Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 14, 2000 12:07pm | #11

   *
   I just installed 30 glass cabinet and drawer pulls with the hardware provided... unslotted oval head #6 machine thread bolts with square nuts. The drawers are 5/8 maple boxes with 1" painted poplar faces, the doors are 1" poplar too. Had to backdrill a 5/8 hole in the drawers to allow the bolts to reach the nuts. The only way to tighten the darn things was thumbpressure on that little , shiny bolt head and twisting my wrist. They were finger tight, just this side of loose. Yet 7 of them blew out major chips & chunks in the last week. I suspect the wood is beginning to swell.Maybe a small rubber washer under the nut would help. Any other explanations or strategies out there? regards, murph

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   Guest_ | Apr 10, 2000 01:12am | #1

   *You've got the idea for half the solution already.The other half would be to take one of those screws to the store and get new screws for all of them that will be long enough to fit more than a thread or two into the knob, while leaving enough space for one of those rubber washers as well.When you put it back together, make sure that plenty of threads go into the knob first. Then slip the rubber washer on the screw. Slide it to the head, and put a drop of silicone glue on the tip of the screw. Then put it back together and tighten until just snug. The rubber should keep it from 'splodin the knobs anymore, and the silicone glue, (clear caulk), will keep the knob from working it's way off.This is all assuming that the screw goes through the wood and into the knob.

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   Guest_ | Apr 10, 2000 03:12am | #2

   *Yeah, the more thread you grab, the stronger it will be. It's easy to strip a couple of threads, harder to strip a dozen.If you think the expansion of your wood is a real problem, use felt washers instead of rubber. Felt will compress alot more than rubber.

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 10, 2000 05:47am | #3

   *BigM, sounds like combination of cheap knobs (cheaply made glass, not necessarily cheap to buy) and too long of a bolt if wood expansion is the problem. I think I would get an even deeper counterbore so there isn't as much wood to swell. Maybe a larger diameter with a flat washer so they don't pull through.Depending on a rubber or felt washer to allow for expansion is going to result in loose knobs later, not going to be a permanent answer. Don't those knobs usually go on with just a screw from the outside rather than bolt & nut? Joe H

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   Guest_ | Apr 10, 2000 05:48pm | #4

   *Is this Murph of the Murphtones?

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   Guest_ | Apr 11, 2000 12:50am | #5

   *forgive my ignorance, but whom might the Murphtones be? Me, I'm just a transplanted shanachie from Saratoga NY, currently residing in Fairfield CT. Luka, I guess I wasn't too clear...the bolts dont screw into the backside of the glass knobs.The knob themselves are through drilled, the smooth oval head of the bolt at the knob apex is exposed, and the square nuts are inside the drawer box, with plenty of thread engaged. I'm going to try a deeper back drill..with a small rubber o-ring and some silicone. thanks for the input, people. regards, murphp.s. makes you wonder how all those antique crystal knobs on old dressers survived this long. Unless, mayhaps, they are antique replacement knobs?

3. 
   Guest_ | Apr 11, 2000 03:08am | #6

   *It was a reference to the Blues Brothers. One of the band members was playing Ramada's as "Murph and the murphtomes." I though everybody knew the Blues Brothers.

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   Guest_ | Apr 11, 2000 06:09am | #7

   *They should, but may have renditions of Lawrance Welk floating about.Now that was a Movie !!!!!!

5. 
   Justin_B | Apr 11, 2000 08:47pm | #8

   *Actually, sorry to burst your bubble...but I believe that it was Murph and the Magictones

6. 
   Guest_ | Apr 11, 2000 10:42pm | #9

   *Ah, darn it.

7. 
   Guest_ | Apr 14, 2000 04:15am | #10

   *OK, I can't stay out of stuff like this. I think all the above suggestions are good, but I would beware of one more factor: The underside of the head of the bolt may be the wrong shape for the knob - may be putting the pressure on it very locally, so a small change in force generates a large change in pressure. Perhaps the supplier got the bolts & knobs from different places, and didn't realize...?

8. 
   Guest_ | Apr 14, 2000 12:07pm | #12

   *Damn....Dave, that never occurred to me. I'll check.Thirty years in the trade and still learning. regards, murph