Instead of screwed inserts for timber...?

You can buy the brackets complete with the dowel screws for less than a tenner

Or you can get screws with a machine thread one end and wood screw thread the other. Either use as you describe or two per leg with the machine screw part projecting from the leg into the rails with a blind hole drilled to take the nut, similar to many flat pack constructions. One might have to think about leg/rail/top assembly order. B-)

no way am I paying that.

MM

Like these?

Screwfix do M6 too, which should be ample for a small side table.

MM

Yep.

Don't make the hole too tight (as it will be difficult to get the rod into it) and use polyurethane or epoxy adhesive on the screw thread (but not into the hole). The adhesive will make it easier to screw the rod in and once set will hold it very firmly.

If you coat the thread with epoxy or car body filler first, its in for keeps allright. No need to be a tight fit either.

thread alone needs a metal nut or insert to have sufficient shear strength..wood screw threads much deeper.

push some araldite in the hole first and it may work

Check the only review first.

Even the photo makes them look dodgy ...

Nick

That just says that the ones supplied didn't have the square section in the middle. No big deal! Anyone using these must presumably have some nuts which fit on the machine threads - so just put a couple of lock-nuts on, and screw the woodscrew end into the wood using a spanner on one of the nuts - or a suitable socket in an electric screwdriver. Simple!

What is 'dodgy' about a screw?!! You screw 'em into the timber, then you fix the other end with a nut. These are the fundamentals of flat-pack.

MM

Absolutely! Some people would find fault with a drawing pin.

MM

The things are supposed to have 4 flats for driving with a spanner. The review says "the ones supplied didn't have the square section". Would you pay money for nuts without flats?

I don't care whether they have flats or not, I'd just put two nuts on and tighten them against each other, then wind the stud in that way.

MM

You maybe missed my point - the damned things are /supposed/ to have flats just like a nut - would you buy flatless nuts??

I wouldn't buy flat-less nuts because they wouldn't be fit for purpose.

The same is *not* true of these double-ended screws. I wouldn't use the flats even if they were there because it's much easier to fit lock-nuts and use those to screw it in - from the end rather than the middle!