IDEAL Industries Cabinet Tip Screwdriver, 3/16"

Five blade lengths: 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 inches, ordered as part numbers 35-183, 35-184, 35-186, 35-188 and 35-190 respectively. All five carry the same 3/16 inch cabinet tip, so you pick purely on reach, not on tip size. Short 3 inch blades suit crowded panel work; the 8 and 10 inch blades reach recessed terminals in deep enclosures.

On a cabinet tip driver the blade tip is ground to match the shank diameter instead of flaring out wider than the shank. That lets the blade drop straight down into a counterbored or recessed screw hole, which is exactly the situation on switchgear, panel terminals and device screws set in deep wells. A flared keystone blade binds on the edge of that hole. The IDEAL 3/16 inch version also has a cross-ground tip for grip in the screw slot.

No. The IDEAL cabinet tip screwdriver is a standard chrome vanadium steel tool with a nickel-chrome plated shank. It carries no insulation rating, so treat it as a general electrical hand tool and use a dedicated insulated 1000V driver for any work on energized conductors.

The 3 inch blade (35-183) or 4 inch blade (35-184) covers device terminal and cover plate screws in a standard box. Step up to the 6 inch 35-186 when you are reaching past wire bundles in a deep box, and the 8 or 10 inch blades when you are working down into a panel or cabinet where the screw sits well back from the opening.

The tip is vapor blasted specifically to stop plate chipping, so the blade bites the slot rather than skating across and scuffing a wallplate or device face. That matters on finish-out work where a marked plate is a callback.

Nickel-chrome plating over a chrome vanadium steel shank handles corrosion, so the driver tolerates service vans, outdoor pedestals and damp mechanical rooms better than a bare or black-oxide blade. Chrome vanadium is the standard shank steel for torque resistance in hand drivers.

Each length is its own part number, so the 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 inch cabinet tip drivers are ordered separately rather than as a kit. MRO and facility buyers standardizing a tool crib typically stock the 4 inch and the 8 inch and fill in the rest as the work demands.