BROWNELLS - Screw Slot Fixture

Works as advertised!

One of the best tools I have bought in years. It is unbelievable how much time this tool saves. You can turn out professional looking slots in screw heads in about as much time as it does to read this review, and the slot is perfectly centered in the screw head every time. Whoever came up with this fixture, is a person who I'd like to shake his hand!

This is a wonderful tool for those who restore guns or build their own, as you can modify pretty much any screw to make just the screw you need. Centering a screw slot by hand is a frustrating hit-or-miss proposition, so I was truly amazed to see what I have been missing. No more endless searches for that missing screw, just turn down the head on a standard screw to the right shape, cut the slot, and it's done! The only reason I don't give it a 5 star rating is that it's not adjustable, and only allows for .025 files to be used. Fortunately, a hack saw blade will fit between the rollers, and you can make a guide cut and then widen the slot with a hand-held file. I haven't tried it with thinner files, but I would think that you can tape the sides of the file to keep it on center. I have contacted Brownells about offering different size rollers (replacement standard rollers would also be great), and I hope that they will bite. If you could use this fixture with any size file, it would go from excellent to absolutely outstanding!

A great idea that needs a little tweaking. You can cut straight slots, if you're careful. It is advertised as only taking .025 saw blades or files, but mine easily took a.035 hacksaw blade with no trouble at all. That part is great. But, when I try to cut .025" slots there's too much room for error, so I have to watch closely to get the blade centered. The first thing I did was to make a brass hold down screw so that when I tightened it up to hold the screw, it won't ruin the threads. I'm going to get some tool steel and make some larger rollers to tighten up the gap for a .025" saw blade. I'm like that other reviewer, they need to offer different size rollers so you can cut a wide variety of slots. All in all, it's a great little gadget that I would recommend.