Need some furniture repair advice

[rbh]

Force wood glue (white) down the cracks with a tooth pick, clamp and let set up.

 

[BWR1953]

Hi guys! Thanks for all the great input! Keep it coming. :joyous:

My daughter arrived last night for a 6 day visit and we've been keeping busy catching up and whatnot. Haven't seen her in 4 years so there's still plenty more catching up to do.

I've been reading this thread as best I can but this is the first opportunity I've had to reply. Bizee bizee bizee!

 

[BWR1953]

Okay, here's the back story. Over the last couple of weeks we've converted my former hobby/junk room into a dining room. We need the cart to move food, dishes, etc. to and from the kitchen to the dining room at meal times.

Any reason you cant drill and move the caster back a bit on the leg in question?

This might be the simplest solution of all. Will keep it in mind.

You could try mixing up a batch of 50/50 saw dust and wood glue and pack it tightly in the hole. Let it dry for a day and then redrill the hole.

Where do I buy sawdust? :lol:

 

[BWR1953]

Marine plywood and proper fiberglassing is a must! LOL! I like the dowel and drill idea, but I would also add a U-brace to go around the bottom and hold the broken pieces in place so the dowel didn't have a chance to further loosen the cracked/broken piece of wood that allowed the caster to come free. Basically tighten the whole bottom up a bit. And if you WANT to put a layer of glass over the top, well, you COULD do that also so you felt like you were working on the boat....

I'm a tinhead! No fiberglass! :lol: eep:

Shoulda bought an aluminum microwave stand. Then you wouldn't be having all these problems :lol:

I got pretty close! I started out buying this brand new steel cart but it looks really tacky for the dining room and was a bit small, so I opted for the much larger oak cart. We'll move the steel cart out to my new steel garage once the oak cart is repaired.

 

[BWR1953]

I'd remove the wedge and try to repair it. First, remove the wedge and the leg if you can. It's easier to work with on the bench. Then, glue up the split by using a quality wood glue and clamping it flat. Let that dry for a few days. Then, go purchase some hardwood dowel rod, one size Larger than the hole is now. Drill out the hole to the larger size, leaving a little room for the glue bond. Coat the dowel lightly in glue and insert into the hole. Let that section dry for a few days. Drill the dowel to the proper size, and get another caster insert at the a big box store. Carefully install the insert and caster. Enjoy.

I'll have to look into that. The PO had glued and nailed that side strip for the repair but the hole clearly wasn't clamped tight because it's misaligned. I can't tell if it's epoxy in there or wood glue.

Oh, another option is to remove all the casters and reframe the bottom with 2 x 1 inch wide oak toe strip. Lowes/HD has some. Just stain it to match, then attach to the bottom of the cart with countersunk wood screws. (pre drill your holes in the cart and toe strip) You can drill it to install new casters, and you have gained 2 inches in overall height.

The cart is plenty tall already so adding height isn't a goal. And doing all that work sounds tough for me. LOL! :lol:

 

[BWR1953]

You all are making too much out of this easy repair. First see if those broken out parts are removable. If so take them off and clean any and all glue the PO used to glue it back together. That way you can reclamp them back into proper place. Once you have all the glue removed off all the broken parts. Clean the surfaces well and mix up some quality epoxy glue and assembly them all back together. The fact that they are the same parts that broke off means the will seal up well when you clamp them. Let that cure and then use a drill and drill out the hole to a larger size. The initial hole will guide the drill so you can get it all drilled clean. Then us a hardwood dowel of the same size and epoxy that back in the hole you just drilled. Allow that to cure and cut off and sand flush. Now you can buy the sleeve for the caster and drill the appropriate size hole for it and install the caster again. It will be like new. If you can't find a sleeve for the caster, buy four new casters with their associated sleeves and install news one all the way around. Easy peasy. JMHO

Yeah, my initial thought was to redrill and add the dowel. I have a buddy who told me that it might be risky because the oak may splinter and rip the hole open more. I dunno? :noidea:​

And I WANT that cart....

Good luck BWR, you now have multiple repair methods.

IMO 4 new casters and sleeves would be a good choice. Even if you mounted a new 3/4 oak rail along side the old on both sides to mount them into.

I'm definitely going to have to buy 4 new casters. The ones in there now are 1/4" diameter with 1 1/2" shank length. Can't find any caster sockets to match. The ones I've found have all been 5/16" diameter. :blue:

 

[BWR1953]

It's your own fault for not getting a survey done in the first place. Now you're going to have to remove the entire leg assembly and replace it with all new wood.

Otherwise, Volphin has laid out two very good quality repair methods.

