I have a wooden chair that is all wobbly because the screw holes are wallowed out. Using larger wood screws is not an option. I believe the traditional repair is to drill out the holes, glue in some dowels, and re-drill. Being lazy, I thought I might see whether there are any space-age expoxies that I can use to fill the holes instead.

Any suggestions?

It's a little hard to do it correctly, but as in everything, taking the time to do it the right way pays off in the end.

You answered your on question. Good luck.

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OBK #55

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I took a wood shop back in high school, and they 'short cut' the instructor used was to fill the screw hole with Elmers glue and hammer in tooth picks to fill the hole, then re-insert the screw after everything had dried. I have no idea how well this works for anything critical, but I have had some success with this on a couple of door latch and hinge applications.

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John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
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Click to see 87 300E

Gorilla Glue man.

That's similar to the dowel concept. It's sort of like using an anchor to hold screws in concrete. The dowel method is the best, though.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Hey, here is something I actually know about!

Get a dowel and put a point on it and taper it to be a little larger than the hole you are trying to repair. Cut it to length plus at least 1/2" extra. Put some yellow wood glue (called PVA) on the plug and in the hole. Drive the plug into the hole with some light hammer blows. Allow the glue to dry completely (at least 24 hours so it can cure). Then drill a new hole and put the original screw back in. If you are concerned about the screw working loose, you can put a little glue on the screw, but before you do, make sure to dry fit everything first so you don't have wet glue on the parts and realize that things don't fit for whatever reason.

I always say that the hallmark of a good woodworker is their ability to fix their F___ Ups. Good Luck!

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

Yep. Gorilla glue expands sort of like foam. My only suggestion would be to allow it to cure for several days before you drill it, because even though it says full cure in like 12 hours on the bottle, it still seems a little elastic to me until a few days have passed, and its original intended use is not to be used in such a thick application, so more cure seems logical.

I have a 200 y.o. bed that my wife ordered from France. The frame around the footboard pulled away at two corners and the highly decorative panel that makes the bed fell out. The bed is put together with pegs, not nails or screws. Not caring about resale (Carleton ), I gorilla glued all the seams and put four ratchet straps on the sucker and heaved it together at about 3oo#. My 230# brother has, well, deflowered that bed several times and it has held together. I also did the drill and tap like you describe on a victrola stand we use for a bookshelf and a coffee table.

Course the dowel thing isn't much harder, but you have to be careful on something like a chair, because you could split the wood assuming it is fairly narrow if you use too wide of a dowell.

Oh, and the resin/harderner type epoxy thing would work and of course I use this repair on boats (two weeks ago, in fact) , but a: you better have a hell of a fast drill because that stuff is very difficult to drill into, and b: I find that it doesn't bind as well to wood as it does to fiberglass or plastic, so you may find your "plug" spinning out.

If you go gorilla, use an awl or punch to make an indentation before you drill.

So we know that it will stand up to oscillating stresses.

Good suggestions but some of you guys haven't been under the gun like me where I wanted to get that screw in 10 minutes from now and move on. It's surprising how quickly you can re-drill even after using Titebond/Elmers if the plug is a tight fit. I use a little sanding block to dial the plug in.

Epoxy will definitely get you off the ground in hurry. The toothpick thing works pretty well -- with epoxy quite well. Even bondo can suffice, if it's not a highly crucial situation. Just cram the hole full of bondo and redrill -- be sure to drive the screw in lightly, no over-torquing.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Although the other methods suggested so far are better IMO, the cheap easy and fairly strong way of making this type of repair is to use metal strips designed for stripped holes. These can be found commonly at hardware stores and usually used to fix stripped or unglued loose dowels. They are metal strips with perforations throughout, fold into a V insert into hole and set in your screw, the metal is compressed between the screw and the hole and the crushed, perforated metal strip bites to both. Good easy fix, but not as good as doing it the right way. Your call

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Fill holes with West Systems epoxy mixed with 406. Let it kick and re drill the hole.
Note: make sure to wet out wood first with resin to avoid a dry joint.

If its in a varnished peice or its a repair that will be visable when done, mix in saw dust to color the repair. If you can mix in saw dust from part you are working on the match is usualy very good. Still visable though.

I do this like everyday on some boat related project, give me a tough one!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

That is like, three times harder than doing it the dowel way, which dculkin thought was too much trouble, sport.

if the hole is not too huge, i often just put some elmers in and put in the screw. after it dries it will be fine. again, it cant be too grossly wallowed out.

tom w

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..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Hmm well I could have those holes filled in less time then it took to post this. But then again I work with West Systems on almost a daily basis so its what you get used to I guess.


But usualy the right way, and quick way are two different things.

Maybe a shot of glue then?

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200