No exotic screw head is a match for someone wielding some Silly Putty and a Dremel tool.
Photograph by Amy Nightingale
When a friend asked for my help removing some a Tri-Groove design (for an excellent reference on nonstandard screws from his doorframe without standard security screw types, see lara.com/ damaging them, I expected a little resistance. reviews/ screwtypes.htm). What’s more, individual Many manufacturers use so-called tamperproof or driver bits for this head type can cost up to $10 a security screw heads to prevent casual would-be piece. When our attempts to use pliers and brute hardware hackers; tamperproof Torx, spanner bits, force failed, I decided to make a bit myself. I would and Tri-Wing being some of the more popular types. need to get a cast of the screw head for reference, This security-by-obscurity approach can usually be find a suitable source material for the driver, and foiled with a security bit set available in most hard- then use a Dremel to handle the metalwork. ware and electronics stores, though, and I assured him we’d have that panel off in no time.
TOOLS: Dremel
One “egg” of Silly Putty Polyfilla drywall
One set of dollar compound, or some store hex keys other quick-drying (a.k. a. Allen keys) spackle
The screws in question, however, were not of the standard varieties. Rather than having a bit pattern cut into the center of the screw head, this was basically a round head with three notches removed from the edges to form an equilateral triangle. There are better molding compounds than Silly Some research online revealed that the screw was Putty, but few are as cheap, and its weaknesses,
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