Tools - JIS screwdrivers (Pete’s annual rant)

Well Pete, I must say, an excellent thread. I'd never heard of JIS drivers till I spotted your thread. Thought all crossheads were Philips. How wrong can you be eh?! And me being an old git too!! Should know better. Cheers for the advice, will pick up a set. Mind, I tend to swap out all screws for socket head capscrews where I can, as I much prefer them.

Oh yes Manny - I always prefer SHCS too but for authenticity sake, the JIS screws are good and if you use the correct driver, they will take torque just about as well as a good socket head cap screw.

Pete
 
This is the one I bought. I tried whacking it with a hammer to loosen a stubborn screw but the screw didn’t budge so I needed to use a proper impact driver and the screw loosened right off. When I was hitting the screwdriver I wasn’t sensing much rotational force. I’ll pay closer attention next time I use it. Love the screwdriver nonetheless.
3EDE7310-79BA-4549-9F88-FD0769348663.png
 
Hokey dokey sportsfans:

I guess its time for another installment of the tool rant. This time, I come armed with an excellent article (see the attached .pdf file) on the JIS vs. Phillips issue and something new: the VamPlier screw extraction pliers.

I just got a pair of these puppies and they really are cool - check out the article!

Cheers,

Pete
Durn you Pete!!
Yesterday morning when I awoke I was confident that my tool inventory was up-to-date with everything one would need to tackle pretty much any repair on my old scoots. In fact my Matco dealer (whom I've had on speed dial for years) called me not long ago to make sure I was still alive. Turns out he still had one more kid to put through college. In any event, I ran across this thread which referenced the VamPlier. Being the tool junkie that I am I was taken aback by the realization that I had never heard of this rascal. Curiosity being what it is, I looked at the PDF and immediately discovered "gottahaveit!" When the author stated in the article that the Vampliers were a bit pricey he demonstrated the fine art of understatement, but to a committed tool junkie as everyone knows, money is no object. I found a set on Amazon and before I knew what happened I clicked buy now! They arrive Friday.... now I just gotta figure out how to explain this to momma.... I thought my 'splainin' days wuz over.....

<sigh>

Mike
 
Durn you Pete!!
Yesterday morning when I awoke I was confident that my tool inventory was up-to-date with everything one would need to tackle pretty much any repair on my old scoots. In fact my Matco dealer (whom I've had on speed dial for years) called me not long ago to make sure I was still alive. Turns out he still had one more kid to put through college. In any event, I ran across this thread which referenced the VamPlier. Being the tool junkie that I am I was taken aback by the realization that I had never heard of this rascal. Curiosity being what it is, I looked at the PDF and immediately discovered "gottahaveit!" When the author stated in the article that the Vampliers were a bit pricey he demonstrated the fine art of understatement, but to a committed tool junkie as everyone knows, money is no object. I found a set on Amazon and before I knew what happened I clicked buy now! They arrive Friday.... now I just gotta figure out how to explain this to momma.... I thought my 'splainin' days wuz over.....

<sigh>

Mike

Dear Mike: I am so sorry to be the cause of such angst for you. But yes, tool junkies we are and tool junkies we will continue to be. The key things to note are the following:
  1. If you use a tool just one time - it has paid for itself - or at least that is what you can tell your wife, or yourself if that helps (so go break something that belongs to your wife and then become an instant hero by fixing it - purchase now fully justified);
  2. Tools still work if they are sort of grubby (so just get your hands dirty doing something enjoyable - and then handle the new tool <I definitely gotta find a better way of saying that> and it won't look so conspicuously new any longer);
  3. If she becomes difficult about your tool budget - just ask her how many pairs of shoes / earrings / frying pans she owns (that usually stops 'em in their tracks...);
  4. Most women understand the need to fit-in and be part of a cohesive social group like a bridge club, a dance class, a quilting circle etc. so you could appeal to her sense of group unity by whining something like: "...awww, but all the guys are getting these _____." (insert name of new tool in the blank);
  5. If all else fails and you're going to take a hit for buying a new tool, just take it and always remember Maximum Pete's Law of Tools: He who dies with the most tools - wins.
I do hope that some of these ideas are of help in fending off domestic strife...

