List of screw drives • Hacker News Board

Re: List of screw drives

#261

Post by ken » Sat, May 12, 2018, 6:30 PM UTC

kazinator wrote: post #240

TeMPOraL wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also find shoe numbering bizarre. How could such a numbering system survive to this day? Why not use goddamn centimeters? (Fortunately, e-stores selling shoes were bitten enough by the ridiculousness of that problem that they ended up providing scales translating shoe numbers to centimeters.) Ultimately, the best workaround I've seen was the one the father of my SO used - he would measure the foot of his child, the…

US shoe numbering for men is simple. There is a bit of insanity in that women's and children's sizes are derived from that in more than one way. There are two ways of determining size, but they are supposed to coincide, theoretically. Manufacturers use the "last length" as the basis for shoe size. However, that is not the foot length, and how a shoe with a given "last length" fits a given foot is a variable and so th…

I own two pairs of men's boots, from different companies, with US sizes on the label 2.5 apart from each other. They're the same physical size, and both fit me perfectly. That's pretty typical. I generally have to try new shoes in about a 3-size range.

According to the L x 3 - 24 rule, these boot should be nearly an inch different (or at least, their lasts). Maybe the US system is theoretically simple, but in practice it seems to be just an arbitrary number that can't be meaningfully compared to anything except the same model of shoe from the same company.

In contrast, I've ordered shoes from Japan 3 times, from 3 different companies, and I did it by putting a ruler next to my foot, and then choosing that number of centimeters in the online form. Every time, I got a shoe that fits great.

Maybe using an absolute length doesn't solve all problems, but my experience (with sample size of probably N<20) is that it works far better in practice. An arbitrary unit of measurement removes accountability, by way of obfuscation, and gains us nothing.

Re: List of screw drives

#262

Post by pasbesoin » Sun, May 13, 2018, 7:51 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #260

pasbesoin wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also have, or had, a circa $25 corded drill kit for sale (going by memory of briefly seeing, a year or two ago). If someone doesn't have a drill and is contemplating purchasing and constructing a substantial piece of IKEA furniture, such as my parent's TV stand -- lots of bits to screw together. Under those circumstances, I suggest maybe they want to buy one of the drill kits. I expect you can get a better corde…

IMHO if you're getting something for infrequent use, avoid batteries as they'll just go bad when sitting around unused.

That's a good point, in general.

In this case, I think there may be a few additional factors.

In the U.S., at least, many may view $20 as a "throwaway" level purchase to improve the assembly effort of the furniture they're purchasing/assembling.

Assembly is frustrating. A power tool and appropriate bits help, but then negotiating a cord takes it back somewhat in a negative direction. Plus, it's probably difficult and expensive to made and sell such a drill with a usefully long power cord. So, the purchaser then also need to negotiate acquiring and using an extension cord. And, you don't want them using the cord they use for that lamp in the corner; the drill's potential draw likely exceeds the rating of the extension cord most users will end up plugging it into.

IKEA has some language on the cordless drill's page specifically describing it being engineered to avoid idle battery drain.

People love cordless. Cordless sells. Many of them have no clue about what you describe, and meanwhile, cordless sells. :-/

Re: List of screw drives

#263

Post by Doxin » Mon, May 14, 2018, 12:31 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #149

Doxin wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A Pozidriv bit does not fit in a Phillips screw[citation needed] A Pozidriv bit fits in a philips juuuust well enough for you to not notice it's the wrong bit.

Yeah, I don't think "that's not phillips, that's pozidrive" is a good excuse. If they're that close, then pozidrive is just a non-standardard-complying phillips bit. It's the IE6 of screw heads, and the confusion is all their own fault.

It's not like pozidriv screws are unmarked. And in any case these days if you buy 200 screws you get a bit thrown in for free at most places. 100% correct fit all of the time.