3-Point Screwdriver, Special Product Security Application

Factual Questions
1

3-Point Screwdriver, Special Product Security Application, on an electric iron.

My wife said I’d have to get her a new iron or wear shirts as they came out of the dryer. The two conductor cord had broken the stranded wires at the point where the power cord came out of the 4"long rubber strain releif. The rubber cover of the cord was partially broken and the iron was inoperable.

At first glance, the only screw holding the entire assembly, appeared to be a normal Phillips #2 or #3. Neither would grip the screw, which on close examination, had a three pointed or 3-way radial sloting. Sides of the three slots strainght to tighten and sloped to reject the special screw driver used for assembly.

Web searches for such a screw driver returned all kinds of phillips drivers but no 3 point or slot drivers.

Does any one know what the name (Patented?) is and/or where to buy one?

2

Without a pic it’s hard to say. It’s sounds like a tri-wing or a pozi-lock. Here’s one web site that could help.

3

Go to www.mcmaster.com, type 2653 into the find box and click “find”. This will take you to page 2653 of the McMaster Carr catalog. I think the screwdriver you want is a tri-wing driver, and they are $10 each. McMaster has no minimum order and takes credit cards. They do not give you a quote online for shipping – I’m sure you can call them for a quote, but I haven’t bothered as they have always been very reasonable.

BTW, the 2653 is just a shortcut to a page. You can find things by typing in actual tool names, or by selecting from categories on the right. McMaster is great for getting specialty screws - they have thousands of different types in stock. You can usually find what you want, and within a few minutes. Contrast that with driving to Home Despot and sifting through the specialty fasteners drawer, often coming up empty handing. Down side is that minimum quantity for many screws is 100, so you’ll probably end up with a multi-lifetime supply that you can hand down to your grandkids.

4

Is [http://www.lara.com/reviews/screwtypes.htm#triwing]]( [url) this it, spingears ?

5

Doh, too slow, as 5cents and benlormat said it looks like a tri- wing.

6

McMaster-Carr is a great source, but rather pricey, IMHO. An alternative would be to stop at an electronics component store in your town, if such exists. These vendors usually have assortments of security driver bits including tri-wing, tamper-torx, tamper-hex, spanner, and others. If no such store exists in your town, MCM Electronics sells these tools-online ordering, etc. I found listings of tri-wing bits for $2.79 ea.