I, of course, meant “sheet metal” screws.

Ever notice how the simplest tasks can become annoying because of abject stupidity? Consider this mornings tiny project: one of the fans in my server box has become noisy, so I decided to go out and replace it with a new one. I bought a spiffy Antec fan (lit with three different color LEDs no less, cool!) and decided to power down the server and give it a try.

The fan comes of course with four Phillips head, self tapping sheet metal screws, made of some really shiny looking metal.

Metal that is of course considerably softer than the metal in the case that it supposed to tap into.

Net result: I’ve managed to tap the four holes, but mangled two of the four screws irrevocably in the process. The picture to the right? That screw is supposed to be round. After stripping it badly, I had to grab it with vice grips and twist it back out. Sigh.

Why can’t these things just be made out of stainless for god’s sake? I’d spend $0.50 for that. Really, I would.