Interesting Kitchen cabinet door issue

[SH]

Hello all,

I have several kitchen cupboards and wall cabinets.

They all have the typical kitchen hinges for the doors.

I am finding that the screws for the hinges into either the cupboard or wall cabinet are working lose resulting in the door going diagonal.

I can actualy tighten up the screws nice and tight. The threads are NOT stripped.

Cue a few weeks later and the screws have worked loose again. Again I can tighten them up and door is OK.

This keeps on repeating itself. I dont really want to use thread locker glue in case I ever need to adjust the doors (its all natural wood)

So what is causing this and what can I do to fix it once and for all?

S.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Dunno what causes it, but my fix has always been to remove the screws, fill the hole with car body filler, grease the screws and put them back before the body filler sets.

[Chris Hogg]

Undo the screws and shove one or two match-sticks into the screw-holes. Break them off flush and replace the screws.

[John Rumm]

A non permanent thread locker.

[alan_m]

Cocktail sticks are better than match sticks :)

[Brian Gaff]

Probably the way the spring in the hinge is designed. The worst ones are when they are secured by those little turn screw things into chipboard, and you cannot tighten them. Out comes the araldite, I'm afraid. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

No, that only works if the threads are stripped in my experience. Sadly glue seems to be the only real fixing strategy. How often would you really need to readjust the doors, after all? The fact that the two hinges are fighting each other slightly is the cause, but you need to make the securing system more rigid, so the actual out of alignment of the hinges are forced to bend, not the door fixings wiggled. Brian

[Joe]

I use a mix of sawdust and Resin W.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I tried plugs, but if the chipboard is degraded enough they don't hold. Araldite is expensive and takes to long. CBF is my favourite. Stuff it in and let it almost harden - ten minutes, screw in and wait till it hardens and then screw home.

[Tricky Dicky]

You can get what are called repair plates such as these;

They go under the plate on the cabinet side and basically reposition the fixing screws whilst covering the damage, they also allow you to use additional screws making the repair more secure than the original.

Something similar is available if the hinge has pulled out of the cabinet door;

Richard

[SH]

I've seen those and they are meant for where the screws have physically pulled out of the door or cabinet and cannot be screwed back together as either the hole is enlarged or the thread has stripped...

In my case I *can* tighten up the screws amd the door is then OK until the screws work loose again a few days later.

[SteveW]

But maybe they won't work loose if they are screwed into a steel plate? Or you could you could use a thread retainer liquid that is designed for metal to metal screws, but also designed to be undone if needed.

[Rob Morley]

There are different grades of thread lock - Loctite purple is the least permanent.

[The Natural Philosopher]

They work loose because they are not gripping their holes anymore. You need to add friction. By making the hole smaller.

[alan_m]

Doesn't that suggest that the hinges are out of alignment with each other and pulling on them everytime you are opening or closing the door?

Are you sure that you are actually tightening them into the wood and not on the metal edge/hole of the hinge fitting. Try taking the fitting off and putting the fixing screw through the hole in the hinge fixing. Is it a loose fit and/or can you just turn the screw, with a screwdriver, into the hole until it reaches the head end of the thread where it stops turning and where you mistakenly think when in situ it is tightening into the wood.