Yeah, seems that with no survey that more work is always required! :lol:

Clean all the old glue out of the crack (Xacto knife or sand paper), may have to spread it apart a bit more to clean it properly, then epoxy it back together. I wouldn't be shy about even using JB Weld, but tape up the exposed wood so it doesn't stick to the exterior wood. Before the epoxy really sets hard, scrape the bits out of the hole while it's still a bit pliable.

I dunno if I'll be able to get that side splint off there. It's not only nailed, it's glued. Might have to grind it off with my Dremel tool. And if the nails are glued in, that's a different issue too. :blue:

 

[BWR1953]

Why do you need casters? How often do you expect to need to roll your microwave around the house?

It's to move food and dishes from the kitchen to the dining room at the opposite end of the house. No microwave movery going on here!

McMaster Carr for casters
Tite-Bond III and a small clamp to repair the wood

put new caster in hole with some TBIII and put tape over the sides of the wood, use a small c-clamp to hold the pieces together for about 30 minutes. the TBIII should have oozed out. wipe up what you can. after 30 minutes, remove the clamp and tape and with a wet cloth remove the remainder of the TBIII

allow to dry overnight

then use.

I dunno if that will be strong enough with a fully loaded cart. Hmmm... :wacko:

 

[BWR1953]

You could just cut that leg off shorter and use a book under it to level it out. :deadhorse:

It's gotta be movable. :car:

What's a book?? :noidea: Oh wait, I think I read about those on the Ancient History Channel website!

Force wood glue (white) down the cracks with a tooth pick, clamp and let set up.

No cracks open. There's glue of some kind in there.

 

[fishrdan]

I dunno if I'll be able to get that side splint off there. It's not only nailed, it's glued. Might have to grind it off with my Dremel tool. And if the nails are glued in, that's a different issue too. :blue:

Is the split piece stable with the hatchet job repair? And, are you worried about how it looks, way down there? This might not be the "proper" repair, but if it's solid, fill it in with epoxy as suggested above and redrill the hole. If you can center a crayon in the hole while the epoxy sets, it will give you something soft to drill into so the new hole doesn't get off center, use less epoxy too. But, now where are you going to get a crayon. (myself I'd be tearin' it apart for the proper repair....)

Microwave food for thought. I have heavy benches in the garage that I used to bust casters off all the time, until I added a second pair of caster. I haven't busted a caster since, 6 casters on each bench. Though, you have to get them all level or it may rock... And now we have just created a new problem

 

[Scott Danforth]

I dunno if that will be strong enough with a fully loaded cart. Hmmm... :wacko:

you only need to stabilize the split portion and for that all you need is a bit of wood glue, and maybe a small piece of wood

you realize those casters are only rated for 40# each. considering the weight of the cart, and you can only add another 120# to it

of course you could weld up a steel sub-frame, put industrial 300# casters uner it, load the cart up with 500# and watch the rest of it splinter

 

[Bayou Dave]

Take off all the existing rollers. Get one of these and nail the microwave cart to it with 20 penney nails!

 

[proshadetree]

If the new casters are 5/16 get 4 new , redrill all the holes, install new. Drink coffee and admire your work. Keep it simple.

 

[WIMUSKY]

If the new casters are 5/16 get 4 new , redrill all the holes, install new. Drink coffee and admire your work. Keep it simple.

That sounds like "the" plan to me.........

 

[BWR1953]

That sounds like "the" plan to me.........

Indeed it does.

 

[BWR1953]

And this morning I got a new problem. I asked the boy (10 y.o. stepson) to measure the cart dimensions. When he finished measuring the raised leaf, he tried to just push it down instead of unlatching it underneath. When the leaf resisted, he put his full weight on it to force it down. And broke it at the pivot pin. :facepalm: :yell:

For this repair I'm thinking of drilling a couple of 1/8" holes at angles and gluing in a couple of dowels. Sigh. :blue:

 

[Tim Frank]

Hmmmmm.....which would be the better option, synthetic glue or natural glue?

 

[fishrdan]

And broke it at the pivot pin. :facepalm: :yell:

Plenty of surface area, I'd use good ol' TiteBond II or TiteBond III and just glue it back on.

 

[gm280]

And this morning I got a new problem. I asked the boy (10 y.o. stepson) to measure the cart dimensions. When he finished measuring the raised leaf, he tried to just push it down instead of unlatching it underneath. When the leaf resisted, he put his full weight on it to force it down. And broke it at the pivot pin. :facepalm: :yell:

For this repair I'm thinking of drilling a couple of 1/8" holes at angles and gluing in a couple of dowels. Sigh. :blue:

Okay, with that type break there is going to be a lot more stress on that fix then some others. I would use a top quality glue or even a two part epoxy and clamp it well until it totally cures. Otherwise you will be addressing that break again. And with the proper glue and clamp technique that fix should be totally invisible as well. JMHO

 

[BWR1953]

I'm currently not home (am out fishing!) but I'll look into picking up some Titebond. Always did like that stuff.