I cut all the wood for a coffee table, and intended on attaching the top
with pocket screws. Now that I am assembling it, I find that the places I
intended to put screws simply aren't wide enough, and the only places that
are wide enough are too thin.
All I can think to do is to glue it. There is a fair amount of gluing
surface, as there are sides on three sides; but I have never done anything
like this before and a bit hesitant. There is no easy way to glue it,
except by simply assembling it except for the top, putting glue on, putting
the top on, and putting some weight on the top. Will that be adequate for
my big bottle of gorilla glue that I haven't found much use for, or should I
go to epoxy glue?
Any advice would be appreciated.
(It is built of 3/8" panels that are too thin to take pocket screws. I
planned on using the legs, but there are no surfaces wide enough. All the
sides pieces are matched for grain direction, so expansion should not be an
issue.)
On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 04:55:55 GMT, "toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Have you thought of "Figure 8's" or placing glue blocks on the inside
>> edges of the rails so that you can screw through them.
>> John
>
>Yeh, gluing some blocks in so I have something to screw through is probably
>the right thing, but it will look tacky.
>
If you securely attach the top to the base, do so only along the
center line. That way the top can move, otherwise it may crack,
split, or warp. Another method is to elongate the screw holes and
put a washer on the screw to allow it to move easily.
I have used shop-made "buttons" by cutting a rabbet across the end
grain, crosscutting to obtain a strip, then ripping off the small
buttons. Each button is about 1.25x1.25x0.5." Drill and countersink
a single hole in each button. You can make a lot of them easily this
way. You'll need to cut a groove in the apron of the table, using a
biscuit cutter or slot-cutting router bit.
toller wrote:
> I cut all the wood for a coffee table, and intended on attaching the top
> with pocket screws. Now that I am assembling it, I find that the places I
> intended to put screws simply aren't wide enough, and the only places that
> are wide enough are too thin.
>
> All I can think to do is to glue it. There is a fair amount of gluing
> surface, as there are sides on three sides; but I have never done anything
> like this before and a bit hesitant. There is no easy way to glue it,
> except by simply assembling it except for the top, putting glue on, putting
> the top on, and putting some weight on the top. Will that be adequate for
> my big bottle of gorilla glue that I haven't found much use for, or should I
> go to epoxy glue?
>
> Any advice would be appreciated.
>
> (It is built of 3/8" panels that are too thin to take pocket screws. I
> planned on using the legs, but there are no surfaces wide enough. All the
> sides pieces are matched for grain direction, so expansion should not be an
> issue.)
>
>
Have you thought of "Figure 8's" or placing glue blocks on the inside
edges of the rails so that you can screw through them.
John
Can you add a cleat to the underside of top and pocket screw from cleat to
the apron? Same assembly ides, turn it over and glue the Celts so they
contact the apron..allow for expansion. If you glue it eventually the glue
will fail with expansion/contraction. Cross grain gluing is a poor joint.
Somewhere on theta table the apron is running parallel and perpendicular to
the top. No way to glue without cross grain.
Good luck.
"toller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I cut all the wood for a coffee table, and intended on attaching the top
> with pocket screws. Now that I am assembling it, I find that the places I
> intended to put screws simply aren't wide enough, and the only places that
> are wide enough are too thin.
>
> All I can think to do is to glue it. There is a fair amount of gluing
> surface, as there are sides on three sides; but I have never done anything
> like this before and a bit hesitant. There is no easy way to glue it,
> except by simply assembling it except for the top, putting glue on,
putting
> the top on, and putting some weight on the top. Will that be adequate for
> my big bottle of gorilla glue that I haven't found much use for, or should
I
> go to epoxy glue?
>
> Any advice would be appreciated.
>
> (It is built of 3/8" panels that are too thin to take pocket screws. I
> planned on using the legs, but there are no surfaces wide enough. All the
> sides pieces are matched for grain direction, so expansion should not be
an
> issue.)
>
>
Don't glue the top on - this is bound to fail probably sooner than later.
The movement of the top from expansion/contraction will cause it to fail -
if normal use doesn't.
Use finger blocks or table-top clips (Rockler, Woodcraft, home-made) to
attach the top to the skirt of the table. If you have already assembled the
lower part of the table, you can still cut the finger-slots with a jointer
or a biscuit cutter. This type of attachment provides a very secure
attachment that will allow natural movement.