Loctite for wood screws?

[carkenord]

I have an old slide-in camper on my Ford pickup.

The camper is mostly made of 3/4" plywood. I am renovating this camper, structurally reinforcing it. It stays on the pickup full time, so is subject to a lot of little vibrations, wiggles, twists, etc.

As part of my renovation, I am putting some 3/4" long zinc plated wood screws....into the plywood.

The screws were installed last week. What would be a good equivalent to Loctite to put on these screws so they don't appreciably "back-out" of the wood? I could partially or totally remove these screws to apply some kind of anchoring goop on the screw or into the screw hole.

Thank you..... Lee Carkenord

[David]

epoxy.

Dave

[tom]

Can't you put a split/lockwasher on the screw? If not, go with epoxy, eh? Tom

[Anonymous]

I see two issues....

First, zinc plated screws will rust. You'll want to use hot-dipped-galvanized screws or better yet, stainless steel. Any of your local "big-name" hardware stores will have these in stock and in any size you'll want.

And b) there are no adhesives for use on the threads in wood. Wood moves, it shrinks in dry weather, expands in wet and warps, cracks and twists inbetween.

My suggestion would be to use a good "marine grade" epoxy glue. This way the screws are just holding things together until the epoxy sets.

Woody

[e-mail] wrote:

[Lew Hodgett]

Use coarse thread, stainless steel, sheet metal screws and epoxy.

Drill pilot holes first, say 80% of the thread OD, butter holes with epoxy, then insert screws.

Lew

[JKevorkian]

Several fellows have recommended epoxy, and that's all well and good; but it's gonna be a bear to remove those screws later if the need arises. I'd suggest a cyanoacrylate like Hot Stuff, Zap, or the more heavily advertised Krazy Glue. It sticks metal to wood pretty well, and I find if you tap the end of the screwdriver with a mallet while it's engaged in the screw, it'll come out pretty easily.

[bluemax1811-newsgroups]

If you can tap it with a mallet to loosen it, then the truck vibration will loosen it as well. I disagree with the recommendation to use Krazy Glue. I don't use that for anything but gluing broken decorative ceramic pieces back together, where structural support is not required.

Bob

[Bigpole]

How about using a poly glue (like gorilla glue). I think it will glue metal to wood. I would experiment with it and one of the screws you will be using. I wouldn't use to much glue because of the way it foams.

[Tom Banes]

I've had the same issues with a replacement wooden frame for an aluminum camper (original frame ended up shearing apart and even professional heli-arc re-welding wouldn't hold).

Woody got it right. No screw in wood will hold under the kind of action you'll get in a truck camper, IMO. Glue the sucker together, use screws to hold until glue sets. Gorilla Glue isn't as good as marine grade epoxy, but the glued wood-wood joints have lasted 6 years of off-road abusive in my camper, so it's good enough.

Regards.

[Glenn de Souza]

If you really want to do this right, my suggestion would be to forget the wood screws and drive threaded inserts into the plywood, and then use machine screws with loc-tite and a lock washer. A lot of people use brass threaded inserts, but I like the tapered kind that drive with an allen wrench because they almost always go in straight.

Glenn