Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > The Academy > Tilted Knowledge and How-To


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 08-17-2005, 06:03 AM   #1 (permalink)
Crazy
 
How to attach something to wooden desk?

Hello,

I hope everyone is well.

I'm hoping to pick the brains of the gurus here. I have the following wooden desk:



The make up of desk is:
Main parts- Steel, Pigmented epoxy/polyester powder coating
Panels- Particleboard, ABS plastic, Melamine foil

I would like to attach a keyboard arm I picked up (at an amazing price of $50 CAD from a used furniture place!) to the bottom of the desk so it swivels forward. The arm looks similar, but not exactly, to this:


(Sorry for the large size)

A close-up of the part that would attach to the bottom of the desk surface is:



So here are my questions:

1) Is the besk option to screw it into place through the existing holes? I had heard that particleboard isn't the greatest stuff to screw into.
2) would it be better to somehow glue or caulk it onto the desk instead?
3) the bottom surface of the desk is not a smooth wooden surface. Imagine you flipped the desk upside down. You would find, running about an inch in from all sides, a steel reinforcement bar about 1"x1", along the entire perimeter. Would I then have to mount this arm against that?

I'm not sure if I've described the situation well enough - if more info is needed, I will try to clarify.

thank you very much!
TheProf is offline  
Old 08-17-2005, 09:58 AM   #2 (permalink)
Addict
 
Location: In the id
Glue a piece of wood to the bottom of the desk then screw the keyboard tray to it.
The piece of wood is bigger than the keyboard tray mount and small enouf to fit in between the metal parts of the desk. Wood thickness 1/2" to 1" thick should work.

Be sure to use good clamping force or heavy weights when glueing the wood.
iamnormal is offline  
Old 08-17-2005, 10:07 AM   #3 (permalink)
Adequate
 
cyrnel's Avatar
 
Location: In my angry-dome.
By the time you have the shim and the tray attached you could lose 1"+ vertically. Make sure you and your chair can roll under where you're attaching the tray.

When I tried trays it always meant raising the desktop which then didn't match other surfaces. I eventually gave up on them. My favorite part was chair arms ramming my hands into tray edges.
__________________
There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
cyrnel is offline  
Old 08-17-2005, 10:12 AM   #4 (permalink)
Junkie
 
fhqwhgads's Avatar
 
I wouldn't suggest screwing anything that is going to take any kind of weight into the bottom of a piece of particle board. Gluing isn't going to do much either... particle board is very prone to splitting/seperating. Is there any way that you could attach a 1/2 inch thin board across the underside of the desk, lengthwise, and attach it to the metal framework of the desk? Put a few screws through the board into the particle board as well, so it doesn't sag. Then attach the tray to that piece...
fhqwhgads is offline  
Old 08-20-2005, 11:29 PM   #5 (permalink)
Young Crumudgeon
 
Martian's Avatar
 
Location: Canada
Also, while it's possible to screw into particleboard it's not highly recommended, as due to the makeup, particleboard tends to tear itself apart when you apply torque.

Best bet is to go with fhqwhgads' suggestion and attach a piece of wood to the metal framework, although I'd recommend glue rather than screwing it onto the particleboard. Again, make sure you clamp heavily. Note that you may need either a shim or cross beam of some sort though if the frame and the bottom of the desk surface aren't level.
__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame
Martian is offline  
Old 08-22-2005, 07:01 AM   #6 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Hello,

Thank you all for replying to my questions.

So the overall view is that it is not enough to just screw/glue into the bottom of the desk. This is good to know.

A comment about the clearance under the desk is important, but since the desk is completely adjustable, I can just raise the hight of the desk (it has holes every 1.5" along the full height) appropriately. Just hope I don't have to go too high!

In regards to the frame acround the bottom of the desk, you can see the right side and along the front (it is recessed on the front) of it in the image in my first post. It is completely flush with the desk so that won't be a problem. The distance between the bars is fairly large (about 42" across the front and 24" front-to-back) and the frame itself is 1 1/4" square a side. What would you recommend I do to attach the wood to the metal? Do I need to drill through it? Glue? Clamps? Magic?

thanks.
TheProf is offline  
Old 08-22-2005, 08:12 AM   #7 (permalink)
Junkie
 
fhqwhgads's Avatar
 
Gluing wood to metal isn't a great idea. Use some sheet metal screws. Drill a pilot hole through the piece of wood and through the metal, and use a sheet metal screw that's at least 1/4" - 1/2" longer than the thickness of the piece of wood that you're using. Just make sure that the screw isn't so long that you'll go through the desktop. (Keep in mind that when you drill your pilot holes, you want to use a drill bit with a diameter just slightly smaller than the diameter of the screw)

Also, it's not a bad idea to put some "liquid nails" or another all purpose adhesive on the board before you screw it to the desk, just for added support.
fhqwhgads is offline  
 

Tags
attach, desk, wooden

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 04:33 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360