Gluing a table top on?

[toller]

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.)

[Dave A.]

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.

[Charlie Self]

Dave A. remarks:

You're not gonna glue this Celt, no matter what the ides of the month say!

Charlie Self "Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." Mark Twain

[chad.bender]

How about using desktop fasteners?

the sides are only 3/8", you may have to thicken them with cleats where you put the fasteners.

Chad

[John]

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

[toller]

Yeh, gluing some blocks in so I have something to screw through is probably the right thing, but it will look tacky.

[RonB]

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.

[Phisherman]

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.