How would you fasten this together?
Building a display kiosk for the missus for a homeshow. It has a plywood “pillar” of 3/4″ cherry plywood, 45 degree corners glued and nailed. It’s 3″ thick, 7 feet high, and 17″ wide. It looks kinda like the monolith in 2001 space odyssey. The base is another plywood box, 2 feet square 5 inches high. The top has a hole cut so the pillar slips into it. Both boxes have all 6 faces.
Now I need to put some fasteners into the bottom to marry the two pieces of plywood that are touching. It should be strong enough not to come loose later, and durable so it can withstand repeated assembly/disassembly. The pillar should be vertical after it’s all screwed together.
It would be straightforward to sink a few screws into the bottom, but I’m leaning toward bolts. I’m kicking myself for not putting some t-nuts on the bottom piece of the pillar before I glued and nailed the bottom piece in place.
Ideas?
Replies
I'd do the T-bolts. You may have to cut some access holes in the bottom of the tower to do it, but the holes would be hidden within the base anyway.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Use 'molly' bolts. These are expanding anchors that are usually used with drywall. The first time you tighten them, the anchor expands. When you remove the screw, a 'nut' remains in place.
A tapered sliding dovetail. Add the tail cleats to the base inner cutout and rout the slot in the pillar. Friction is good thing when used right and in conjunction with gravity.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
how about these????
Ace haedware or yur favorite BB will have them in each or quanity...
EXPANDABLE METAL ANCHOR: Hollow Wall - Medium to Heavy Weight Object
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HWA – Hollow Wall Anchors expand inside the wall cavity to provide a large bearing area for transfer of loads.
HWDA – Hollow Wall Drive Anchor permits installation in gypsum drywall without pre-drilling.
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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I've only used molly bolts for 40 yrs but because it's upside down in plywood my "these are for vertical walls in drywall" brain just didn't kick in.
so now that we got you laid out proper...
will they work????
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I was thinking of the threaded inserts, actually, and wondering how they'd compare to, say, a beefy molly bolt, like 3/16?
The molly grips the wood from both sides, where the insert relies on the threads holding it into the wood. I can see using inserts where you have no alternative, but I'm leaning toward molly bolts for more strength and endurance.
ya done yet???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Not quite. Not that its much of an excuse, but this project is my "off hours" work -- I'm at my day job 30 miles away at the moment!I think I'm going to go with a couple of the ideas. I like the keyed blocks, to give it all the shear strength it needs. Then I'll add some mollys and bolts to be sure it all holds together, but the bolts don't have to worry about shear.This thing's gonna have a 22" widescreen LCD monitor hanging off the face of the pillar at eye level, so we don't want it tipping over!
Edited 1/14/2008 7:09 pm ET by geoffhazel
you best post a picture....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
How about some threaded inserts and bolts to fasten things together.
If you can reach inside on of the boxes, it's a simple, strong way to tie things together.