Subject: Re: No user serviceable parts inside

From: [email-masked] (Frank Finan)
Date: 13 Apr 1995 13:45:53 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ken McNair) says:
>
>
>I just bought a small low voltage power supply, whose case
>is held together with screws which have a *triangular*  
>

Try using the tang of a triangular file and let us know what's in there.
                                    Frank

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From: [email-masked] (Ken McNair)
Date: 13 Apr 1995 08:36:03 GMT

I just bought a small low voltage power supply, whose case
is held together with screws which have a *triangular*
recess in the head (each side about 1/8" or 3mm).
Torx screws not secure enough any more ? 
There must be something really interesting inside !
Anyone know where I can get a screwdriver, insert bit, or
wrench for this type of screw; otherwise I will have to 
grind down an old hex wrench to fit.

---

From: [email-masked] (Les Bartel)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 14:11:19 GMT

> There must be something really interesting inside !

Probably not.
A.  They're just trying to protect us from ourselves.
B.  It's a scam perpetrated by tool vendors to increase sales.

> grind down an old hex wrench to fit.  

You might try a regular allen wrench - both metric and english.  I've done
this with torx screws with good luck.  Allen wrenches could be seen as
having 3 faces - they just cut the corners off :-).  I've been looking for
a source for 'tamper proof (sic) torx' screwdriver bits (as opposed to
regular torx).  I've found them at two mail order houses.  Neither place
had triangular bit screwdrivers.  One place had quite a few other kinds of
'tamper proof' bits (allen, clutch, etc).  The tamper proof bits have a
hole in the center that fits over a pin in the center of the screw head.

 - les

-- 
        Les Bartel               My old .sig was getting tired and wanted
  Intergraph Corporation         to rest for a while.  This space is now
   Electronics Division          intentionally left blank.
      Huntsville, AL
    [email-masked]
      (205) 730-8537

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From: [email-masked] (thomas walter x5955)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 13:57:10 GMT

>grind down an old hex wrench to fit.  

I noticed the "made in china" stuff uses the triangle screws
quite often. No, I don't know why!

Grind down a hex wrench... or buy a "spin-jig" to make one! :-)
Say, this isn't a Northern Telecom part is it? :-)

Cheers,

Tom Walter			[email-masked]
Austin, TX.

P.S. While I will tackle just about anything... the power supply
to my Sony camcorder was not fun... micro swtich FLEW apart upon
disassembly (switch was used to change voltage output depending
if the battery was being charged, or the camcorder being supplied.)
Nope, bnever found the spring... but was able to make something work.

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From: [email-masked] (Bruce B. Bottomley)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 20:59:33 UNDEFINED

>> recess in the head (each side about 1/8" or 3mm).

Why not just ram a regular, flat blade screwdriver along one face of  
triangle?  Geometry says that it would try to rotate initially at 90 degrees 
from the face, and the 60 degree angle of the adjacent face ought to prevent 
that from happening.

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Les 
Bartel) writes:

> I've been looking for

Nuts & Volts magazine usually lists a few sources of these, largely supplied 
by firms with less than honorable attitudes toward cable control boxes.  N&V 
is normally available free at hamfests or true amateur radio stores.  Let me 
know via e-mail if you can't locate a copy and I'll get their address for you.

There's always a guy selling Harbor Freight quality hand tools at the hamfests 
here in the mid-Atlantic area, whose inventory includes a set of tamper proof 
Torx bits for somethintg under $10.  Look through Harbor Freight and similar 
catalogs; you might find something there.

---

From: [email-masked] (James Kirkpatrick)
Date: 14 Apr 95 12:30:12 MDT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ken McNair) writes:
|>
|>I just bought a small low voltage power supply, whose case
|>is held together with screws which have a *triangular*
|>recess in the head (each side about 1/8" or 3mm).
|>Torx screws not secure enough any more ? 

Torx was not designed for security reasons, it was a method to
improve production lines.  Just like phillips heads are easier to
handle than flat head (the driver tends to self-center), the torx
are easier than phillips, especially for automated tools.

|>There must be something really interesting inside !

Probably just paranoia on the part of the company's lawyers.

|>Anyone know where I can get a screwdriver, insert bit, or
|>wrench for this type of screw; otherwise I will have to 
|>grind down an old hex wrench to fit.

There have been several other true security head styles such as 
allen-head with a central pin (need a hex wrench with a hole in
it), ramped flat-head "one-way" screws, and such.  I believe drivers
for most of these are available from Jensen's Tools (not in the FAQ
because they are pricey and mostly electronic-oriented) and probably
others.  They might have triangular bits; let us know if you find out.

Jim

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From: [email-masked] (Bill Peeler)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 02:13:35 -0600

Frank Finan ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ken McNair) says:
: >
: >
: >I just bought a small low voltage power supply, whose case
: >is held together with screws which have a *triangular*  
: >

: Try using the tang of a triangular file and let us know what's in there.
:                                     Frank

Just be real careful not to let the magic smoke out.  It is what really makes
all electronic things work.  Trust me, once you let the magic smoke out of
something, it won't work and there isn't any way to get magic smoke back
into something.  I speak from great experience.

bill

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From: [email-masked] (David Clark)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 03:23:20 GMT

>grind down an old hex wrench to fit.  
Why bother looking?  I'm sure you could make one before you even get a
reply.  The suspense is killing me. Open that box, now! :)

David Clark

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From: [email-masked] (Bob Wilson)
Date: 15 Apr 1995 16:51:06 GMT

This is really off the rec.ww point, but I lost the address of the
original poster.. In any case, the triangle-socketed screws probably
just go into plastic and you don't need a terribly tough or
well-fitting driver to turn them. I need the same for a coffee pot
repair. I ground the end of an old steel punch to about the right shape,
and it worked fine. It certainly wasn't worth BUYING a special tool
for the rare use it would get!
Bob Wilson
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (sokos mark)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 14:36:33 -0400

In article <[email-masked]>,
>In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ken McNair) writes:
[snip - triangular recessed heads on screws]
>B.  It's a scam perpetrated by tool vendors to increase sales.

Conspiracy theories abound whenever anything new is produced, but
typically, new oddball screws result from some way to make the 
manufacturing cheaper. They can probably save a fraction of a cent
or something on each unit by using these goofy screws.
Gotta love the bean counters.

*****************************************************************
* Mark Sokos ([email-masked])        The "M" in A&M Software  *
* Control Systems Engineer, Computer Programmer, &              * 
* Perpetual Student                                             *
*****************************************************************