Using Square Drive Bits with Festool Drills

[Dave Ronyak]

Let me begin by stating that I am not trying to start a flame war.  But I had need to set about 2000 screws when repairing/replacing portions of a outdoor deck of SYP, reusing most of the structural members and adding new fasteners to the existing ones that were 20+ years old and showing some rust.  I purchased several boxes of square drive decking screws from McFeeley's and their specially sized square driver for these screws, and when these ran low, purchased several boxes of genuine Phillips brand screws also rated for ACQ wood.  With the correct Phillips brand bit, I found the Phillips screws were held perfectly on the bit every time and rarely cammed out.  Not much functional difference regarding camming out relative to Mc Feeley's square drive screws and bits, except that the corrosion inhibitor coating on the Phillips brand screws was much more uniform in thickness which meant they easily and consistently mated with their bit unlike many of the McFeeley's screws that have too much coating (blobs) on them which interferes with insertion of the square bit driver.