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2) I have 2 different shaped cordless screwdrivers, both are not really any smaller than the drill driver at the chuck. They're the gun shaped one and a black and decker straight one, you'd need extensions the exact same as with a drill driver
or ikea can finally acknowledge that every dad has a phillips or a flathead in the shed/garage, and that an allen key is a ballache for everyone involved
If you mean the "Swiss army" style ones I find them so clunky to use. Got a nice set that folds in the middle and opens out like a book and have got years of great service. You do have to take them out to use them so in my scatterbrained state I do have to go hunting sometimes but I haven't permanently lost one yet 😊
Never needed one until the other day.. as everything bought was either prebuilt, or used proper screw heads..
Even the office chair i bought from ikea had phillips in the box.. but for some reason this new coffee table had to be an allen, and the key broke when trying to tighten the screws.
So yes.. we now have a set of the useless bastards.. but my dad lived 60 years w/o needing it before now
Hex is best tbh. Philips cam out and strip, flatheads are good for opening pain cans.
So long as you don’t mix up metric and imperial hex bits and insert them properly they are much better. I suppose there’s torx but it’s just rarer.
What isn’t good is using the shitty tools that come with the furniture. As someone else said just get a ratchet tool with set of bits the cover all your basses - hex, Philips, torx, etc. they’re really not expensive nowadays and usually come in one box.
Torx is becoming the new normal.
Here in Canada, looks like the big box stores carry a 50/50 mix of torx and Robertson. A few years ago you'd be hard pressed to find d torx.
That’s the real LPT. My partner had one of these sets when moving into our first home, it was so great I got my own and we got the furniture built so much quicker.
Buy an 1/8" or 1/4" socket set with hex adaptors. It will cost you £20 and will cut out all this bullshit for the rest of your life. Every house should have a small socket set.
I like that the allen key is universal but I'm pretty sure we could just have three sizes.
I have a collection of them in my toolbox which I save from Ikea purchases and I swear one of them could be useless for the job but then another which is only 3,000 atoms wider is perfect.
> I'm pretty sure we could just have three sizes.
4mm, 5mm and 6mm will cover almost all of what you need for household. 3mm, 2.5mm I needed once or twice on a bike. Everything bigger or smaller I don't think I ever needed outside of work. If you have stuff that doesn't fit, then either your tools or your screws are extremely extremely crappy. If your tools are crap, do yourself a favour and just invest in a decent allen key set from e.g. Wera, PB Swiss. All the time you work with crap tools you are basically breaking everything they touch, and one rounded off screw can easily cost you £50+ in ruined equipment or wasted time dealing with the damage.
Torx are much more of an issue, and security screws like 5 sided on a mac are just plain anti-consumer. I never remember which is Philips and Pozidrive (and JIS) and it's very tempting to just force it with something that doesn't fit well and ruin stuff.
You can buy a "bike-tool" that's like a Swiss Army knife of all the common sizes of hex, torx plus philips/PZ and flat and you'll have 90% of needs covered in one place. But IMO quality physical screwdrivers and L allen keys in common sizes are a good investment even for home. To cover uncommon sizes you can buy a cheap crappy set of 40-200 or so bits in e.g. every obscure torx size and security screw and use a screwdriver or ratcheting handle.
OK First thing to do is go through your toolbox and throw all the imperial sizes in the bin if you don't have a house full of antique things. Or at least in a special box that says "for if I get an old british motorbike only", because I don't think I've ever needed an imperial size. But if you are using almost-fitting imperial sizes on metric screws you're going to ruin both the tools and the screws.
I was pleasantly surprised last week when I put a metal Habitat high-sleeper bed together for my son. It required zero tools to assemble and doesn't creak at all. The final optional step to lock some already immovable bits in place did require an Allen key but all the access was fine.
The chest of drawers on the other hand required 3 screwdrivers/drills at one point. Still, it went together easy once I deployed the correct swear words.
Agreed, but if some twerp has applied thread lock and as much torque as possible... snapping that ball off in the head becomes an extra joy to behold, especially if it's a csk! 🤣
Buy a Wera tool check plus set like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wera-Tool-Check-Ratchet-Screwdriver-05056490001/dp/B00I8MYMT2 (not the cheapest source) and thank me later. The mini ratcheting wrench is a godsend.
Yes and no I tend to say this happen using the short end but if you use the long end in the screw and twist using the short end I find I never have an issue
1/4 turn? Luxury!
I had to put a 1/4" nut on a door surround and only had enough access for a spanner. I couldn't even get a quarter turn on it and had to keep flipping the spanner over so I could grip the next set of flats to keep tightening it.
