Recently bought one of these from eBay, I searched for m10 spline, and purchased.

 

granted I can’t say I paid a whole load of attention to the photo, and what arrived what as per the photo.

 

however I was of the understanding a spline has lots more “prongs” on it than this one!

 

any help gratefully received, as if it’s been described incorrectly it’s going back (it was only a few quid, but cash I don’t have spare!)

spline are 12 point, not sure what that is.

There are actually two subtly different variants of what most refer to as just 'spline bit'. But that is neither.

I think the VAG fasteners must be XZN spline (also know as triple-square), cos' that's what I've got, and in theory a true spline screw wouldn't let the 90° points of an XZN in?

Stolen image from an Amazon listing:

 

Edited 17 July, 20187 yr by Wino

It almost looks like they have sent you some sort of tamper proof bit

Thanks for the help, glad I’m not being thick!

 

this is the “real” description from eBay... guessing it’s not right!

Ah, I think I've heard of 'ribe' bit, guess this is one. Google it.

Seems like there's more than just the two types of spline bit that I thought there were.

Edited 17 July, 20187 yr by Wino

Here's a close-up of a seat runner 'spline' bolt with a red square superimposed, so triple-square/XZN. Be wary of cross-threading these on the way back in BTW, easily done because the seat is relatively heavy and doesn't easily get nudged by the screw into correct alignment.

 

it looks like a RIBE to me

What you have bought is a TORX bit 6 points 

A spline has 12 points.

Hope this helps 

oh the days of the kerry dancers...so many sockets and bits...

i really wanted see why this one came about

according to wikipedia..its POLYDRIVE KNOWN AS RIBE.

 

Polydrive

The polydrive screw drive, also known as RIBE,^[57] is spline-shaped with rounded ends in the fastener head. The tool has six flat teeth at equal spacing; the sizes are determined by the diameter of the star points. Its primary advantage over older screw drives is that it resists cam out. It is used primarily in the automotive industry in high-torque applications, such as brakes and driveshafts.

 

 

royal institute of bruteforce engineers...

i picked my first socket set up when i was 16.. 1959..when sockets bits were nearly all hex or square

next time i get my drill driver out i will need to look closely at my "free set of driver bits" to see if it contains any ribes..

cheers

belated geof

Edited 30 August, 20187 yr by mrcrow