What is this called and where can I get them.

[mm]

At a friend's house and she had a footstool assembled with what I might call headless knobs, or screw-on rivets. They use a piece of the threaded rod that are used for drawer knobs, in the middle, and on each end was like a knob except that almost all of it was missing. Just something like a rivet with a threaded hole in the middle, that goes all the way through. The shaft is maybe 3/8" and the head is maybe 1/2" or a little more and only a couple millimeters high, and the whole thing is 1/2 long.

What do you call these things?

The current ones are brown, probably brown metallic.

Can I buy them at HD or a hardware store, or do I have to look on the web?

This footstool matches some of the other furniture, all of which is in v.good condition.

[Noozer]

Is this what you're looking for?

It's a "prong nut", and I've seen them at Home Despot.

[Noozer]

...are you referring to cam-lock screw and nut?

[Tom G]

Check the hardware store in the aisle with the pull out boxes full of odd items. Hillman is the distributor that services most of the stores around N. Ill. I've seen what you are talking about but can't remember the name. I believe they were in the box labeled "furniture hardware"..

Tom G.

[mm]

And I forgot to ask: How do you tighten these things?

There are no flat spots, only a round outside, a round inside, and a domed top.

[mm]

Thanks. It's my fault for not giving a better description, but the ones I need have no prongs. And they're prettier on the side away from the screw, a nice enamel brown or maybe -- it was not well lit -- some other nice finish.

If I find them, I still don't know how to tighten them. Because I can use my fingers until the edge gets close to the wood, but after that the only way to grip them would be to put some sort of reverse easy-out into the hole.

(It's not the cam-lock either. Thanks again.)

And thanks to Tom for the clues. If we're talking about the same thing :) and they are actually in the store, I should have be able to spend enough time to find them. If I were to have to to hunt on the web, the name would be much more important.

How do you tighten these things?

[Larry Fishel]

Home depot has something similar, but without the hole. I had to replace one on a sliding glass door once, but I don't remember what they are called. They are made of thin aluminum and probably aren't strong enough foir furnature if there's a pulling stress and not just a sheer.. This type is simply kept from turning by being pressed against the surface when the screw starts to get tight. If you look carefully at the ones you're tlaking about, I bet you'll find that the hole has flat surfaces on the inside and takes an allen wrench. I think I've seen them on furnature before, but I've never seen them sold seperately...

[Larry Fishel]

Home depot has something similar, but without the hole. I had to replace one on a sliding glass door once, but I don't remember what they are called. They are made of thin aluminum and probably aren't strong enough foir furnature if there's a pulling stress and not just a sheer.. This type is simply kept from turning by being pressed against the surface when the screw starts to get tight. If you look carefully at the ones you're tlaking about, I bet you'll find that the hole has flat surfaces on the inside and takes an allen wrench. I think I've seen them on furnature before, but I've never seen them sold seperately...

[mm]

Well, this piece was the footstool. Is there a difference between that and ottoman (sp?)? And she said her husband broke it by sitting on it, and he weighed maybe 300 pounds.

I did look. Didn't think so, but maybe I missed it. Not too much light.

An allen wrench would be fine.

Ooo. Well let's hope the other guys are right. I'll go shopping in a day or two.

[mm]

Looking at this again, they call it a prong T nut. I've always called these T-nuts, but they have a good point. It has prongs. So maybe what I want is also called a T-nut, just a prongless one. It is T-shaped, even more so than the ones with prongs. So I'm going to check this out. Thanks again.

[PipeDown]

Try

Whatever it is, if the center is threaded, you should be able to tighten it by temporarily threading a regular screw into it unless it is reverse threaded ir something odd like that.

Sounds like custom hardware.

[mm]

Oh, yeah. I should have thought of that. I feel stupid.

YOu screw another piece of that same threaded stuff in it, put a fiber washer on, and then put a nuts on over that. Tighten the nut and it will turn the prongless T-nut. Something like that.

I guess I"ve nver done this before, but I did something remotely similar, and I should have thought of it.

Thanks.

[Kathy]

try googling "captive nut" as well as T-nut

to tighten it

reverse

a fiber

and it

remotely