3 prong Philips? Tampering with the tamper proof?

cato · Post by **cato** » Wed May 17, 2006 5:10 am

I have a battery pack that I want to open up. To get things apart I need to unscrew some small screws. However, the screws are a bit unusual. They are sort of like Philips screws. But instead of having a 4 pronged cross, the screw head has a symmetric 3 pronged pattern ...old dudes, think peace sign.... hip hoppers, think Mercedes symbol...yo..

Does anybody know: 1) where I can get the appropriate screw driver (I've already tried wedging the wrong screw drivers in... no joy) or 2) what the appropriate screw driver is called?

thanks

JPKNHTP · Post by **JPKNHTP** » Wed May 17, 2006 10:05 am

-JPKNHTP

Edd · Post by **Edd** » Wed May 17, 2006 12:46 pm

.

TTOâ€¦as in Try This Out

Canâ€™t understand why you failed in their removal with the â€œwedgingâ€

gerty · Post by **gerty** » Wed May 17, 2006 2:58 pm

MCM sells a set of tamper proof bits with a couple different size tri-wings for about $9..I'm sure there are others also, Google for 'tamper proof bits'

jwax · Post by **jwax** » Wed May 17, 2006 5:27 pm

Epoxy a nut of appropriate size to your oddball fastener and cure.
No sharp impact here- gentle torque with the appropriate nut driver and the epoxy will hold, allowing extraction.

cato · Post by **cato** » Sat May 20, 2006 4:20 am

Thank you gentlemen! Yous da men!

Dean Huster · Post by **Dean Huster** » Sat May 20, 2006 12:27 pm

The inside door gasket of the old Amana Radarange of the 1970s was held in place by some almost-tri-wing screws, but rather than the center of the recess being deeper than the outside similar to a Phillips, Pozidriv, Reed & Prince or Frearson Cross-slot (did I catch all the various cross-slot heads there?), the outside "wings" actually had to penetrate into the head while the center popped out nearly to the level of the head face. Typical for me, I made a tool for it by drilling out the center of a quarter-inch rod and using some needle files to work a tri-blade pattern into the end. It worked -- used it only once in my life and it has forever resided in my toolbox ever since. I'm known for my one-time-use-specially-made tools.

Dean

MrAl · Post by **MrAl** » Sat May 20, 2006 1:01 pm

Hi Dean (and others),

I've made a few strange tip bits for unscrewing things too...

Didnt have a really small star bit one time, so ground out a star-like
end of a concrete nail. Concrete nails are hardened. I left sharp
corners which dug in and held well so the bit wouldnt slip.

Didnt have a square bit one time, so ground down the head of a
ten-penny nail to a square shape instead of round. Worked better
than a store bought bit because you could use it on an angle.

I've since then found a small star bit and a square bit too, but it
came in handy to be able to grind my own.

BTW i used a Dremel with light cutting disk.

jollyrgr · Post by **jollyrgr** » Sun May 21, 2006 5:59 am

I've used several solutions; the gluing of a nut on the head, making my own tool, cutting a "flat blade" slot in the head with a Dremel, jeweler screw driver "persuaded" into the slot, a Phillips "stripped screw remover", and the easiest (but last resort) a drill out.

When drilling use a bit JUST BIGGER than the screw shaft so that the head of the screw pops off leaving the screw shaft behind. Once the case is separated a pair of pliers will easily remove the screw. This way you can reuse the original screw hole and a standard screw. Sometimes you can get lucky and turn the drill in â€œreverseâ€

Robert Reed · Post by **Robert Reed** » Sun May 21, 2006 11:32 am

Jolly
"Why is it manufacturers insist on preventing consumers from opening something they own? "

LAWYERS!! Probably some guy in a 'galaxy a long time ago' with a pacemaker and a bad heart and on a bad day following the proper phase of the moon opened one of these and got a slight tingle from a live circuit which scewed up the pacemaker and sent him to the hospital-Can we spell lawsuit. Now we all have to suffer!

Bear · Post by **Bear** » Sun May 21, 2006 12:13 pm

Years ago when I was doing contracting, we did the Santa Clara county, CA. new jail facility. Each cell was outfitted with a metal plate which had a speaker behind some perforated metal & a rotary selector switch for different audio feeds(R&R, country, ETC.) After the punch-list was done & final walk-thru was being conducted there happened to be a prisoner there for some reason or another & they asked him to come over & take a look at the plate which was mounted on a 3 gang recessed electrical box. The plate was mounted with 6-32 flat head philips screws with the center security pin. They asked him if he could get the plate off the wall & he said non-chalantly "Sure. no problem". Obviously the next question was, How?. He asked for a toothbrush & a lighter. He then proceeded to soften the handle end of the toothbrush w/the lighter & push it onto the screw, let it cool for about 30 seconds & proceeded to unscrew the screw from the plate. So much for security screws!!
Hope this helps someone in the future.

Bear

gerty · Post by **gerty** » Sun May 21, 2006 8:51 pm

Bear, are you sure that wasn't McGuyver they had in jail???

Enzo · Post by **Enzo** » Thu May 25, 2006 12:13 am

HArdware supersource McMaster-Carr has all kinds of security screws and tools to turn them. Educational browsing.

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3 prong Philips? Tampering with the tamper proof?

3 prong Philips? Tampering with the tamper proof?

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