I need to screw something to the bottom of a desktop made of 1" particle board (the upper surface is wood veneer). It will experience a fair amount of load, so I need the screws to hold securely. If it were solid wood or plywood I would be confident it would hold, but my experience is particle board does not hold screws well -- they crumble out.
So, my question is, how can I put screws in the particle board such that they will hold securely?
jim
T nut should work you can find them many places
On 11/29/2004 9:03 PM US(ET), jim evans took fingers to keys, and typed the following:
A *lot* of L brackets?
How can you assure the T nut will not pull out? They don't seem to be made to hold well into particleboard with just the barbs.
------------- It works like a screw/nut arrangement. You drill a hole through the board for the center of the T-nut to go through, then tap it in place from the back side with a hammer. The screw goes into the center of the T-nut from the front.
It's a very strong setup.
You might look for this type of fastener. T-nuts are great if you can go all the way through the material. It sounds as if you want the fasteners not to go through.
Check Google Groups.
What about particleboard screws [with or without wood glue]?
The standard ways is to drill a hole the size of a dowel and glue the dowel in the hole, then drill a hole for the screw in the dowel. First you need a Forstner bit which drill as flat bottom hole and you need to pick an appropriate size. 1/2" would probably be ok, but
3/4" or 1" would be needed for a heavier weight. Or, you could just glue a piece of 3/4" board on the under side and put screws into the board.
The thing I'm attaching is sort of like two metal slides and each slide only provides for 3 screws.
jim
Uh guys, the top of the desk is veneered. It's too late to hide a T-nut under there.
To the OP, simply drill small holes for the screws and be sure to apply a lot of pressure when installing the wood screws. They should hold quite well. By not drilling first, you tend to eat away at the hole while trying to install the screw.
Well, I'll be danged. I never thought about them making special screws for particle board. Now to find where I can but 6 and not pay $30 for a lifetime supply.
jim
Ah, yes. I knew you guys would come through. I like that solution.
jim
A almost never run a screw without pilot drilling. I've pilot drilled and used wood screws in the edge of 3/4" particle board to stabilize a dish washer. After a little use the particle board crumbled and the screws fell out.
jim
---------------- Sorry about that. Somehow I glossed over that detail.
If you have to come up from underneath, then you're stuck with using a particle board screw and yellow carpenter's glue.
Use a particle board screw with a nibbed head, as shown here:
sorry misread post no way it will work glue a piece of 2x4 or something al little smaller probably 12" long using a good quality yellow wood glue or gorilla glue with clamps while it dries then screw into that no way 1" particle board will take any load trying to pull the screw out
Wayne
Not a good situation. However, make your pilot holes, insert your screws not quite all the way then back them out. Turn the desk over and fill the holes with cyanoacrylic glue; if it isn't all absorbed by the particle board within a minute or two, wick out the excess with a paper towel. Let it harden for several hours then attach your hardware.
The glue will have penetrated, hardened and welded the particle board together around the holes, works pretty well. However, depending on the load, I'd still be more comfortable gluing and screwing hardwood strips under the desk - even 1/4" ones but 3/4 is better - and then attaching the brackets to those.
-- dadiOH ____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.05... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at
They aren't all that great for your purpose.
-- dadiOH ____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.05... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at
It isn't all that great for your purpose. The dowels, that is, because you'll be screwing into their end grain. If you could insert the dowels from the desk edge they would work fine.
-- dadiOH ____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.05... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at
According to dadiOH :
The dowel idea is pretty good, but I'd use cross-grain _plugs_, not dowels. You can buy such plugs from most hardware stores.
Another idea is to buy/make some thin strips (say, 1/2") of wood, and bore for T-nuts, install T-nuts, then glue and screw the strips as "battens" to the underside of the platform, and fasten the thing being installed to the T-nuts.
Or, instead of T-nuts, just glue and screw the strips.
Or, use knockdown threaded barrel nuts. They have a bolt thread on the inside, and a particle board thread on the outside. Bore the appropriate hole, then screw the "nut" into it (usually an allen key). Much stuff is built like this (ie: Ikea knock-down furniture). Many places carry these things - like Home Depot, Lee Valley or Woodcraft. Sometimes you can buy them as repair parts from Ikea.
Particle board screws generally come in 2" lengths, designed to go through a particle board sheet into the "end grain" of particle board (eg: making boxes and cabinet carcases or hanging shelves). You won't find particle boards short enough for the OP's purpose.
I do the screw and glue thing. Most of the time you need a bit of a standoff to clear the lip of the counter anyway.
Fastening things to particle board is often difficult. Either screws/glue and LOTS of surface area, or purpose-built fasteners (like T-nuts or the aforesaid barrel nuts).
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