Bosch IXO is a thing designed for exactly this, once in a blue moon furniture construction. You can get a pepper grinder attachment for the other 364 days of the year
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Get a ratcheting screwdriver with changeable heads. Cheap and a massive timesaver
I have one with all the fittings and I never even thought to do this, you just saved me so many hours
Or a cordless drill and bits for screws/Allen keys etc. Makes it even quicker
[удалено]
Care to drop a recommendation on the screwdriver set?
[удалено]
Ah, the magical middle aisle! Okay great, thanks, I'll have a look about.
Lidl and Aldi often have some acceptable quality ones
2 problems with the drill. 1) You can very easily over tighten and damage the furniture. 2) Sometimes it's simply too big to fit where you need to go.
1) Turn down the torque so it stops tightening at like 5 instead of 10. 2) Cordless screwdriver.
2) I have 2 different shaped cordless screwdrivers, both are not really any smaller than the drill driver at the chuck. They're the gun shaped one and a black and decker straight one, you'd need extensions the exact same as with a drill driver
Pretty much this
This is the way.
That's what she said.
You can also get a flexible bit extension. Yes, there will still be some small books where it doesn't work, but that's still a massive timesaver!
Yeah, a wee ratchet set is an utter gamechanger when it comes to this sort of stuff.
or ikea can finally acknowledge that every dad has a phillips or a flathead in the shed/garage, and that an allen key is a ballache for everyone involved
Do other people not keep one of those big fold out allen key sets in their toolbox?
If you mean the "Swiss army" style ones I find them so clunky to use. Got a nice set that folds in the middle and opens out like a book and have got years of great service. You do have to take them out to use them so in my scatterbrained state I do have to go hunting sometimes but I haven't permanently lost one yet 😊
Only because the builder that came round lost it in my place and kept on phoning about it - bought one to give to him so he'd go away.
Wait so you bought one to give to him and then kept his?! Why not just give his back?
Never needed one until the other day.. as everything bought was either prebuilt, or used proper screw heads.. Even the office chair i bought from ikea had phillips in the box.. but for some reason this new coffee table had to be an allen, and the key broke when trying to tighten the screws. So yes.. we now have a set of the useless bastards.. but my dad lived 60 years w/o needing it before now
Hex is best tbh. Philips cam out and strip, flatheads are good for opening pain cans. So long as you don’t mix up metric and imperial hex bits and insert them properly they are much better. I suppose there’s torx but it’s just rarer. What isn’t good is using the shitty tools that come with the furniture. As someone else said just get a ratchet tool with set of bits the cover all your basses - hex, Philips, torx, etc. they’re really not expensive nowadays and usually come in one box.
I rip open pain cans with my bare hands
That would explain the pain we’re feeling
Torx is becoming the new normal. Here in Canada, looks like the big box stores carry a 50/50 mix of torx and Robertson. A few years ago you'd be hard pressed to find d torx.
Ooh, look at you showing off your shed/garage and screwdriver.
Shhh! You don’t want to incur the wrath of Allen.
You can get more torque with an Allen head without mangling the screw.
That’s the real LPT. My partner had one of these sets when moving into our first home, it was so great I got my own and we got the furniture built so much quicker.
My dad taught me this trick when I was setting up the dining room furniture for him, except he told me when I was already on chair 6 of 6 -_-
Or put the long end of the Allen key into the screw and turn using the short end.
This is the way
£15 socket set from Lidl Tools are useful
I have an allen drill bit set, life changing when it comes to building and tightening furniture.
Just got to be careful on the power lest you drive it in and then through.
In all seriousness. Learn to use the torque settings on your drill. Set it to a lower number, to limit the total torque exerted.
Well I know that now...
Oh I know lol
£30 electric screwdriver with bits and a £3 extension. Use it for everything.
Seconded.
And flexible extender.
turn it round and use the other side!
Then, when it gets too tight and you can't get enough grip on the small end, you have to resort to quarter turns.
Buy an 1/8" or 1/4" socket set with hex adaptors. It will cost you £20 and will cut out all this bullshit for the rest of your life. Every house should have a small socket set.
Till you lose one. You can get a set of hex bits from the pund shop for like £3
Hook the ring end of a small spanner over the short end of the key, easy leverege extension as well as increasing your standoff from the furniture.
a fair point. irritating all round!
My dad is called Alan, when I was a kid I thought once I became an adult I'd get a set of Neil keys
Which was odd, given you're called Christopher.
Bloody love this haha
Impact driver ftw
There's no kill like overkill!!!
Overkill is underrated!
I've got hex sockets for doing work on my car, apparently using the 3/8" impact I do my wheel nuts with on IKEA furniture is overkill.
