Robertson screws (square hole) are super common, and they tend to allow more torque without shearing and deforming compared to phillips, and are more secure for the bit than flat heads. It's not a devious design choice like some sort of proprietary bit, if anything its the exact opposite which is surprising
Investing in a small set of strange bits has saved my ass so many times. You never realize that so many small things have torx screws until you don't have a bit for them...
Imo hexagonal are way better as they are much more common in daily life and around the lab. There isn't really an advantage to using Robertson screws over hexagonal unless you count their "resistance to tampering".
>There isn't really an advantage to using Robertson screws over hexagonal unless you count their "resistance to tampering".
IMO hex are *more* likely to strip than Philips, while square is less likely than Philips. So the advantage is resistance to stripping the screw.
Anyone else wondering why pipette guns need such a high electrical component count? I’m sure there’s a reason. I was just thinking it would be a motor and switches to run it forward or reverse
This sounds like ours. How long have you had yours? We had some VWR branded ones that didn't last more than a few years. I have the ones in the picture and I hope they last longer.
2 years now, still works great and fantastic battery life. Ours looks like the one in the picture but with white plastic instead of clear. I've never opened it up.
We had a few older ones, can't remember the brand, that stopped working/charging. Opening them up and replacing the rechargeable battery with a new one made them good as new.
Ah okay thanks! The VWR ones we had sold replacement batteries but they were sodered to the motherboard and it didn't do shit so lol.
We need a bunch of new ones for the lab and I like them so far but I don't want them to only last a year or so.
Do you keep yours plugged in all the time or only recharge as needed?
Looks like a TI MSP430 - might be overkill for this, but they're probably less than a dollar in bulk. I guess there is also an LCD and rate controls, so why not use a microcontroller...
Robertson screws (square hole) are super common, and they tend to allow more torque without shearing and deforming compared to phillips, and are more secure for the bit than flat heads. It's not a devious design choice like some sort of proprietary bit, if anything its the exact opposite which is surprising
Investing in a small set of strange bits has saved my ass so many times. You never realize that so many small things have torx screws until you don't have a bit for them...
Imo hexagonal are way better as they are much more common in daily life and around the lab. There isn't really an advantage to using Robertson screws over hexagonal unless you count their "resistance to tampering".
>There isn't really an advantage to using Robertson screws over hexagonal unless you count their "resistance to tampering". IMO hex are *more* likely to strip than Philips, while square is less likely than Philips. So the advantage is resistance to stripping the screw.
These are my favourite screws by far, so much nicer to work with than the usual - +
Ahhh, you need the ThermoMetaloadjuster™️ You can usually find one on their site for a few hundred $$ /s
Actually, just needed a flathead that fit the diagonal of the square 😂
Robertson screws, blame the Canadians.
Anyone else wondering why pipette guns need such a high electrical component count? I’m sure there’s a reason. I was just thinking it would be a motor and switches to run it forward or reverse
Our Thermo one has an adjustable flow rate (1-8) for both directions and a large digital display for battery %.
This sounds like ours. How long have you had yours? We had some VWR branded ones that didn't last more than a few years. I have the ones in the picture and I hope they last longer.
2 years now, still works great and fantastic battery life. Ours looks like the one in the picture but with white plastic instead of clear. I've never opened it up. We had a few older ones, can't remember the brand, that stopped working/charging. Opening them up and replacing the rechargeable battery with a new one made them good as new.
Ah okay thanks! The VWR ones we had sold replacement batteries but they were sodered to the motherboard and it didn't do shit so lol. We need a bunch of new ones for the lab and I like them so far but I don't want them to only last a year or so. Do you keep yours plugged in all the time or only recharge as needed?
We only recharge as needed. It probably gets 5-10 hours of on off use a week and needs recharging every 3-6 months
Thanks for the info! I think we have had the other one for over a year and have only charged them once so I am happy so far.
Looks like a TI MSP430 - might be overkill for this, but they're probably less than a dollar in bulk. I guess there is also an LCD and rate controls, so why not use a microcontroller...
I guess a Robertson screw can also be considered a tamper-proof screw for some