Great advice! You need a top quality proper size hardened screwdriver for this job. The Phillips screw is designed to "cam out", which you don't want to happen just because your screwdriver is junk. I looked up the story of the Phillips screw awhile back. The Phillips screw was designed by Mr. Phillips to cam out in a production environment to avoid damage to the work piece: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_screw#Phillips This screw was invented before the days of good torque control on powered drivers. The much better Torx screw came along in 1967 once torque control was common: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx I marvel at how they were able to drill these screws into the body sheet metal at the factory. Perhaps they pre-drilled the holes, but I doubt that would be the case in a production environment. These screws are very hard, and I expect they were self inserting. How would you like to have this job at the Westfalia factory??? Whoever did got very good at it I'm sure. Buying a new proper size screwdriver is imperative! -----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of mark drillock Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 2:42 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: Canvas replacement comments & video This is true enough that I would suggest that one take a screw to the hardware or tool store and buy a well matching new philips driver for the tiny screws that hold the canvas to the roof. Even small wear on the tip of an old driver can lead to grief on some of those screws, taking them out and putting them back. Mark
Tom Carchrae wrote: > > Also, as general advice find a screwdriver that fits the screws really > well. Philips head screws are such a bad design - the tighter the fit > of the screwdriver, the easier it is to get them out (and not strip them). |
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