17

a photo of the bolt in question

A previous owner fitted the light fitting pictured above, and has not left me a tool to remove the bolt. The bulb has blown so I need to get in to the unit. The head diameter is about 12mm and the gap between the two notches is about 6mm. I would like to remove it with some technique involving more finesse than simply smashing up the fitting and/or drilling out the bolt.

I hope someone can recognise the bolt and give me a search term which will let me cheaply buy a bit for this bolt from somewhere like Ebay UK.

ChrisF
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Dickon Reed
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6 Answers6

17

I think that's a Spanner bit:

Four piece set

Niall C.
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Richard Kettlewell
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17

It's called a spanner slotted (or slotted spanner) head. Useful site here. Hard to find in the UK, why the owner used one I cannot imagine. Screwfix doesn't have them. This site may do, although it is international. You'll need to figure out the correct size before you order.

Alternatively get a real cheap flat-head screwdriver the right width and file down the middle until you get the right notch.

If you can grip it with a pliers try a pair of locking pliers and unscrewing it that way I keep a mini vise-grips handy for that sort of thing.

GdD
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4

Find a pair of scissors with a not-so-flimsy build, open them to the correct angle and insert the points into the two slots. If the screw is not too tight, this may work.

psmears
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X.X
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2

Variously known as a spanner-head, snake-eye or pig-nose screwdriver. I had exactly the same problem as the OP - I think I have the same light fixing. Presumably the idea of using a weird fixing is to protect from vandalism, but it's a right pain if you don't pass on the right tool to subsequent owners.

I put off replacing a blown bulb for months, looked all over for the right tool but couldn't find one. I was just about to start grinding a hole in an old screwdriver when I tried undoing it by hand, and found that it was only on finger-tight. So to anyone facing the same problem - try unscrewing it by hand!!!

Otherwise I suspect it's cheaper to smash up the fixing and buy a new fixing, than it is to order a special screwdriver from overseas.

El Sid
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I took a simple screwdriver (AC tester actually) and cut the middle of it with a rotary grinder. It works for me to open these screws whenever I barge into them once in a few years. No need to search for rare bits for this one.

deE
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I had one of these with a 12mm diameter head and about 6mm between the pins. Couldn't find the correct spanner / snake eye bit at all.

I brought a 10mm screwdriver and used a 6mm stone grinding bit in a dremel to shape it correctly. Took about 10 mins and worked great.

Suffice to say I replaced the weird security screws with normal ones after!

incompetent1
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