Hi,
I’m building a 8’x4′ trestle table roughly patterned off a 6’x4′ Stickley cherry original I remember from my youth. I want to make the thing readily movable by taking the top off of the base. The top of the original table was fastened to its base by large wood screws coming up from underneath the transverse supports into the tabletop. That is an okay arrangement, but I’d rather mount a female machine threaded socket (essentially a nut) in the top and screw up into it with a bolt through the support. I’m envisioning the socket would itself be attached to the top with a pair of screws, and there would be a hollowed out area in the tabletop to allow the surface of the socket to be flush with the bottom of the tabletop.
The question is, Does such an item exist, and if so where can it be found? I’ve looked through a few woodworking catalogs, but this part does not fall into the usual ‘table hardware’ category and I’ve not had any success.
The top is 8/4, so there should be enough clearance to mount a 1/2″ or 3/4″ deep socket without much trouble.
thanks
Replies
Rainbow Canyon Mfg. Corp. sells a steel threaded insert for wood which is 3/4 x 10 O.D. and 3/8 x16 I.D. It is 15/16" long. You have to drill and tap the wood and epoxy it in. Give me your snail mail address and I'll send you a copy of their handout. I've been using them for years to mount stuff on bench tops and I'm sure they'll work upside down for your use.
There are a lot of "threaded wood inserts" out there but they are made of aluminum or zinc alloy and are weak and pull out if any pressure is put on them.
If you are in Southern California they will probably be at the woodworking show in Pomona CA on April 23-25.
thanks Rob. I sent my info via email. let me know if you don't see it.
Keep in mind your attachment design needs to allow the top to swell and shrink through the year. Go to http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/shrinkulator.htm and plug in your wood species, dimensions, and indoor relative humidity extremes to find out how much movement to allow for.
Edited 4/9/2004 1:36 am ET by Uncle Dunc
good point, I'll elongate the holes in the support somewhat to accomodate that. Apparently for a 48" mesquite table top, assuming a 20-70% rel humidity range, it is about .4" over the whole width. So 1/4" of travel for each hole would do the job i guess.
the boards are plain-sawn, so I used the tangential shrinkage figure.
Come to think of it, I don't remember this precaution taken in the original. I may not have been looking for it though.
thank you
What you are describing sounds like a "nut plate" commonly used in the aerospace industry. They come in a floating variety in which the nut has limited movement to account for the tolerance stack up in positioning all of the holes. The ones we used were riveted in place. A Google search on this should give you some leads and pictures. (I did a search and got a number of hits and saw some up to a #10 screw size, but unfortunately I'm pressed for time right now so I can't sort through the results and offer a more concrete lead).
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled