Seeking Help With "Firming Up" A Screw

Bill Sheehan

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I just got a little Kustom PA-50 personal p.a. system. I have previously owned one and liked it so much that I decided to add another, as they can be "daisy-chained" for certain situations. The carrying handle on these little units is much like you'd find on similar pieces of equipment, and consists of a strip of flexible plastic-y material, about six inches in length, held down by a little steel bracket on each end (each bracket being screwed down to the top of the unit with a single "machine" style screw about an inch in length); there's enough "slack" so that you can slip your fingers under the strip to pick the unit up. It weighs about fifteen pounds. Whenever I get an item like this, I like to take my screwdriver and kind of double-check to make sure that all of the screws have been tightened properly at the factory. On this unit, I noticed that one of the "bracket screws" seemed like it didn't give a lot of resistance when I checked it, and when I started to tighten it up, I could tell that I might soon be in danger of "stripping it out". So I carefully removed that screw, with the intention of doing the old "toothpick" method of firming things up in that screw hole. However, when I inserted the toothpick section, it fell all the way into the unit; so it appears that this particular screw hole goes all the way through the top of the unit. Under these circumstances, would my best option be to just get a screw with a slightly larger diameter, or is there another approach that might work better? So far, I have wrapped the existing screw with plumber's tape and re-inserted it, and although it feels fairly tight (maybe a "seven" on a scale of ten) and probably isn't going anywhere, it's bugging me a little that it's not super-tight like the other bracket screw. Any thoughts (including "leave it alone!") would be appreciated as always! Thanks!
 
Would a wooden match fill the hole so it could be glued in?
 
Would a wooden match fill the hole so it could be glued in?

Ah, I think I see what you're saying-- get a matchstick (or a couple if necessary) coated with glue so that it'll "suspend" inside the hole securely, and then maybe wait overnight for it to dry, and then try re-installing the screw?
 
Ah, I think I see what you're saying-- get a matchstick (or a couple if necessary) coated with glue so that it'll "suspend" inside the hole securely, and then maybe wait overnight for it to dry, and then try re-installing the screw?

If you're not able to get access to the inside then this or something similar might be your only option. Yes, use glue and match(es) to refill the hole, let it dry and drill an appropriate size pilot hole in the same spot and reinstall the screw or do the same thing to firm up that spot and drill the appropriate size pilot hole just to the right or left of the old hole so you're screwing into solid wood rather than a repaired spot.
 
I like the plumber's tape idea and leave it alone :cheers:
 
Hahahahaha! Thanks Jim! And should I then celebrate that decision with a couple of beers??!! Sounds pretty good, actually!
And seriously, for the relatively little stress I'm going to be putting on it, the option of "leaving well enough alone" may have a good deal of merit.
The tricky thing here is that the screw hole in question has no discernible bottom, so there's nothing for any "filler" material to push up against.
 
Don't use a matchstick ! Drill a bigger hole and glue in a hardwood dowel , then redrill it for the size of the screw.
You could also drill a new hole next to the stripped one.
 
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Try moving the hole to the side about 1/4 inch.
 
Wow, thanks to all for the thoughts and input. I'm attaching a quick photo of the bracket and screw in question. I'm not sure if I have the terminology correct, but this screw seems to be more of the "machine screw" style than the "wood screw" style; in other words, it doesn't have very prominent "barbs" along its length like a wood screw might; so I'm wondering if it might be effective to just go to the hardware store and try to find an actual wood screw of similar color, length and diameter, and see if that might snug in there with greater tightness?
IMG_20191113_083533.jpg
 
I'm assuming the hole is in particle board or plywood or some type of wood?
If it is , a larger wood screw might do it.
 
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Thanks, Pete. Yes, the material seems to be kind of a plywood; perhaps a wood screw would have a little more "lateral bite" to it.

Options:

1) Use the next size up wood screw.
2) Get a threaded insert (these are brass, have wood threads on the outside and machine screw threads on the inside). Drill out for the minor diameter of the exterior threads, coat the exterior with epoxy, screw in, let epoxy cure, use machine screw.
3) Riv-nut (it's like a pop rivet but when you've expanded it against the hole, it leaves you with internal machine screw threads).
4) Expanding drywall anchor.

It would be weird to screw a machine screw directly into particle board, but given the probably Far East assembly location, you can't rule anything out. If that is the case, a machine screw into "wood" will pull out. Sooner or later. Probably right at the least opportune moment. You'll want to get that fixed, and the other one too.
 
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Thanks, Turf! So far, I'm still "sitting on it" and haven't done anything one way or the other. I may run out to the hardware store tomorrow and see if I can find a couple of "next-size-up" wood screws, and see if they'll do the trick!
 
Well, yesterday I ran out and got a couple of appropriately-sized "wood" screws, and as I prepared to insert them into the existing holes, I noticed a little glint of silver from within the holes; it appears there's a little "female sleeve" imbedded down inside each hole to receive the original "machine" screws. This came as a surprise to me, so I just put the original machine screws back in place and tightened them to the level they were at originally, and I'll probably call it a day on this and just use reasonable care in handling the unit (which I would do anyway). Thanks to all for your help and advice!
 
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