Why Allen Keys?!?! Why?!?!

Factual Questions
1

Spurred by this thread, and having just assembled a component based IKEA desk, I am forced to make this inquisition.

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Why does virtually every piece of furniture/equipment which requires assembly come with Allen wrenches? What is the advantage to using Allen screws as opposed to Phillips, standard or hex head screws? Using Allen keys requires them to always include a Allen key made to fit these screws. In the case of the desk I just assembled each box (one for each leg assembly, joint, and panel) came with a pair of Allen keys (2 sizes). I have a pile of 16 Allen keys to put together one desk.

Now, I suppose there is an upside to including the tools with the kits. However Allen keys really really suck when it comes to putting together something. They are never big enough to apply any force to, and the narrow steel edges dig into your hand as you turn them. They hurt. There is no way to hook these into a power drill unless you have a full Allen key set for the drill, and the keys happen to be a standard size. Also Allen keys are very much prone to stripping, and slipping. This makes skinned knuckles common and its basically impossible to unassemble and reassemble these things because you’ll invariably deform both the screw and the key in the process.

Hex head screws are the easiest to drive, but the average person probably doesn’t have a nut driver and you likely wouldn’t include one of these in every box (however IKEA could standardize their parts and just sell them seperately for a nice little profit). I can understand why they might avoid these.

Phillips head screws are very common and everyone probably has a phillips screwdriver. They also tend to strip and aren’t necessarily ideal for cranking down really tight on the generally soft cheap hardware in these things. Nevertheless they would be a huge improvement over Allen keys when it comes to usability.

Standard screws are also common, and are better to apply force to. Strip less often. the only real downside is that a weaker, wobbly hand can have trouble staying in the groove.

Of the three I’ve posed, they are all far superior to allen screws to assemble. Also I think the stores would save a more than negligible amount of money by ceasing to include Allen keys in each box by going with a more standard screw for which you would have a conventional driver for.

So what could I possibly be missing, why the hell do stores use what seems to be a less appealing, less cost effective tool in their products? Illuminati maybe?

2

I’m thinking that you’ve just had a bad experience (or two) with these things. I personally kinda like the Allen screws. I find that they strip much less than a Phillips, and you can put a lot more force into screwing them down, making everything tighter.

The self centering design, like the Phillips, is better than the slotted screw, and you won’t slip out and damage the project. I think of them as kind of like hex heads,only inverted so they can be flush to the surface…

The real problem is that the keys are clumsier than a screwdriver or power drill. My suggestion is get a Allen set for your power drill, and you’ll be golden.

Of course, the above only applies to well-designed Allen keys and screws, if the key is loose, or cheaply made, you’re screwed.

3

And here I thought this was going to be a much-belated rant about failed Republican Presidential candidate Allen Keyes . . .

4

Allen head machine screws (aka socket head screws) can be torqued (tightened) down much tighter than phillips head machine screws. They hex slot allows much more torque to be transmitted to the bolt than a phillips head ever could before stripping…Same thing goes for TORX head screws, but I think that the socket head screw can still be tightened more than the TORX screws.

What’s the advantage over a regular hex head bolt???

HEAD SIZE. You can keep the diameter of an allen head machine screw really compact. And you can countersink them too!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have stripped many many phillips head screws in my day. And I have never stripped an allen socket screw before. Of course that goes with the disclaimer that I have tightened or loosened many more phillips head screws than allen head screws…but I would rather have an allen head socket on a tight screw any day if I was worried about stripping the darn thing.

5

Let me just clarify that the problem with applying torque to a Allen screw is not in the shape of the screwhead, its in the design of the included Allen keys. Of course I’d be all for Allen screws (and hex head) if I (or most anyone else) had a Allen driver in the kitchen drawer at home so we wouldn’t have to resort to the Flowers for Algernon L-shaped key. The torque concern is in the application to the screw, not in the screw itself.

Also I can say that using the cheap metal you find in most of these types of furniture you’ll strip a large percentage of the Allen screws (and keys for that matter).

We’re not talking about industrial grade hardware or tools here. If we were I can grasp the advantage of Allen screws. However these are made for your basic mechanically inept housewife to assemble. The Allen keys make life very very difficult for these types where I think it’d be much easier to handle a driver style tool. And based on availability, a phillips or standard screw is optimal.

6

Fair enough. It seems you have had worse luck than I have with the quality of the “L Shaped” keys provided in the kit furniture you have purchased.

