StarFleet proprietary Screw Fastener? What Screw Fastener would you design/use in place?

[jackoverfull]

How would that work? Is it going to carry a mini electric Motor to Screw itself In/Out?

That seems awfully inefficient in terms of mass, complexity, weight, etc. And it isn't nearly as strong as a normal screw if you need to make space for a mini Electric Motor to Self Screw In/Out.

Or are you thinking of Self-Drilling Screws that allow you to drill into the material?



Are you thinking of Socket Cap Screws that go flush into the material and leave nothing protruding from the work surface?

Spoiler: Socket Cap Screw

Slot type was the first Screw type that became popular for humanity. It's not my favorite IMO. So many fundamental issues with it's basic design. I prefer other designs like:
Tri-point
Tri-groove
Tri-wing

Spoiler: Various Screw Drive types

Spoiler: Various Types of Screws

impressive post. I wonder what goes on in the head of someone that decides to invent yet another screw. I remember when apple started using pentalobe and the idea wasn’t exactly to help people disassemble stuff.

By the way, the tri-wing here are quite different from the one I knew.

 

[fireproof78]

The new generation of TPTB is simply obsessed with the Delta. You couldn't walk an inch aboard Discovery without stepping on one. It was probably even embossed on the toilet paper.

I sure hope so.

It's supposed to be a pretty simply thing to manufacture items. Why not? Why is it bothersome? It injures no one, and looks like fun. It's fan service and I thought fans like fan service?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

impressive post. I wonder what goes on in the head of someone that decides to invent yet another screw. I remember when apple started using pentalobe and the idea wasn’t exactly to help people disassemble stuff.

Apple likes to creates things that are as proprietary & esoteric as possible to make their technology seem like a "Magical Black Box". They don't like it when their end users dissect their products and show them for what they really are.

Apple created the Pentalobe design entirely to make it harder for end users to take apart their equipment. Obviously other manufacturers defeated that specialty design quite handidly.

The reason I want to create new Screw Fasteners is to make optimized versions of Screw Fasteners with various different geometries to use. Too many existing ones has various niggling issues, so you might as well join the club and add more to the pile. The sands of time are long and who wins out in the long term is hard to tell.

By the way, the tri-wing here are quite different from the one I knew.

Can you show me an example of the Tri-Wing that you know of. It seems to be different from Wikipedia's labeled version of Tri-Wing.

It's fan service and I thought fans like fan service?

When it's done tastefully, emprinting the StarFleet logo on Toilet Paper isn't "Tasteful".

 

[Nightfall to-Ennien]

The reason I want to create new Screw Fasteners is to make optimized versions of Screw Fasteners with various different geometries to use.

https://xkcd.com/927

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

https://xkcd.com/927

I already know of that XKCD comic strip.

But have you really seen all the existing Screw Drives out there?

Remember IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations).

This is TrekBBS after all and it doesn't hurt to have a few more Screw Types out in existence.

We can sure as hell eliminate the bad Screw Geometries from usage within StarFleet as an organization and stick to the good ones only.

Spoiler: A simple picture list of the various Screw Drive types

Spoiler: A simple picture list of the various types of screws

 

[fireproof78]

When it's done tastefully, emprinting the StarFleet logo on Toilet Paper isn't "Tasteful".

Oh, please. Fan service is never tasteful. It's an appeal to the fan's sense of ego and importance. It's meant to be fun not in good taste, whatever the heck that means in this context.

Lower Deck's boots have a delta on the bottom for the tread which strikes me as a poor design for a shoe tread on board a starship and probably an OSHA violation. Do I care? Nope.

 

[publiusr]

Clutch A is used by the Green Lantern Corps

This was interesting

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I remember the following

• "Quartermaster Corps: Slip Stick" (Stardate Magazine vol. 2, #11, April 1986)

 

[Deks]

How would that work? Is it going to carry a mini electric Motor to Screw itself In/Out?

That seems awfully inefficient in terms of mass, complexity, weight, etc. And it isn't nearly as strong as a normal screw if you need to make space for a mini Electric Motor to Self Screw In/Out.

Or are you thinking of Self-Drilling Screws that allow you to drill into the material?

If the screws are screwing themselves in, I would imagine it would be along the lines of SF using programmable metamaterials for these things.
When in contact with another similar material or certain temperatures, these materials can change shapes... they can contract, expand, or rearrange their overall structure.
To this end it wouldn't be insane to think that SF is using this technology for screws and similar things... possibly even magnets.
A lot of the stuff in the 24th century can hold a given shape (or maintain distance) with simple magnets... and you don't need to run a current through them or expend energy to do so (because the magnetic fields do that for you)... they just work off highly controlled magnetic fields to which the metamaterials would react to... once it reaches a full screwed in state, the material 'locks in' and keeps itself there.

Think what we saw in the 32nd century, but on a much smaller scale.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

If the screws are screwing themselves in, I would imagine it would be along the lines of SF using programmable metamaterials for these things.
When in contact with another similar material or certain temperatures, these materials can change shapes... they can contract, expand, or rearrange their overall structure.
To this end it wouldn't be insane to think that SF is using this technology for screws and similar things... possibly even magnets.
A lot of the stuff in the 24th century can hold a given shape (or maintain distance) with simple magnets... and you don't need to run a current through them or expend energy to do so (because the magnetic fields do that for you)... they just work off highly controlled magnetic fields to which the metamaterials would react to... once it reaches a full screwed in state, the material 'locks in' and keeps itself there.

Think what we saw in the 32nd century, but on a much smaller scale.

What a overly complicated solution to a basic problem.

There already exists a variety of solutions to lock in screws to prevent them from vibrating out over time.

https://blog.baysupply.com/6-recommendations-for-vibration-resistant-fasteners

These are just 6 of them. Far simpler and basic.

Remember the KISS prinicple.

 

[Deks]

What a overly complicated solution to a basic problem.

There already exists a variety of solutions to lock in screws to prevent them from vibrating out over time.

https://blog.baysupply.com/6-recommendations-for-vibration-resistant-fasteners

These are just 6 of them. Far simpler and basic.

Remember the KISS prinicple.

Sure, but that's for our present level of technology.
In Trek, such an approach could be anything BUT efficient or usable.
Remember that the technology UFP has is extremely advanced and powerful made from substances and science that are (largely) unknown to us in real life... therefore, it will have a different set of requirement for maintenance, repairs and upgrades... and possibly screws.

Take hull panels in the 24th century. There aren't any visible nuts and bolts holding them in place, but they seem to just 'click' into position and are locked in.
This is especially the case for internal bulkheads in corridors. I would imagine this would simplify the act of maintenance (accessing circuitry behind the panel) while not having to worry it will fall out of its place (and they are so infrequently accessed, that its usually a non issue).

Also, the Prodigy episode in question required of the kids to make a highly customized piece of technology. We don't know whether this kind of approach would be needed in everyday off, or whether its a one off.
Plus, the kids are NOT fully trained SF officers, and probably do not know the full extent of SF technological capabilities... so makeshift technology that they create is likely to be more 'primitive' by design - reflecting their own knowledge and capabilities.