Repair Stripped screw holes

[Randy]

Can someone offer a repair for what must be a common problem in old wooden cameras? I have numerous screws that hold the hardware on my 8X10 that will no longer tighten, but just spin. Is there a type of filler or glue that should be used to restore the hole and allow the screw to cut new threads?

[Herb Cunningham]

Brings back the ghost of Ron Wisner. He said to put a toothpick in the hole and then cut it off flush. Also there is a product, Behlen Master Swel Lock, that you can put a drop in the hole and the screw fits pretty tight if it is just a name plate or similar no load part. The tooth pick works well. Don't use super glue as there is no coming back from it if you mess up.
My bottle of Swel Lock says Behlen is in Hudson, NC,28638

[jp]

I don't know about cameras, but around the house, the method to restore screw holes in wood is to dip a toothpick (or other narrow stick of quality wood) in glue and insert it into the hole. After it's dry, trim it off, and the screw has more material to grip.

[c.d.ewen]

Wooden toothpicks and wooden matches are the traditional farmer's method of screw hole repair. A more sophisticated method is use hardwood dowels (and glue), drilling out the hole, if necessary. A good hardware store should have them down to 1/8".

Charley

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Hello from France

It depends whether the camera is of any historical value, or if you simply wish the camera to continue its faithful operation, regardless of "authenticity"
If this approach seems suitable, as mentioned in the previous post, there exist threaded metal inserts that you can glue inside the wood with epoxy glue, and you''l screw regular screws for metal inside the insert. This is of course a non-reversible repair.
The limits of this technique, besides some aesthetic issues, is of course the availability of enough wood in depth and width around the damage original threaded hole.

Another approch, closer in spirit to what cabinet-makers do in terms of reversible repair for old furniture.
I remember when I was 11, I learned to play the bassoon and the instrument was lent to me by the local music school. The instrument was an old one and suffered from the same problem as mentioned here ; all musicians playing wooden wind instruments used to re-glue their faulty screws with a kind of natural resin : shellac (the French for it is : gomme-laque)
You put some tiny bits of shellac inside the hole, then heat the screw with the flame of a lighter, and screw-in. Shellac will melt under heat, and when cold will properly glue you screw in place.
And the repair is reversible, tou can re-heat, and I think that shellac can be dissolved in alcohol or aceton. If you simply use epoxy glue, the repair could be non-reversible. But epoxy is much stronger than shellac ...

[Gem Singer]

Fred Picker continually pointed out that "stripped wood screws" were a problem with Deardorf and Wisner cameras.

He didn't use wood screws in the manufacture of his Zone VI wooden cameras. Instead, he used fasteners that went all the way through the wood (as does Canham).

When I formerly owned two Wisner Tech Fields, I ended up using most of an entire box of toothpicks refastening those little brass wood screws that no longer tightened down in the soft mahogany wood.

[Randy]

Well, looks like wood toothpicks it is. I may dip them in wood glue as jp498 suggests. Thanks folks.

[GPS]

...

The tooth pick works well. Don't use super glue as there is no coming back from it if you mess up.
...


Yes, there is a simple way, used by models builders, how to detach parts glued with super glue. Freeze the parts in a freezer for several hours and the glue will become brittle like ice.

[Scott Walker]

Wooden toothpicks and wooden matches are the traditional farmer's method of screw hole repair. A more sophisticated method is use hardwood dowels (and glue), drilling out the hole, if necessary. A good hardware store should have them down to 1/8".

Charley

I agree with the dowl being the best method with a good wood glue and the tighter the dowl is in the hole the better.

[John Jarosz]

The toothpick method works very well. Gorilla glue expands as it cures so the the hole, toothpick all become as one. You may even need to drill a new pilot hole but the combination of toothpick and gorilla glue will be a solid fix. You need to wet one surface of the wood with water to start the curing of the glue.

John

[IanG]

The trick with a toothpick and super glue is to apply the glue indirectly, I find it's particularly good with soft crumbling wood as it gets drawn in giving a very strong repair.

