Drywall Screws

Drywall screws have a Phillips drive, bugle shaped head, making countersinking easy without ripping the paper which sandwiches the gypsum based core. A well designed Phillips recess is essential; if the screwdriver bit fits too tightly it will not freely be released once installation is complete causing a delay with insertion into the next screw, if the recess is too big, the bit may spin inside causing cam out of the head, reducing insertion speed and potentially causing premature corrosion. Drywall screws can have coarse or fine threads depending on the studwork they are to be used in. Coarse threads are designed for timber studwork as they allow very fast insertion and good grip within the wood, determining the length of coarse thread screw required is calculated using the board thickness plus 25mm insertion depth. Fine thread, sharp point drywall screws have a much finer thread pitch which can bite into thin walled metal studwork, determining the length of fine thread screw required for use in metal track is calculated using the board thickness plus 10mm of penetration depth. A fine thread drywall screw can be used in timber with a slightly reduced insertion speed but a coarse thread drywall screw cannot be used in metal track as the threads are spaced too far apart for them to grip the thin metal section. Fine thread drywall screws are capable of being used in metal track up to 0.7mm thick. Heavy duty metal track systems are too thick for a fine thread, sharp point drywall screw to pierce, which is when a self-drilling drywall screw is required. Each self-drilling drywall screw has a tiny drill bit located at the tip which quickly drills through metal sections up to 2.5mm in thickness. Drylining involves thousands of fasteners being used on a daily basis and therefore speed of insertion can dramatically affect productivity and profitability. Using a collated drywall screwdriver with strips of collated drywall screws can improve the speed of insertion as the operator of the machine is only required to offer the screwdriver up to the board and depress the nose-piece causing the screw to be driven in automatically with a new screw ready to be installed immediately afterwards. The collated strip method not only speeds up installation but negates handling the screw itself reducing abrasion and possible cuts to the fingertips. Very dense cement based boards are becoming more popular and require specialist drywall screws to penetrate this heavy duty sheet material; larger diameter shanks with Hi-Lo thread pitches and very aggressive countersunk heads are required in these applications. Corrosion protection of drywall screws is provided by bright zinc plating (BZP) or black phosphate finishes. Protrade stock a comprehensive range of collated drywall screws, fine thread drywall screws, coarse thread drywall screws, self-drilling drywall screws with a choice of BZP or black phosphate finishes.