Pentagon Allen Wrench?

I work for the electric coop in our area and we use a bolt that the head is 5 sided on our pad mount transformers. Code requires that the transformers have 2 locks on the cabinets, and that bolt counts as one of the locks. We have snap on nut drivers that fit it. I am not sure if anyone can get these though. But if Snap on has the sockets, they might have the allen wrenches too.

Has it been determined that you have tamper proof Torx. I have had tamper proof Torx bits for years. Sk and others make them. I don't see the five sides.

• Tamper Proof Torx

• Torx Plus from Wiha

Good luck--maybe you can have the dealer remove the odd sized fasteners and replace them with something you can work with. What a hassle! I would complain bitterly and threaten to sue unless they buy it back or make it possible to work on.

What's the mower brand? What parts have the tamperproof fasteners?

" For the Torx Plus tamper-resistant design, maker Textron went with a plan for tight distribution of driver tools, according to Tim McGuire, director of application engineering for Textron Fastening Systems in the Americas. The drivers can be purchased only by original equipment manufacturers and authorized service personnel. The company also replaced the nominal six-point Torx Plus socket with a five-point design, since the Torx Plus sockets were designed to be removable by the original Torx bits when a correct Plus bit was unavailable. Naturally, any six-lobed Torx tamperproof bit would have been able to take out the tamperproof Plus screws if that design had not gone to five lobes, McGuire explained."

• Tamperproof fastener article

I read the Tamperproof Fastener article, too, and agree that it is interesting. What I don't see is that putting tamperproof fasteners on an item which will be purchased for private ownership can be justified on the grounds of anti-vandalism, anti-theft, or anti-tampering with mandated settings such as on emissions controls devices.

Of course, any manufacturer can put their product together any way they please, and the consumer's recourse is to not buy it. The problem with this is that it isn't reasonable to expect a prospective purchaser of a single unit to examine the item down to the level of the number of sides in the head of each Torx style fastener.

I would talk to the seller about getting you a set of the appropriate fastener removal tools, and be ready to go right beyond them to the manufacturer, and right beyond customer service to the president of the company. Company executives are often unaware of what's happening at the user level. You don't have a lot of leverage in this, but you can mention that you will at least post the name and circumstances of the product on every YT forum and every other forum you visit. There's nothing illegal or libelous about stating in writing that you bought a certain brand/model product which is put together with fasteners for which removal tools are not currently available to the public. Potential purchasers can form their own conclusions about why.

All the best, Stan

Torx are six-sided.