight blade head IN, but there is no flat surface to back the screw out.  This is a safety head screw and it was used around high power supplies and tamper-resistance units.

It seems like it was the mid-70s before I saw a star-drive screw.  This is similar to the square-drive screw, except a six-pointed star indentation in the head will only accept that asterisk shaped tool head.  It wasn't too long before we discovered you could force some of these star screws to back off with the appropriate torque on a Phillips head screwdriver.  Or, if your regular screwdriver head was small enough, you could insert it into the star depression and get a bite on the screw.

But by the 1980s, there seemed to be an explosion in type and styles of screw heads, each with it's own prescribed head or bit.  My wife picked up a pack of bits and a handle for interchangeable bits to be use to service a computer.  She guarded it zealously and wouldn't let me have it until after we were married.

Nowadays, I'm finding square drive bits packaged inside packages of deck screws so that you can power drill the screw into 2x4"s and other wood.

And it seems like every time you buy any cheap molded plastic case tool set, there's at least one multi-purpose handle to use with the row upon row of custom screw head drives. Squares, stars, straight, Phillips #2, Phillips #4, Phillips #6 or whatever you may need.

Now, the more complex your rocket kit, particularly if it involves an electronics bay or a set screw to arm or activate the circuits, the more you'll need a toolkit like this. (Low power rockets have no need for these tools...yet...)

But if you're trying to find something for that rocketeer who has everything, you might look for a set of multiple bit heads with a socket handle.  Santa probably has just about everything needed in stock.