Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.
Summary video by Marques Brownlee
Great channel covering and advocating right to repair, Lewis Rossman
Basic blender went bad (motor ran but spindle wasn't rotating). I wanted to disassemble to see if it could be repaired. Three of the four screws were Phillips head. I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn't unscrew the fourth. It was a slotted spanner.
hahahahahaha, about three years ago now, I bought a hunting knife from Amazon that came with a sheath which had a belt clip that was held on by one of these fucking screws.
at the time, i couldn't figure for the life of me what it was or if there was a tool for this so I went to Home Depot, bought a .99 cent flathead our of their bargain tubs, took it to their tool rental department where they also will cut metal for you if you ask nicely. had them make a notch in the top of the flathead, brought it home and after some filing got it to get in there and loosen up this devil screw top.
now i know it's called a U or H type screwdriver. my way was cheaper, but nice to know the real solution now.
Wow, doing a MacGuyver with corporate assistance. I like it!
That belt clip is there to make the knife technically legal in some areas. A 3"+ blade can't be concealed by putting it in your pocket, so the workaround is to have the clip showing on the outside of your pocket, making it visible. That's why they use screws like that. At least that is my understanding - I could be wrong.
Just a basic security screw. It's so kids (and people who don't know enough about repairing appliances to know about security screws) don't disassemble the dangerous machine.
Though it should be noted this does raise the bar above most people, especially on a budget, single use tools are hardly ever worth it.
Arguably more dangerous things have easier screws too, like electricity outlets
Grinding a notch into a flathead screwdriver is annoying but it'll still work fine as a flathead even afterwards. I would probably just grind the bulge out of the screw though.
In this case the screw was at the bottom of a narrow slot, and they only found it after breaking things.
Harbor freight has sets of tamper resistant bits. They are also handy for regular Allen and torx heads.
This right here. I bought their security bit set and, true, I've only ever opened the case three times in the few years I've had it, but in those three times nothing else would have worked without a more destructive solution
Here’s the link, it’s helped me out a bunch of times in the 6-8 years I’ve had it.
2 notes though
It's called an "H-type" head. I found some tools for that on eBay but was reluctant to spend any money on something I'd probably never need again, ever. But this video shows a hack using scissors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA6_S9YkZEc
I didn't have a pair laying around that worked but the video inspired me to MacGyver my way to remove that aberration against all that's good in humanity.
in a case i only needed it once, i would solder or power glue something to it to use as a wings handle.
... but that's just me. I'm like eccentric MacGuyver.
Buy a security bitset! It is surprisingly handly to have around. Sometimes, I've needed a certain screw size that they don't have in imperial, but they do have in metric at the hardware store. But it's a security bit only.
They also work on regular, non security bits in a pinch.
If you haven't already, look into getting a ratcheting screwdriver with replaceable bits, and a pack of various bits for it. Idk where I got it, but I've got all kinds of screwy bits (including the H-bit head) that I need very infrequently, but I'm always happy when I do and I already have it.
I think the bit pack I got was for the security torx and it came with a bunch of other stuff.
A complete set of security screw bits is ~20 bucks and they're far more useful than I realized until I acquired them.
Grab a dremel tool and make that piece of shit into a flathead
If you have a Dremel, I bet you could take out the center bit and use a regular slotted screwdriver.
$10 says it was recessed before op cut the base off, making it impossible without damage to slot the screw with a Dremel.
That's a flathead with a bead welded in the middle. Source a local dremel, some earplugs and eye pro, and do some quick converting.
Oh wait I think I understand the image. You had to saw the plastic apart to expose the screw. Yeah fuck those dudes. I guess another option would've been to get a cheap screw driver and modify it with a dremel? Either way, fuck Kenmore.
I'd use my dremel to finish the slot that was only partially cut.
Or use the dremel to cut a slot in the end of a flat screwdriver.
Grind a flat
How are you supposed to grind a flat on a screw recessed 2" in a hole?
I didn't even know that that screw type had its own name until I saw it in another comment, but the first thing I thought was to just do what you said.
The bit set and tool set from IFixIt has those. I'm not sponsored by them in any way, but I will shamelessly recommend their tools when I can because they're objectively good for this kind of stuff.
I had drill bits for such screws for decades, never had the reason to use them though. It's nice to see that there's a use for them after all!
Cut that middle bit out and make it into a flathead.
The screw head was at tho bottom of a 2 inch shaft. I destroyed the casing just to find out what the issue was.