Introduction
Have you ever wondered how many types of screw head types are available in the market? This blog will help you understand the different types of screws and why we have a different screw for everything.
Types of Screws
There are different types of screws that serve different purposes individually. Let us discuss a few of them.
1. Wood Screws
As the name implies, these screws are used to bond wood materials. The basic wood screws are made of brass, bronze, and steel. At the tip, you need to pay attention to the shank part. The shank area becomes larger, thicker, and wider as it gets closer to the head, often with a threadless shank at the top.
Therefore, when using this simple wood screw, the material must be pre-drilled so that the threadless shank can easily penetrate the material.
2. Drywall Screws
These screws have a horned head to prevent surface cracking. In general, drywall screws fall into two categories, length, and pitch. One is (Type W), which has a coarse screw thread for attaching drywall to high-pitch, long coniferous trees.
The other is a fine screw for fixing drywall with hardwood or metal studs, short in length and pitch. The fine screw has a self-drilling tip that does not require a pre-drilling or pilot hole. This allows the screws to be quickly moved to the material without tearing the material.
3. Deck Screw
These are similar to drywall screws except having better corrosion resistance coating like zinc plating galvanized, ceramic coated, etc. These screws are made for wood decks to withstand harsh environmental conditions.
They have a countersunk head of the screw to ensure that the screws rest smoothly against the deck surface. They are often available in sharp edges and narrow points to avoid pre-drilling of pilot holes.
4. Self-tapping screw
Self-tapping screws are used to join metal parts to wood, plastic, or other surfaces. The shank has a perfectly sharp and fine thread tip that hard material or metal can easily penetrate. The application comes in various shapes and sizes, with different head styles such as flats, ovals, trusses, pans, hexes, etc.
There are generally two types of self-tapping screws. One is a pointed screw that needs to be pre-drilled before it can penetrate the material. And, the other is called a self-tapping or self-drilling screw, wherein the tip of the screw already has a drill shape.
5. Eyebolts
These are rigid eyelet-designed bolts with a loop shape at the top and a thread shank at the other end to ensure stability and strength. These shank tips can be easily set on wood without peeling, providing strength and durability. These are ideal for ropes, chains, cables, and lift cable wires. These are quick, easy to install, and cheap.
6. Concrete screw
The concrete screw, also known as masonry screw used to fasten metal, wood, or any other material to the concrete or masonry. These generally are made up of stainless steel or carbon steel screw being blue, with or without corrosion coating. These screws commonly have either a Phillips head or slotted hex washer head.
7. Double-end screw or dowel screw
These are used in a variety of applications. Double-end screw is used where two parts can be screwed together. These are headless screws with wood screws on both ends, wood screws on one end, and machine screws on the other.
This helps hide the joints. The knock screw is easy for the operator because it can be easily attached and detached by hand. Snooker rackets can be easily reduced (removable) in size by twisting the two parts together.
8. Lag Screw
These screws are the toughest ones and are generally used to fasten heavy lumber pieces or materials which bear a heavy load. They are mostly found in hex or square-headed with coarse threaded. They are sometimes called `lag bolts,` which is incorrect.
Why Do We Need Different Kinds of Screws?
The main reason for different screw head drives is to ensure you have the right screwdriver when you need it. Each type of powerhead (Philips, wrench, Torx, Trying, etc.) has a drive mechanism.
The threaded tapered shank in and out of the hole on the screw-Turn. All centrally located symmetrical drive heads (typically Philips) are designed to work better with mechanized drive systems.
If you’ve used slotted head screws with electric drills/screwdrivers, you know why other styles have been developed. When driven by mechanical force, the bit of a slotted screwdriver tends to slip out of the slot.
For woodworking, almost all powerheads are fine depending on the situation, but when tightening screws with a drill/screwdriver, use one of the power drive style drives.
The screws are elegant, complex, and ingenious fasteners despite a ubiquitous and simple concept. There are different head shapes, different thread and dot styles, different metal finishes and coatings, and there are plenty of books on screws, but for a good reason, there’s a lot to know about them.
Sliding screws are inexpensive and easy to manufacture. However, they are completely useless for electric screwdrivers, and unless the screw slips off or the head breaks, you can’t apply a lot of torque to the screw.
Phillips screw is self-aligning and can be used with an electric screwdriver. However, it is not good if the exposed fasteners appear to be worn. They tend to bend easily under torque, making it difficult to apply a lot of torque.
Robertson head and Allen head fasteners can withstand more torque than Philips head fasteners but are more expensive. Robertson’s heads are cheaper than Allen’s heads, but because Allen’s heads have six contacts instead of 4, they are less likely to round holes.
Conclusion
We hope that we could deliver our knowledge about types of screws. If you seek to contact the best manufacturers of screws, we are here at your service. Contact today to know more details.
