A few weeks ago, while trying to remove a stainless steel machine screw
(1/4") from a cast aluminum boat cleat, I actually shattered the tips of
two Phillips screwdrivers.

These things were nearly 20 years old.
The cleat had a lot of surface corrosion.

I had the cleat clamped up in the vice, and was twisting by hand power alone.
(ok, two handed, but WTF?!

Surprised the heck outta me!
Don't know my own strength!

I got one screw out of each cleat.
The other had to be drilled out.

Ok, so the maintenance is all done and the new cleats are in service.

But one of the screwdrivers is my trusty old Yankee (130B) bought in
while in the Navy back 1975.

And that was my only #2 Phillips head bit for it!

I've been all over the net looking for a replacement.
Lots of hits in England.
A few in China. And I'm not inclined to buy stuff via ebay.

Came across an OBVIOUS solution today involving a regular hex bit and
a cut off wheel on a Dremel, but it was too late this evening to try it.
Tomorrow (still raining) I'll have a project to do!

But I wanted to ask if anybody here has a source of bits.
Or a link maybe (other than ebay)...

Thanks,

Richard

cavelamb wrote:
A few weeks ago, while trying to remove a stainless steel machine screw
(1/4") from a cast aluminum boat cleat, I actually shattered the tips of
two Phillips screwdrivers.

These things were nearly 20 years old.
The cleat had a lot of surface corrosion.

I had the cleat clamped up in the vice, and was twisting by hand power alone.
(ok, two handed, but WTF?!

Surprised the heck outta me!
Don't know my own strength!

I got one screw out of each cleat.
The other had to be drilled out.

Ok, so the maintenance is all done and the new cleats are in service.

But one of the screwdrivers is my trusty old Yankee (130B) bought in
while in the Navy back 1975.

And that was my only #2 Phillips head bit for it!

What sort of bits are these?

I've never broken a fixed shaft screwdriver that way, but those 1/4" hex
bits break all the time. They seem to be some sort of sintered metal, and
prone to breaking vs. just rounding off.

cavelamb wrote:
A few weeks ago, while trying to remove a stainless steel machine screw
(1/4") from a cast aluminum boat cleat, I actually shattered the tips of
two Phillips screwdrivers.

These things were nearly 20 years old.
The cleat had a lot of surface corrosion.

I had the cleat clamped up in the vice, and was twisting by hand power
alone.
(ok, two handed, but WTF?!

Surprised the heck outta me!
Don't know my own strength!

I got one screw out of each cleat.
The other had to be drilled out.

Ok, so the maintenance is all done and the new cleats are in service.

But one of the screwdrivers is my trusty old Yankee (130B) bought in
while in the Navy back 1975.

And that was my only #2 Phillips head bit for it!

I've been all over the net looking for a replacement.
Lots of hits in England.
A few in China. And I'm not inclined to buy stuff via ebay.

Came across an OBVIOUS solution today involving a regular hex bit and
a cut off wheel on a Dremel, but it was too late this evening to try it.
Tomorrow (still raining) I'll have a project to do!

But I wanted to ask if anybody here has a source of bits.
Or a link maybe (other than ebay)...

Thanks,

Richard





Im in the UK.
I earn my living with my tools and hands.
so i will only buy the best pro tools.
I drive a lot of screws, wether into wood or metal, and use pozidrive
screws.Philips isnt popular here in the UK.
The powertool for small screws is the Bosch GSR10.8LI nos 1 to 2 pozi.
because it has the best variable speed control and torque limiting..
I recently bought the Bosch GDR 10.8LI impact driver which gives almost
2times the torqe. similar size same batteries.
Now this broke off the tips of the standard no2 posi after half a
dozen screws.
We searched the net andfound a professional range of pozi and philips
bits made in Germany called Wera. Bought in the UK tho.
Google for this. You may find them in the US if not get from the UK.
These will drive several hundred screws before breaking with the impact
driver.

Last year I built a kitchen for my daughter, all from solid wood. no
chipboard. i needed to drive no 3 pozi up to 3.75in long by 1/4in thick.
Used my 3/8th drive auto impact 90 psi air driver pre drilled first tho..
Nothing faster!!!
Hope this helps
Ted.

Cydrome Leader writes:

cavelamb wrote:
A few weeks ago, while trying to remove a stainless steel machine screw
(1/4") from a cast aluminum boat cleat, I actually shattered the tips of
two Phillips screwdrivers.

These things were nearly 20 years old.
The cleat had a lot of surface corrosion.

I had the cleat clamped up in the vice, and was twisting by hand power alone.
(ok, two handed, but WTF?!

Surprised the heck outta me!
Don't know my own strength!

I got one screw out of each cleat.
The other had to be drilled out.

Ok, so the maintenance is all done and the new cleats are in service.

But one of the screwdrivers is my trusty old Yankee (130B) bought in
while in the Navy back 1975.

And that was my only #2 Phillips head bit for it!

What sort of bits are these?

I've never broken a fixed shaft screwdriver that way, but those 1/4" hex
bits break all the time. They seem to be some sort of sintered metal, and
prone to breaking vs. just rounding off.

Interesting -- the ones I get seem much more prone to rounding. As for
sources, I'm also wondering what they are, since the 1/4" bits seem to
be available in all sizes by the gross in all hardware stores around
here.
--
As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should
be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours;
and this we should do freely and generously. (Benjamin Franklin)

But one of the screwdrivers is my trusty old Yankee (130B) bought in
while in the Navy back 1975.

