Why do they make flat head and philips screws? Why not just have one type?

to annoy me. today at work i took out these phillips screws holding on a piece of paneling then half an inch under it was a flathead screw to attach the power wires….wtf the toolbox was so far away

yeah see!!! It sucks! It should be one or the other.

It should be torx. They are the best.

What about the Allen wrench?

I find that a 10 in one screwdriver works best. You can find one at lowes for 10 bucks. It has all the most common bits onboard and is easy to interchange all in the palm of your hand. You can even use the bit holders as nut drivers. Best 10 bucks you’ll spend to save you agrivation and trips to the toolbox. The brand I love is a klien 10 in one in the electricians tool isle.
Trust me you’ll love it. Good luck.

so that you’ll have to pay twice for same thing in different shape.

If I remember right, the phillips head is thought to be “better” because your driver tends to stay put (until you round it out) and it’s central so you’re always turning on the axis… the possible downside being that the recess is deeper…

So they use the flat head when the screw is supposed to sit flush against a hard surface because the slot doesn’t have to be as deep…

Because a Phillips screwdriver won’t work on a flat head screw, of course.

And why don’t Americans use metric? It’s just one of those mysteries.

@AstroChuck :: But a butter knife will. I can’t be the only person that does this when I can’t find a flat head screwdriver.

I’ve used a butter knife as a screwdriver! Also a heavy pair of scissors and a high heeled shoe as a hammer.

Yeah? Well just try to unscrew a flat head screw using a phillips butter knife.

Flat head was around first, and the Phillips head was designed to provide self-centering for automated machinery. According to Wikipedia, at least.

Actually it’s far worse because there are 2 types of Phillips screws. There’s the older Philips cross-head and the newer Pozidriv ones.

I dont know why. Flatheads screwdriver and drill bits slip out out way too much and they piss me off. I wish they were outlawed. Torx and squaredrive are far superior to flat and phillips.