fast drying fiiller to take screws

[fred]

Occasionally I need to fill 7mm diameter x 10mm deep hles in chioboard panels. Ideally I would like to use a fast curing filler that would be able to take a screw.

Any suggestions ?

[Max Demian]

Rawlplastic.

Oops! Contains asbestos so not allowed! (Nanny State, Health & Safety gone mad &c.)

[Tim Watts]

I would glue in a piece of dowel with PVA to fill old screw holes.

In this case, choose an oversized dowel, perhaps 8-10mm?

[Tim Watts]

Asbestos is hardly "nanny state".

Lot's of things are - but unless you actually like lung cancer, that's not one of them...

[GB]

I assumed there was some irony there, somewhere. He can't have been serious. Can he? I mean ....

[charles]

since the instructions for used in are to hold it in your hands and use your fingers to mound it, the resulting asbestos fibres cound be very close to your nose/mouth. I had a friend who died last year from asbestos related lung cancer. NOT GOOD

[Tim Watts]

As I've never heard of the chap before now, I can't tell...

[newshound]

I'd say it depends on the size and type of screw, and whether it is essentially in the middle of the dowel. Like others I would say car body filler is an obvious option, but will it pull out of 10 mm sheet if there is much outward pull?

I know Gripits are designed for plasterboard, but might they in fact provide quite a secure fixing into chipboard (which is never the best thing to put screws into anyway).

Or if there is space behind, then a hollow anchor type fitting?

[Max Demian]

I rather doubt that 'research' has shown that Rawlplastic is a 'significant' health risk.

[Max Demian]

Why would you do it "close to your nose/mouth"? A most unusual posture.

Did he get it from using Rawlplastic?

[Andrew]

Nothing made by Ronseal

[Chris J Dixon]

If you are not near a tap, then saliva would be the wetting agent of choice.

Chris

[Andrew]

But that means the wood fibres are parellel to the screw so not as strong as it could be.

I keep a way-out-of-date bag of Wickes fine surface filler for jobs like this. Sets quickly but unlike gypsum plaster it can be sanded smooth.

[michael adams]

Assuming it used to contain the dangerous type of asbestos, then presumably any risk would have arisen from breathing in any dust being generated when subsequently sanding or drilling the cured rawlplastic.

michael adams

...

[John Rumm]

Body filler or the wood coloured 2 part wood fillers would be one option. There was a time you could get hot melt glue sticks designed for plugging operations - either injected straight from a hot glue gun, or melted over flame and wiped in.

Another alternative would be to get a tapered plug cutter in the appropriate size, cut wood plugs and then glue and hammer them in. Pare level once in.

[michael adams]

The direction of the grain in the wood is immaterial. Providing the right size drill and screw are used, the screw when inserted forces the dowel against the sides of the hole.

When Fred Dibnah was hammering his iron dogs (big hooked nails) into his "dowels" (which to all intents and purposes looked like bits of firewood) 100's of feet up the side of a chimney, the fibres of his dowels were also parallel to the dogs. And it was only ropes tied to those dogs which kept all the ladders attached to the chimney.

michael adams

...

[GB]

What do you want, exactly? Any product can go on the market, until it's been proved that it's killed lots of people?

And at that point, the original product is withdrawn, but a slight variant can be sold, because that one hasn't yet killed lots of people?

And let's bear in mind that, by the time people start dropping dead, there may be vastly more who are incurably ill but still alive.

Do please explain what it is you are saying.

[Richard]

I think he's saying, "I rather doubt that 'research' has shown that Rawlplastic is a 'significant' health risk."

[Roger Hayter]

That would be true about a lot of small risks, but asbestos is one of those things that has been shown to be very nasty, and often in tiny quantities. Seeing it isn't irreplaceable for any use it is actually sensible to forbid its use. There are a few other things like that. Plutonium would be a good example, as is Beryllium (though I believe that is still used as a component in sealed electronic things).

The rawlplastic is especially undesirable as drilling it and breathing the dust is a SOP.

[newshound]

You are exactly right, but it is not quite a correct analogy. Screws going across the grain of wood engage as the screw threads go between the fibres of the wood. Screwing parallel to the grain, the threads don't penetrate so deeply. Getting the drill and screw sizes right is much more critical. Whereas the friction joint made by our Fred relies only on having a good geometry (tapered dowel in tapered hole) and then having the wedge-shaped dogs hammered in far enough. An expert can judge the "tightness" (i.e. the expansion force) by how far the nail moves with each blow. And the tightness determines the pull-out force. You won't get quite the same feedback with a screw. It's one of the rare cases where a traditional full-length tapered wood screw may well perform better than a "modern" screw where only the tip is tapered.