We have a short-legged stool (4 legs). The legs used to screw into a threaded metal thingy screwed into the wood at the four corners. The wood around one of the threaded metal thingies broke and there’s not enough wood left to put a new threaded metal thingy in its place.
I know I have seen an alternative way to attach screw-on legs to a stool. It’s a bulbous piece of metal, with a threaded hole in the top of the bulbous part. So you would attach 4 bulbous pieces, one at each corner and then screw the legs into those.
My question: what is the name of those bulbous metal pieces so I can look for some on the internet? I’ve tried searching on “stool leg mounting hardware” and variations but no joy yet.
It could be some kind of mounting plate like Fear Itself linked to, or are you talking about a “threaded insert” which is a metal cylinder with wood threads on the outside and machine screw threads on the inside; you drill a big hole in the wood and screw the insert into the hole, this gives you a machine screw threaded hole to attach the leg to.
The former is a “clinch nut plate”, they’re a little over $3 each from Rockler:
Threaded inserts can be found here:
And if you need the bolt that goes into the end of the leg, leaving a machine screw thread protruding, that’s called a “hanger bolt”:
Incidentally, if the wood that tore out was just some screw holes so you can’t put the clinch plate back on there’s a relatively simple fix:
Carefully drill out the damaged screw holes using a larger drill bit; for example, a 1/4" diameter bit (careful, don’t punch through the stool). Next, take a short length of 1/4" hardwood dowel (available at any hardware or lumber store), just a bit longer than your hole is deep. Use some sandpaper and/or an exacto knife to bevel one end a bit (so it can be tapped into the hole) and sand the diameter down a bit (so it’ll just go in). Cut a few grooves along the side of the dowel (to allow glue to move). Put a thin layer of wood glue on the dowel and tap it into place with a hammer. Wait for the glue to dry, cut off the protruding excess dowel and sand it flush to the surface. Then put the clinch plate in place, mark the screw hole locations and predrill.
This looks pretty close to what I was looking for. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give me enough information. What are it’s length, width, and height? What size is the threaded nut?
Yes, this is the right idea. However, this is called a “clinch” nut plate and other places it says that a “clinch” nut plate has the nut free floating in the plate. This won’t really work for a stool leg. The nut should be fixed, not floating.
BUT, I think you’ve actually given me the answer. What I’m looking for is a variety of “nut plate”.
A tee nut is probably not what I’d use - it has to be installed from the other side as the screw will be threaded into; in the case of a stool leg that would mean that the nut would have to be drilled/hammered into the top side of the stool seat.
Me neither, I was just taking a stab at what jharvey963 was trying to describe.
CMC fnord!
Your links led me to this, exactly what I was looking for to add some parts to my telescope, thanks!
I gotta surf my woodworking links more often. :smack:
I live a short drive from Rockler. Going there is like watching one of my old stoner friends in high school at the 7-11. You don’t “need” anything when you walk in but you sure walk out with a lot of stuff.