Certain things like bikes, cars, and furniture use hexagonal bolts for fastening. Hex bolts can only be used with the right diameter key and they don’t slip like Phillips and Flatheads. Also, the hexagonal tip keeps bolts from falling so you don’t need a magnet to hold your fasteners. Furthermore, it’s easy to identify which Allen key you need for each fastener, and you can use ballpoint hex keys if you need to work at an angle.
Since the hex bolt design is so practical, why don’t we use this type of fastener for everything? Why don’t we see hex wood screws and hex drywall screws ?
Edit : I’m asking about fasteners in general (like screws, bolts, etc)
In: Engineering
When I used to work on F-16s, we used all types of fasteners. For doors that were frequently opened, it was 9/64 hex drive. They absolutely do get stripped, and we’d have to frequently get them drilled out. Part of our problem were lazy people that, instead of replacing one that was starting to round out, they’d angle the bit to tighten it, and it was the next guys’ problem. The ball-end bits made them strip quicker (there’s a pun in there somewhere, I’m sure).
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