Cheers,

Pete
 
Bring up how many frying pans she has might have might get you a little skinnier at the very least
Now get her a vacuum cleaner for xmass? That didn't go well for me
Or.... hey honey as long as your down there could get the laundry started and oh yeah bring me a beer too
Just saying
 
Bring up how many frying pans she has might have might get you a little skinnier at the very least
Now get her a vacuum cleaner for xmass? That didn't go well for me
Or.... hey honey as long as your down there could get the laundry started and oh yeah bring me a beer too
Just saying

Reminds me of Christmas a few years ago...

I got my oldest son an I Phone
I got my youngest son an I Pad
I got my wife an I Ron

wimmen have no sense of humor.......

Mike
 
Well Pete, <sigh>, you did it again.... my Vampliers arrived Friday and I managed to smuggle 'em out to the tool box without Momma being any wiser. As a precaution of course, I smeared 'em with grease to simulate years of residence and use in my toolbox just in case Momma goes snooping. Then in the package I found a mini catalog of Vamplier products.... who woulda' thunk that they also made a lot of cool stuff for us tool junkies..... er, "restoration specialists"? There on page three was just what I was looking for, a "recessed screw" extractor. I hadn't had a chance yet to try out my new Vampliers on my stripped out "semi" recessed screw but being the proactive restoration specialist (read tool junkie) that I am I thought that it would be nice to have one.... just in case. I pulled out my trusty smartphone and sure enough, there on Amazon were twenty of the Vamplre Recessed Screw Extractors awaiting new homes. After giving considerable thought (about a microsecond) to the purchase I hit the buy it now button and one of the screw extractors is now winging its way to my house on Monday. I have my alibi planned already. If Momma figgers out what I have been up to, I'll just say, "Pete made me do it!"

Mike
 
This is the one I bought. I tried whacking it with a hammer to loosen a stubborn screw but the screw didn’t budge so I needed to use a proper impact driver and the screw loosened right off. When I was hitting the screwdriver I wasn’t sensing much rotational force. I’ll pay closer attention next time I use it. Love the screwdriver nonetheless.View attachment 178824

OK - there is a bit of a process to using these impact drivers (in fact, to using ALL impact drivers):
  1. Put the driver onto the end of the screw and hold it square (i.e. align it with the axis of the screw);
  2. PUSH the drive IN hard to make certain that the bit is firmly seated into the head of the screw;
  3. TWIST the driver CCW to apply a torque to the driver in the "loosening" direction (remember the old rhyme: "righty-tighty and lefty-loosey");
  4. NOW give the end of the driver a good smart cuff with a hammer or mallet (you do not need to go all neanderthal on it - just one good smack usually does the job).
If you do all of this properly, the screw will either loosen or break off - but it is much more likely to loosen, in my experience.

The key thing is to "pre-load" the driver by twisting it in the loosening direction. That will ensure that the unscrewing action of the driver is fully applied to loosening the screw and not just to taking up slack in the driver-bit-to-screw-head interface between the driver and the screw.

If you sit and give it a think - you should see what this is all about.

Pete
 
Well Pete, <sigh>, you did it again.... my Vampliers arrived Friday and I managed to smuggle 'em out to the tool box without Momma being any wiser. As a precaution of course, I smeared 'em with grease to simulate years of residence and use in my toolbox just in case Momma goes snooping. Then in the package I found a mini catalog of Vamplier products.... who woulda' thunk that they also made a lot of cool stuff for us tool junkies..... er, "restoration specialists"? There on page three was just what I was looking for, a "recessed screw" extractor. I hadn't had a chance yet to try out my new Vampliers on my stripped out "semi" recessed screw but being the proactive restoration specialist (read tool junkie) that I am I thought that it would be nice to have one.... just in case. I pulled out my trusty smartphone and sure enough, there on Amazon were twenty of the Vamplre Recessed Screw Extractors awaiting new homes. After giving considerable thought (about a microsecond) to the purchase I hit the buy it now button and one of the screw extractors is now winging its way to my house on Monday. I have my alibi planned already. If Momma figgers out what I have been up to, I'll just say, "Pete made me do it!"

Mike

No promlemo Mike - the border is closed and I figure that if five police forces, two border security agencies and a 5500 ft. wide cold fast-flowing river isn't enough to protect me, then I deserve to die.

hehehehehehehe

Pete

PS: lemme know how that screw extractor works please....
 
