Spax Screws and Rawlplugs

[andrewm]

Are Spax screws incompatible with Rawlplugs? All the ones that I have used seem to overturn even in solid brick and I was wondering whether the construction of the screws mean that they are more likely to cut into the Rawlplug than force it out into the hole. The holes are small enough that the Rawlplug is a pretty tight fit in the first place.

Anyone else had any problems.

Andrew

 

[jasonB]

What size screw/plug combination are you useing?

Also are you using generic rawlplugs or "decent" ones like Fisher and Rawlplug.

I also tend to drive the plug below the surface of any plaster so it expands in teh brick/block not the soft plaster

Jason

 

[andrewm]

Using 4mm Spax screws (equivalent to #8?) into red rawlplugs, the real thing, pushed into a 5mm hole. So should all be the right sizes - at least going by what it says on the Rawlplug strip.

Andrew

 

[Eric The Viking]

Are Spax screws incompatible with Rawlplugs?

They are pretty horrible. I gave away the only box of 2-inch tens I bought (or whatever the metric size is). I've used them for fixing chipboard flooring, but nothing else, and certainly nothing important. Oh, and in the box I had, most of the heads were forged too loose. I only use diamond-gritted screwdriver bits in the power driver and even they were camming-out. I can't stand the things.

Reisser, OTOH: brilliant and well worth the money for general jobs. The auto-countersinking does just what's claimed (in softwood and ply), and I find they grip firmly and start easily.

For Rawlplugs, I use a good quality, double-start BZP screw, such as these. I rarely if ever get problems, but occasionally have snapped screws at the shank where the thread stops.

 

[petermillard]

I generally use a screw that 1 mil less than the size of the plug e.g. 4mm screw in a yellow plug in a 5mm hole. I normally use a 5.5 or 6mm bit for red plugs, 4.5 or 5mm for yellows.

Never had a problem with Spax or Reisser screws - switched away from Screwfix Quicksilvers and Goldscrews for all the same reasons ETV had with Spax <shrug>

Cheers, Pete.

 

[jasonB]

4mm into red is a bit loose for me tend to go with 5mm or bigger, the spax don't expand the pugs quite as much so the two combind are whats giving the loose fit. I like the Reisser R2 cutters in the larger sizes and the standard yellow passivated for smaller sizes eg 3.5mm

Jason

 

[andrewm]

Well, had to fit a socket box at the weekend into slightly less solid block and tried the last of my old TwinThread screws. Seem to hold a lot better than the same size Spax so will probably get some more just for Rawlplugs.

These are all 4mm. 5mm seems rather large, especially as that is the size of hole that I drill for the Rawplug in the first place.

Andrew