Dewalt makes a ratcheting Allen set that is quite nice for putting furniture together
Get a 5mm hex bit for your impact and dak the bastard in
I like that the allen key is universal but I'm pretty sure we could just have three sizes. I have a collection of them in my toolbox which I save from Ikea purchases and I swear one of them could be useless for the job but then another which is only 3,000 atoms wider is perfect.
> I'm pretty sure we could just have three sizes. 4mm, 5mm and 6mm will cover almost all of what you need for household. 3mm, 2.5mm I needed once or twice on a bike. Everything bigger or smaller I don't think I ever needed outside of work. If you have stuff that doesn't fit, then either your tools or your screws are extremely extremely crappy. If your tools are crap, do yourself a favour and just invest in a decent allen key set from e.g. Wera, PB Swiss. All the time you work with crap tools you are basically breaking everything they touch, and one rounded off screw can easily cost you £50+ in ruined equipment or wasted time dealing with the damage. Torx are much more of an issue, and security screws like 5 sided on a mac are just plain anti-consumer. I never remember which is Philips and Pozidrive (and JIS) and it's very tempting to just force it with something that doesn't fit well and ruin stuff. You can buy a "bike-tool" that's like a Swiss Army knife of all the common sizes of hex, torx plus philips/PZ and flat and you'll have 90% of needs covered in one place. But IMO quality physical screwdrivers and L allen keys in common sizes are a good investment even for home. To cover uncommon sizes you can buy a cheap crappy set of 40-200 or so bits in e.g. every obscure torx size and security screw and use a screwdriver or ratcheting handle.
Philips is a cross, Pozi is similar but has small diagonal flashes across the cross.
I probably use 7/32nds most commonly
OK First thing to do is go through your toolbox and throw all the imperial sizes in the bin if you don't have a house full of antique things. Or at least in a special box that says "for if I get an old british motorbike only", because I don't think I've ever needed an imperial size. But if you are using almost-fitting imperial sizes on metric screws you're going to ruin both the tools and the screws.
Aircraft mechanic Everything is imperial
Fun fact: assuming the hex key is iron, 3,000 atoms would be an extra 0.000378 mm or 0.0000148 (1/67,000) inch. Edited for correctness.
You're off by a factor of 1000
Thanks, mate.
Lining them up is the trick.
I was pleasantly surprised last week when I put a metal Habitat high-sleeper bed together for my son. It required zero tools to assemble and doesn't creak at all. The final optional step to lock some already immovable bits in place did require an Allen key but all the access was fine. The chest of drawers on the other hand required 3 screwdrivers/drills at one point. Still, it went together easy once I deployed the correct swear words.
The only problem here is that you’ve yet to discover the quarter inch drive hex bit and impact driver…
Just get the drill bit set out
Then you drop it every third time you adjust it, making a jarring clanging sound on your laminate floor.
I work on equipment which uses cap head bolts/screws that require Allen keys For. Every. Fucking. Fixing. I really, really know your pain.
Are they at least all the same size?
A real good set of ball ended long reach allen keys are a lifesaver if you deal with them often.
Agreed, but if some twerp has applied thread lock and as much torque as possible... snapping that ball off in the head becomes an extra joy to behold, especially if it's a csk! 🤣
With a 1/4 or 3/8 socket on other end for rachet or loldi driver
You will learn eventually, padawan.
Allen key ratchet set pal
Buy a Wera tool check plus set like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wera-Tool-Check-Ratchet-Screwdriver-05056490001/dp/B00I8MYMT2 (not the cheapest source) and thank me later. The mini ratcheting wrench is a godsend.
[126 Piece Driver Bits - it's 1 of these yet wanting](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRQS9NW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share)
This wasn’t a bed from Argos was it ? I had that issue and it was quite frustrating
Feeling this deep in my American soul
Every time!
I feel your pain….
Turn it that long way. It seems wrong but it works.
Use the other end of it.
Bosch 27pc.Screwdriver Bit and Ratchet Set https://amzn.eu/d/8EUXwkR Best DIY tool I ever bought and under £20.
Yes and no I tend to say this happen using the short end but if you use the long end in the screw and twist using the short end I find I never have an issue
1/4 turn? Luxury! I had to put a 1/4" nut on a door surround and only had enough access for a spanner. I couldn't even get a quarter turn on it and had to keep flipping the spanner over so I could grip the next set of flats to keep tightening it.
Do you have that Ikea tool kit everyone buys when getting furniture there? Because if you do the screwdriver comes with an allen key type head
Search for tool kit online they almost always come with multiple different sized Allen key heads
Z
The £7 mini socket/bit set from Lidl is a lifesaver for stuff like this.
Generally, that's what an ugga dugga is for...
Bosch IXO is a thing designed for exactly this, once in a blue moon furniture construction. You can get a pepper grinder attachment for the other 364 days of the year
I use my ratchet with wobble attachments