We have a writing bureau with a drop down lid that should be supported by 2 arms. My wife (first rule always blames someone else) opened the lid without pulling out the supports. As a result the drop down lid has broken off just above the hinge, It looks as though a strong wood glue would do the job. Any suggestions please?
Now - my father used a writing bureau as a hifi centre (turntable in the top).
He made a simple-ish mod to solve this problem:
Cut 2 5-7mm wide slots over the top of where the pull-outs run (ie one slot over each, in the base of the top compartment).
Screw a right angle hook
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in the top of the sliders near the back so it presents up through the slot you made.
Fix this:
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to the door, lose the plastic block and drill to accept the hook you put in the pull outs.
I don't think he actually used a screw hook - more likely he made a bracket and skipped a bolt through the stay and the bracket with a locknut to allow the joint to be loose enough to pivot - but it was easier to describe it. I hope you get the idea...
As you open the door, the stays pull on the top hook/bracket on the pullouts and pull them out - nice smooth automatic action. Closing does the reverse.
Don;t know why bureau makers didn't do this as standard.
PVA will be more than strong enough provided most of the surface to be glued is clean virgin wood. Wood with existing glue on it will not bond well. eg Evostick resin W wood glue (not a builders grade PVA)
You will need to clamp the two parts together with a minimum of four clamps. Not to exert extreme pressure and squeeze out all the glue but to apply distributed pressure along the join.
Fit the clamps with no glue to start with to workout what will happen and where you want to place them. pieces of tape on the jaws will help prevent marking the wood. Fit some clamps on one side and the rest alternately on the other. this will help keep the assembly flat.
Slacken the clamps and apply glue on both surfaces.
PVA is a water clean up product so anything that does squeeze out should be wiped off with a damp cloth before it dries.
Leave clamped and undisturbed for 24 hrs for best results.
We used to have an oak bureau in the family which had suffered such a failure, leading to a long split. Given that the failure region experiences large bending moments on repeat events, I wouldn't trust it to glue, I would dowel it. (Or perhaps biscuit joints, these days).
An advantage of epoxy there (real stuff, such as West, not Araldite) is that it's a much better gap filler than PVA - so I can have sloppy holes to suit my clumsy inexact drilling, and yet still have it all line up :)
Yes. I don't have a local supplier (that I know of) so I get it from eBay. I use Titebond Original and it's superior creep resistance over ordinary white PVAs make it particularly suitable for my applications.
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