Can any hardware experts identify this screw?

[DeviousTrap]

I need to change the name on an apartment mailbox and came across this screw:

I went ahead and bought this on Amazon and none of those bits fit

 

[lxskllr]

I can't find anything on it. Can you jam a flat screwdriver in the slot?

Edit:
or use pliers on the nubbies? It's hard to tell what it is with that picture.

 

[herkulease]

looks to be a variation of a tri wing screw.

 

[Leros]

You could take a dremel, cut a slot it in, remove it with a flathead, then replace it with a normal screw.

 

[Jeff7]

Dremel + fiberglass cuttingwheel = flathead screw

Remove it that way, then hope that the threads are something standard.



Does the landlord have the proper driver?




Edit: *shakes fist at Leros*

 

[Leros]

Dremel + fiberglass cuttingwheel = flathead screw

Remove it that way, then hope that the threads are something standard.



Does the landlord have the proper driver?




Edit: *shakes fist at Leros*

Maybe if you hadn't spent so much time putting blank lines in your post you could have beat me.

 

[bctbct]

mailman probably carries it to change the name or ask the apartment manager

 

[Jeff7]

Maybe if you hadn't spent so much time putting blank lines in your post you could have beat me.

Hey buddy! Read between the lines.











....Nope, I don't see anything there either.:hmm:

 

[mfenn]

Is this a community box (i.e. one bigass box with a bunch of individual mailboxes in it)?

If so, I wouldn't tamper with the screw; let the mail carrier change the name (it's their job anyway).

 

[xrax]

http://blog.makezine.com/screwheadsinstructable.jpg
fluted socket (3 flutes)?

 

[DeviousTrap]

Dremel + fiberglass cuttingwheel = flathead screw

Remove it that way, then hope that the threads are something standard.



Does the landlord have the proper driver?




Edit: *shakes fist at Leros*

It's a community box in an apartment building where I am one of the trustees and nobody has a clue as to who originally had the screwdriver for it, so people have resorted to just taping over the original labels.

The dremel idea sounds like my best bet, I was just hoping that there was a "secret" bit that I was missing that would've made this simpler.

 

[DarkWarrior2]

Looks like a Tri-Groove security screw. Try here for bits:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#triangle-screwdriver-bits/=5u5i41

 

[Leros]

It's a community box in an apartment building where I am one of the trustees and nobody has a clue as to who originally had the screwdriver for it, so people have resorted to just taping over the original labels.

The dremel idea sounds like my best bet, I was just hoping that there was a "secret" bit that I was missing that would've made this simpler.

You can try going to a fastener store first. These kinds of stores sell nothing but tens of thousands of kinds of nuts and bolts. They probably have the exact screw and possibly a driver for it.

 

[Leros]

Looks like a Tri-Groove security screw. Try here for bits:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#triangle-screwdriver-bits/=5u5i41

Indeed it is. Good finding.

 

[lxskllr]

Indeed it is. Good finding.

That's a different shape, unless it's just an approximation.

 

[gorcorps]

That's a different shape, unless it's just an approximation.

Looks like the same shape to me. Just doesn't show in 3D so it's hard to tell, but if you look at the original screw dead on it would cast the same 'shadow' so to speak.

 

[lxskllr]

Looks like the same shape to me. Just doesn't show in 3D so it's hard to tell, but if you look at the original screw dead on it would cast the same 'shadow' so to speak.

Maybe I'm being too picky, but the lobes at the base of the tabs look more rounded in the OP than in the diagram.

 

[gorcorps]

Hmmm

Yes I think you're being too picky. I don't think the B&W image is supposed to be a 100% accurate representation of the screw. I'd be very surprised if a tool used for the tri-grove security screw wouldn't work in the OP.

 

[MotionMan]

That picture is like an optical illusion.

Looks like Tri-Groove is the winner:

MotionMan

 

[DeviousTrap]

Looks like a Tri-Groove security screw. Try here for bits:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#triangle-screwdriver-bits/=5u5i41

Wow, thank you sir!

I was hoping to abuse my amazon prime membership, but I can't find those bits anywhere else reputable. I'll place an order in the morning.

 

[n7]

That picture is like an optical illusion.

MotionMan

Holy crap it is.

Took me forever to be able to see it, too.

 

[MotionMan]

Holy crap it is.

Took me forever to be able to see it, too.

MotionMan

 

[0roo0roo]

MotionMan

i prefer this one

is more like the screw head

 

[thepd7]

MotionMan

I see black people

 

[0roo0roo]