And that was my only #2 Phillips head bit for it!

Came across an OBVIOUS solution today involving a regular hex bit and
a cut off wheel on a Dremel, but it was too late this evening to try it.

One trick I have seen for Yankees is to round off the shaft of a
magnetic hex bit holder (can be as simple as chucking it the "wrong
way" in an electric drill and spinning it against a grinder) then
grind the end step and detent notch. Then you can use all the
disposable phillips, deckmate (which has now gone from the square core
phillips to torx, ick) and funky security bits. The magnetic holder
does add some bulk, though, compared to the original Stanley Yankee
style bits, so I can appreciate your willingness to find the correct
item.

There's a used tool place about 45 minutes from me that seems to
regularly have them on hand (near Worcester, MA), but he doesn't do
mail-order.

--Glenn Lyford

On Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:35:14 -0500, cavelamb
had a flock of green cheek conures squawk out:

And that was my only #2 Phillips head bit for it!

I've been all over the net looking for a replacement.
Lots of hits in England.
A few in China. And I'm not inclined to buy stuff via ebay.


Lee Valley Tools has an adapter that lets you use hex bits in the
Yankee.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,43411,43417

--

Stephen

Buy Land Now. It's Not Being Made Any More.

"cavelamb" wrote ...
snip
: But I wanted to ask if anybody here has a source of bits.
: Or a link maybe (other than ebay)...

Lee valley has them for $2.40.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,43411,43417
I bought some and found 1 that didn't fit. A bit of fileing on the notched end
cured that. Otherwise they work just fine.
Art

On Sep 16, 11:35*pm, cavelamb wrote:
A few weeks ago, while trying to remove a stainless steel machine screw
(1/4") from a cast aluminum boat cleat, I actually shattered the tips of
two Phillips screwdrivers.

These things were nearly 20 years old.
The cleat had a lot of surface corrosion.

I had the cleat clamped up in the vice, and was twisting by hand power alone.
(ok, two handed, but WTF?!

Surprised the heck outta me!
Don't know my own strength!

I got one screw out of each cleat.
The other had to be drilled out.

Ok, so the maintenance is all done and the new cleats are in service.

But one of the screwdrivers is my trusty old Yankee (130B) bought in
while in the Navy back 1975.

And that was my only #2 Phillips head bit for it!

I've been all over the net looking for a replacement.
Lots of hits in England.
A few in China. And I'm not inclined to buy stuff via ebay.

Came across an OBVIOUS solution today involving a regular hex bit and
a cut off wheel on a Dremel, but it was too late this evening to try it.
Tomorrow (still raining) I'll have a project to do!

But I wanted to ask if anybody here has a source of bits.
Or a link maybe (other than ebay)...

Thanks,

Richard

There ARE adapters from Yankee to hex, apparently the Amish use a lot
of them. I found a supplier a number of years back of all sorts of
Stanley bits and pieces, got some Yankee bits there. If you can find
the right size shank, or grind down for same, a little Dremel and
chainsaw file work should get you a replacement from a round-shank
Philips driver. The Yankee shank is pretty primitive by today's
standards. Or you can retire it and get a replacement, there's at
least one Yankee clone out there that takes hex-drive bits directly,
runs about $20. The real deal is going for $80-100 on up, depending
on vintage, from the tool collectors and parts aren't getting any
easier to find.

Stan

Artemus wrote:
"cavelamb" wrote ...
snip
: But I wanted to ask if anybody here has a source of bits.
: Or a link maybe (other than ebay)...

Lee valley has them for $2.40.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,43411,43417
I bought some and found 1 that didn't fit. A bit of fileing on the notched end
cured that. Otherwise they work just fine.
Art



Bless you!

I went to that site, but didn't scroll down far enough.

There be bits!

Thanks Artemus.

wrote:
On Sep 16,


Or you can retire it and get a replacement,

Stan


NO WAY!

Glenn Lyford wrote:
But one of the screwdrivers is my trusty old Yankee (130B) bought in
while in the Navy back 1975.

And that was my only #2 Phillips head bit for it!

Came across an OBVIOUS solution today involving a regular hex bit and
a cut off wheel on a Dremel, but it was too late this evening to try it.

One trick I have seen for Yankees is to round off the shaft of a
magnetic hex bit holder (can be as simple as chucking it the "wrong
way" in an electric drill and spinning it against a grinder) then
grind the end step and detent notch. Then you can use all the
disposable phillips, deckmate (which has now gone from the square core
phillips to torx, ick) and funky security bits. The magnetic holder
does add some bulk, though, compared to the original Stanley Yankee
style bits, so I can appreciate your willingness to find the correct
item.

There's a used tool place about 45 minutes from me that seems to
regularly have them on hand (near Worcester, MA), but he doesn't do
mail-order.

--Glenn Lyford


I whittled out a hex bit tonight.
("Dremel lets you do it better")

Just turn it so that the lock detent is on a corner.

Works as advertised so far!

I'm actually embarrassed that I didn't think of it myself.

Next will be a magnetic bit holder!

I whittled out a hex bit tonight.
("Dremel lets you do it better")

Just turn it so that the lock detent is on a corner.

You must be using a bigger Yankee than the one I saw this trick used
on...

"cavelamb" wrote ...
:
: Bless you!
:
: I went to that site, but didn't scroll down far enough.
:
: There be bits!
:
: Thanks Artemus.

You're welcome.
Art