It's also a matter of making things more complicated than they need to be. Proper design would ensure that a human could torque down a single-slotted set screw (or set screws) with a flat blade screw driver and the shaft would turn without slipping.
The first step in the proper direction would be to use a fine thread on an adequately sized set screw. 6-40 or 8-40 maybe on larger knobs. A torx head would work great. They don't self-destruct with excessive torque the way allens and bristos do. I have never busted one trying to turn it, but I did break a driver once. The splines remained intact, but the shank at the end of the driver couldn't take the torque and literally shattered to bits. When a screw is stuck, I have found PB Blaster to be a big help. Works much better than WD-40 or Liquid Wrench, but stinks like hell.
Another thing that sucks about allens and bristos is that the driver blade is sometimes left with a permanent twist after you try to turn a stuck screw. I've had that to happen to both the short L-shaped drivers and good quality Xcelite drivers with a plastic handle.
