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How to prevent screw hole threads stripping when using drill driver?

Hi all, I am using a drill driver on lowest torque and speed setting to drive screws to assemble a BBQ. However, I have stripped two screw holes threads despite of being very careful and not exerting much force when driving. Screw holes are steel as is the BBQ, What else I could be doing wrong and what other steps should I take not to strip any more screw holes.

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Noyade

Morning @foxhound

One thought is to ditch the driver - just use a humble hand-held screwdriver so you can 'feel' the tension building - then once this is achieved - stop.

Can you please upload photos of the stripped areas? I'm sure we can offer fixing solutions.

Cheers.

MitchellMc

That's quite unusual, @foxhound. A drill driver on its lowest torque setting should barely be able to drive a screw in, let alone strip a screw hole. Typically, you'd put the torque setting on mid-power and not have any issues with stripping. Even on the highest torque setting, it would be unusual to strip a screw unless you were being careless.

It sounds like something else is going on here. As mentioned, you could use a hand-held screwdriver, or if we can see the type of screws and the damage that has been done, that might provide more information.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Noyade

Morning @foxhound

"screws to assemble a BBQ"

How did you eventually get on with the assembly?

When I made my post above, I stupidly thought you were using self-tapping screws though pre-drilled thin metal sheets. Which with hindsight now makes no sense from a safety point of view but does demonstrate how much I know about barbeque construction.

Anyway, the reason I'm replying again, is I purchased this barbeque on clearance yesterday and wondered about it's construction, thinking of this thread.

I was very pleasantly surprised - no screws - all bolts and no individual nuts. All connections used nut rivets - which I love. I used an impact drill driver and then a hand held screwdriver for the finishing 'torque tweet.' There was no way the threads could be stripped - which makes me think more about @MitchellMc 's response.

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