I am having some problems tightening the m4 motor mount screws without stripping them. Is there any reason why I couldn’t use m4 screws with the Phillips head screw driver tips? The allen wrench and screws that came with my board are garbage.
Umm…never use phillips head on a screw deigned for allen wrenches…if you’re getting different screws and you use them carefully, you’ll generally get the best lifetime from flathead…but it does take more attention
I would never recommend Philips, if anything it will cause more stripping.
You probably got cheap bolts and/or a cheap hex key. Buy 12.9 alloy bolts and a quality hex key. Wera Hex Plus is the best.
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First if you use bottom head screws then change them to socket head.
Never use an allen wrench! It’s rubbish, get some proper tools like @b264 mentioned.
Wera Hex Plus is king, this set changed my (esk8) life for real!
And no more stripped pulley grub screws 
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Do you know if there is a difference between the colourful ones and the non-coloured ones? Hardware store charges twice the price for the colour
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I think one is Wera Hex and one is Wera Hex Plus but I can’t remember. I saw the same pricing and shelled out for the colored ones. Honestly, every other hex key I used in my life up until I used those, were all trash. It’s like comparing a krugerrand to a piece of sand, honestly. There is no comparison.
I think you can get them either way, the colored ones just have some extra features, like ease of identification and extra corrosion resistance. I have the non-colored sets in inch and metric, and they’re amazing. Totally worth the price.
Here’s a list of what I do: If you can get them, use torx over hex. If you only have hex, then use hex-plus drivers. Use high strength fasteners, 10.9 or 12.9. Use socket head over button head, since socket head screws have a bigger drive for the same screw size.
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this right here. all of this.
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Geez I wish I had asked earlier. I’ve gone thru so many screws cursing it all to hell. Lol.
Thank you!!
They’re both hex Plus, but the colored ones are more robust. And prettier
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It’s definitely a learning process lol, I stripped my fair share. The fasteners you can get at most local hardware stores (unless you can spec high strength) are made of cheese. Same for the ones that come in a lot of Chinese gear.
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if you used shitty Allen heads they’ll strip. same with shit Allen keys. like the others said, use wera hex keys and make sure the bolts are hardened steel
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This exact problem is one of the reasons I don’t use stainless hardware very much if I can avoid it. Most stainless fasteners are grade 8.8, which isn’t very hard/strong. Sure they won’t rust, but they’re prone to stripping.
I prefer superficial rust to stripped heads.