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No promlemo Mike - the border is closed and figure that if five police forces, two border security agencies and a 5500 ft. wide cold fast-flowing river isn't enough to protect me, then I deserve to die.

hehehehehehehe

Pete

PS: lemme know how that screw extractor works please....

Will do! I tried the Vampliers on the screw and there wasn't enough clearance to get a good grip on the head of the screw. One if the generator cover screws is stripped at the head. Before resorting to the Dremel or the chisel to coax the screw out, I figgered I'd try an easier method. I want to be extremely careful as I don't want to booger up the cover in trying to take it off. I imagine they are hard to come by. The screw extractor will be here Monday and I will test it forthwith and give you a report.

Mike
 
Will do! I tried the Vampliers on the screw and there wasn't enough clearance to get a good grip on the head of the screw. One if the generator cover screws is stripped at the head. Before resorting to the Dremel or the chisel to coax the screw out, I figgered I'd try an easier method. I want to be extremely careful as I don't want to booger up the cover in trying to take it off. I imagine they are hard to come by. The screw extractor will be here Monday and I will test it forthwith and give you a report.

Mike

Superb!

I actually DID use my Vampliers just yesterday and since it was on a honey-do task for SWMBO, I am now in the clear for the cost!

It was an interesting task: she is painting a bedroom (I do NOT paint) and a couple of years ago she had instructed me to install those fancy hooks in the walls right beside the windows for some snazzy-looking ribbon-thingies to tie-back the drapes. NOW she wanted the hooks out because of the painting and the obvious need to switch those hooks for some other arrangement for the drapes - and so the hooks (needless to say) came out easily, but left the little woodscrew studs still in the wall beside the windows.

The work site was a bit cramped for vise grips (aka mole grips in the UK) but the medium sized Vampliers had those studs off faster than a bride's nighty! In fact, wifey was so impressed after I did the first three that she wanted to try them and she got the last one out herself.

Ahhhh....how sweet it is!

Pete
 
No promlemo Mike - the border is closed and I figure that if five police forces, two border security agencies and a 5500 ft. wide cold fast-flowing river isn't enough to protect me, then I deserve to die.

hehehehehehehe

Pete

PS: lemme know how that screw extractor works please....
Well, I got the extractor Monday and tried using it to extract my stripped screw.... all I can say is meh. I'm not impressed. It comes with two bits, one for moderately boogered screws and one for fubar'd screws. Mine were decidedly fubar'd so I used bit#2. I hammered it in but it never did bite well enough on the screw to extract it. I resorted to the old tried and true method of a hammer and small chisel tapping the outer circumference of the screw head in a CCW direction. I managed to get the old screw out without any damage to the generator cover

Mike
 
Are these the screws you're referring to? .....

coE3RkJ.jpg


If so, for replacements, get some slightly longer. This is a spot Yamaha cheaped out on, using screws too short to utilize all the available threads .....

LgTsIRe.jpg


A longer screw will do so .....

nPVUWJ7.jpg


hX8JSxN.jpg


These are what I use now .....

vJhhpKQ.gif
 
Are these the screws you're referring to? .....

coE3RkJ.jpg


If so, for replacements, get some slightly longer. This is a spot Yamaha cheaped out on, using screws too short to utilize all the available threads .....

LgTsIRe.jpg


A longer screw will do so .....

nPVUWJ7.jpg


hX8JSxN.jpg


These are what I use now .....

vJhhpKQ.gif
Yup! Them be the ones! I will look for the McM Carr screws to replace 'em. When I took the old ones out I noticed that they were a tad longer than the Yammy parts book said they were. I guess at some time, some PO used longer screws but then stripped the heads.

Mike
 
That's just for reference really. I don't think you need (or want) 25, 50, or 100 of them, lol. McMaster-Carr only sells in quantity.
 
That's just for reference really. I don't think you need (or want) 25, 50, or 100 of them, lol. McMaster-Carr only sells in quantity.

But you could buy 25 of them and ship a couple to all of your buddies.....

....just sayin'....;)
 
FYI....I replaced a ton of the HW on mine with SS and/or hex head and I love Bolt Depot (https://www.boltdepot.com/). Super easy to navigate, can buy single pieces, feel like the prices are reasonable with price breaks for qty, and the shipping isn't bad (at least here....$4.95 economy) so if you buy a few things it can be worth your while.

McMaster is great, but the shipping generally runs at least $10.
 
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