Camera repair advice - woodwork.

[MikeMGB]

I bought a Rochester 8x10 recently It is in excellent condition except for one joint. As you can see from the photographs someone repaired a loose joint with a nut and bolt, the bolt head sits on the surface, the nut is recessed into the wood. This is obviously not an effective repair and the joint is still loose.

I am not a wood worker but would like to repair this correctly, can anyone advise me on the best way to do it? I would assume I need to drill through the joint, use a suitable dowel and fasten everything with hide glue, but I learned a long time ago never to assume anything!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

178838

178839

178840

[Jac@stafford.net]

Yep, remove the fastener, drill out the hole to the correct size for a slotted dowel, use animal glue, clamp if necessary, trim. Be happy.

[Gary Beasley]

You will want to be sure the frame is square before drilling for the dowel. Measuring corner to corner diagonally both ways is the time honored way, as well be sure your parallel sides are the same length. Once verified clamp it down and drill.

[Steven Tribe]

Made of good solid timber pieces! You might want to check the adjacent joint - on the other side of hinge - which looks like it has been "strengthened" too.

[aclark]

It is difficult to give advice without actually seeing the job. But I suspect that removing the bolt, re-drilling the hole to take a wooden dowel, then gluing everything back together may not be your best option. The essence here is to get the joint tight, so the side grain wood butts tightly up to the end-grain shoulders. So the joint is tight. The dowel may actually prevent this happening. A better option may be to remove the bolt, clean up all the gluing surfaces as far as you are able, then glue the joint back together with clamps to get a tight fit. Check for squareness as has been said. Then when the glue has set, drill a hole for a dowel and then glue a dowel in place.

Not sure why you want to use hide glue. Maybe because that was what was used originally. Hide glue is tricky to use. It has to be clamped when hot, or the join will be weak. And it isn't a gap-filling glue. If there are gaps in the joint, you may be better using an epoxy glue, otherwise Titebond is good.

Get everything as clean as you can before gluing. And do a dry run with the clamps.

Alan

[Paul Ron]

It is difficult to give advice without actually seeing the job. But I suspect that removing the bolt, re-drilling the hole to take a wooden dowel, then gluing everything back together may not be your best option. The essence here is to get the joint tight, so the side grain wood butts tightly up to the end-grain shoulders. So the joint is tight. The dowel may actually prevent this happening. A better option may be to remove the bolt, clean up all the gluing surfaces as far as you are able, then glue the joint back together with clamps to get a tight fit. Check for squareness as has been said. Then when the glue has set, drill a hole for a dowel and then glue a dowel in place.

Not sure why you want to use hide glue. Maybe because that was what was used originally. Hide glue is tricky to use. It has to be clamped when hot, or the join will be weak. And it isn't a gap-filling glue. If there are gaps in the joint, you may be better using an epoxy glue, otherwise Titebond is good.

Get everything as clean as you can before gluing. And do a dry run with the clamps.

Alan

excelent advice!

[pepeguitarra]

It is difficult to give advice without actually seeing the job. But I suspect that removing the bolt, re-drilling the hole to take a wooden dowel, then gluing everything back together may not be your best option. The essence here is to get the joint tight, so the side grain wood butts tightly up to the end-grain shoulders. So the joint is tight. The dowel may actually prevent this happening. A better option may be to remove the bolt, clean up all the gluing surfaces as far as you are able, then glue the joint back together with clamps to get a tight fit. Check for squareness as has been said. Then when the glue has set, drill a hole for a dowel and then glue a dowel in place.

Not sure why you want to use hide glue. Maybe because that was what was used originally. Hide glue is tricky to use. It has to be clamped when hot, or the join will be weak. And it isn't a gap-filling glue. If there are gaps in the joint, you may be better using an epoxy glue, otherwise Titebond is good.

Get everything as clean as you can before gluing. And do a dry run with the clamps.

Alan

+1

[MikeMGB]

Thank you all for the advice, as suggested I will make sure everything is square then glue the joint before drilling for a dowel.

I mentioned hide glue simply because that is what was originally used, as I said though, I learned a long time ago never assume anything. I have Titebond, Gorilla and Elmers wood glues, would any one of those be preferable over the others?

[joedgaia]

Hey Mike, for maximum strength and visual appeal a tight fit is imperative and it looks from your photos that the gaps might be a bit beyond tolerance as a tight surface to surface long grain fit is the strongest glue bond. If the fit is loose that can easily be rectified with a shim of the same type of wood. As far as glue goes I'd recommend Titebond III as these new glues when applied properly are actually stronger than the wood itself. Thoroughly clean the surface of any old finish or glue, glue it up and clamp tight according to instructions. After glueing you can drill the hole and fit an appropriate size dowel to fill the hole, flush cut, sand and finish. It's a slightly critical job but about a 4-5 on a 10 skill scale. Have fun.