I still don’t see how you find these things so difficult to use. All you have to do is put the head of the key in the socket and apply force to the L-Shaped handle. No flame intended, but come on now! A five year old could turn an allen head screw with an L-shaped key. And if you say that a phillips head screw requiring the use of a standard phillips driver would be optimal, then the torque required with the L-Shaped key should not be enough to hurt your hands. Maybe you’re putting too much torque on your joints if you’re stripping the keys and screws there Mr. Universe. :wink:

Okay…but your OP also mentioned something about the manufacturer saving money not having to include the Allen Key into the kit. I am willing to bet money that the Allen Key provided costs such a minute amount that it is well worth it to include it free in the kit. After all, when you pick up the box at Wal Mart and it says “No tools required for assembly”…that’s a huge selling point.

7

What jeel said, Omni.

Now, go out and buy yourself a Chapman Allen driver kit and sin no more. It is the Allen hardware world’s equivalent of the Victorinox Swiss Army knife. There is no finer miniature ratchet tool set than this, bar none. They are nearly impervious to abuse.

The comprehensive set at the top of the linked page runs about $30.[sup]00[/sup] to $40.[sup]00[/sup]. A bargain at any price, this single kit can shave amazing amounts of time off of an assembly project. A brief chat with any machinist will usually confirm my statements about this tool set.

Trust me, I own three of them. Too bad you can’t get them in the red clothbound metal style jewelery boxes anymore. The plastic case is much more effecient, but the old package was pure industrial art.

8

1.) Cut off short leg of “L”

2.) Insert remaining long end into drill.

3.) Hi Opal ← dunno why, just see everyone doing it and don’t want to peeve any local deities :smiley:

4.) Assemble/disassemble desk to your heart’s content.

9

OK, I have big hands. The L-shaped key is like 2.5" long on the large end. The key is about 3/8" wide with a fairly rough edge. This means that a pretty damn high amount of psi are applied to my palm when I tighten down these screws. Yes an Allen key is not a feat of coordination or intellect to use, but the point is that they are a pain in the ass to use to assemble anything to a reasonable standard of rigidity.

Nevertheless they suck!

10

skydyvr has the correct answer.

Take the L shaped key out to the sidewalk, hold it with vise grips, bang the short leg of the L of with a hammer, and then use it in your drill. It takes less than a minute.

11

I don’t know whether or not this is relevant, but once when I was touring Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the enormous mansion built by Mr. Phillips, inventor of the screw-head of the same name, was pointed out to me. He made a lot of money off of his invention.

That got me to thinking. There’s the easy way, and there’s the hard way… It all depends on what sort of tool empire you control. For example, Saabs are excellent automobiles that can theoretically be almost completely disassembled with the twelve-piece star-wrench-based tool kit included with every car. That’s convenient, but it also creates a big market for the proper tools (only a desperate person or a fool would try to hand-crank apart a suspension assembly).

On the other hand, a unique tool can be a sort of security device. Lock together a hard drive with Allen bolts (or are they still called screws?) and you have a tightly wrapped device as well as fewer people toying with the sensitive and possibly dangerous innards, because they don’t have the tools.

An extreme example of a security bolt comes from my father, who designed ICBMs, among other things. You don’t want just anyone to be opening up the panels on those things, so specially designed bit-heads and bolts were devised and carefully distributed, to be inserted into a special socketed torque wrench.

(Aside–Minuteman ICBMs were largely hand-made, particularly the outer skin. The risk of a jumping or overtorqued power drill was considered too likely to throw off the aeordynamics of the vehicle. That’s part of the reason why you could drop a warhead onto a baseball field from ten thousand miles away–not that the Russkies play much baseball.)

The bit used was called, unsuprisingly, a “key.” One day, Dad was out of town and his boss wasn’t around either when some work had to be done on the innards of a Minuteman in development. He says that the machine-shop boys had some trouble reverse-engineering a key, but they did it. Your tax-dollars at work.

12

hahaha i thought this was about Alan Keyes too - that nutty republican “praise god” black guy.

Allen wrenches are what you are talking about.

13

Don’t let the folks at Torx hear you say that! Their main ad campaign of the Eighties (hey! I like fasteners, 'kay?) revolved around the superiority inherent in the star design. The force is spread over a much larger area, reducing stripping and allowing the screw to be tightened, um, tighter.

The improved metallurgy and fit if a Torx bit versus a crappy rolled freebie probably help, too.

Here’s a comparison.

14

It’s the evil pharmaceutical empire. Wait, wrong thread.

Anyway, I feel the same way, that Phillipshead screwdrivers are generally more universal. And you know if something calls for an Allen wrench, you’ll only have American and it will need a metric. One advantage of Allen screws on my inline skates is that the little L-shaped wrenches put a pretty good torque on those little screws for being a lot smaller and lighter weight than a standard Phillipshead screwdriver.

Jill
Waiting for the rant about the point of the round “locking lug nut” on car wheels that I just discovered yesterday when I had to change a tire… Like someone is gonna wanna steal a tire off a Ford Taurus stationwagon?.