Ian

[TheDeardorffGuy]

I have repaired more screw holes than all of you combined! I guarantee it. The fix is simple. 1/10 in diameter hardwood dowels .090 diameter drillbit. I do prefer ACC glue but alphetic resin (fancy word for yellow carpenters glue) is fine too. Drill. insert a bit of glue, insert dowel. Cut flush, let dry a few hrs. Now look at the screw. There are 2 diameters. A major and a minor. On a tapered screw? Measure 1/3 up from the tip. That diameter is your pilot drill diameter. Now with a good eye center the pilot drill and have at it. I have turned brass inserts that center the hole.
So why do screws get loose? Metal polish is one. I'm doing V8 Deardorff #13 now and someone polished the brass with Brasso. It rotted the wood. It is an acid with pumice.
It gets under the wood and stays.

[c.d.ewen]

One other carpenter's trick is to mix sawdust and glue and poke the slurry into the hole. Somewhere on the shelf I've got a can of very fine mahogany sawdust, kept for this purpose.

Charley

[John Schneider]

One other carpenter's trick is to mix sawdust and glue and poke the slurry into the hole. Somewhere on the shelf I've got a can of very fine mahogany sawdust, kept for this purpose.

Charley

I've had very good luck doing this, except that I use epoxy. I coat the inside of the hole with straight epoxy to get a good wet bond, and then fill the hole with the epoxy/wood slurry. After it cures I redrill and reinsert the screw.

[Vaughn]

All these methods sound better than my method -- which is to use a bigger screw!

I need to do this with a few screws on my Ries!

[cyrus]

Sailors (ahem) have to deal with this problem all the time. We enlargen the hole, clean it out, then pour in some fiberglass resin, and once that solidifies, we re-drill a new hole in the place of the old one, through the new resin.....which I see someone else has already mentioned.

[Roger Thoms]

All these methods sound better than my method -- which is to use a bigger screw!

I need to do this with a few screws on my Ries!

That's hilarious, just my though when I saw the thread. Seriously though, there's a lot of good advice here. I'm actually more of the toothpick and glue type. I generally use the same or similar type of wood and cut slightly tapered plug to fill the hole. I also have some Fuller tapered pilot bit for drilling a new pilot hole.

I really like these bits. http://www.wlfuller.com/html/taper_point_drills.html

Roger

[Peter Gomena]

I had to re-fit some screws on my old camera. I couldn't use the toothpick method because the wood was too thin and the holes went all the way through (it's an antique). I found a hardware store that carried larger diameter screws of the same length. Problem solved. I will remember the dowel technique, however. Sounds like the best fix.

Peter Gomena/1

[Jim Ewins]

If there is a Rot Doctor in your area, they carry wood epoxy fillers (manuf by Smith in Calif) that are stronger than the original wood and can be sanded, drilled and hold wood screws. Yes I too have a Weisner.

[Louie Powell]

The trick with a toothpick and super glue is to apply the glue indirectly, I find it's particularly good with soft crumbling wood as it gets drawn in giving a very strong repair.

Ian

There is a wood turners trick that is similar to this.

Find a scrap of wood, using sandpaper, make a pile of sawdust. Carefully fill the screw hole with the DRY sawdust - use a toothpick to pack the sawdust into the hole. Then, carefully apply a couple of drops of super glue to the hole. The super glue will be drawn into the hole, filling the voids between the grains of sawdust. Allow the glue to dry. The result will be hard wood that can be drilled to reinsert the screw. And the beauty of this approach is that the screw is not glued into the hole.

[GPS]

There is a wood turners trick that is similar to this.

Find a scrap of wood, using sandpaper, make a pile of sawdust. Carefully fill the screw hole with the DRY sawdust - use a toothpick to pack the sawdust into the hole. Then, carefully apply a couple of drops of super glue to the hole. The super glue will be drawn into the hole, filling the voids between the grains of sawdust. Allow the glue to dry. The result will be hard wood that can be drilled to reinsert the screw. And the beauty of this approach is that the screw is not glued into the hole.

And - to repeat it again - other beauty of that is that once the camera is exposed to freezing temperatures the super glue becomes brittle, doesn't hold as before and a surprise is awaiting you. Isn't that beautiful? Once super glue is frozen, it becomes a lame duck...