Why won't camlock screws stay tight?
I know they have locked to start with , but surely they could risk UNlocking if they don't stay tight? Or are you not supposed to tighten them as you would a screw?. I have two camlock nuts on the underside of a coffee table and they are not as tight as screws would be. Is this normal? What stops them from unlocking, given that I am told that all you need to do to unlock them is loosen the screw anticlockwise... I am worried that this could happen anyway because they are too easily undone when I test with a screwdriver. Any advice please. It was like it from brand new. Could just be how they're supposed to be?
By camlock screws I actually meant the nuts.
4 Answers
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Cam locks get tight when they grab the screw heads and pull against them. The cam locks tightening properly is dependent upon those screw heads being driven in to the appropriate depth. If the screws aren't driven in all the way, or the measurement was poor and the hole for the cam lock was drilled too close to the edge, the cam locks will not fully tighten. As you guessed, this can be bad news if the locks loosen due to vibrations on the table, or from the table being moved around.
There is an easy fix. First, verify that the screws which the cam locks grab onto are fully screwed into the ṃѧṭıṅɢ piece. If they are, the holes for the cam locks have been drilled too closely to the edge facing the screws. To solve this, use a bit of newspaper or another thin material on the edge of the board that the cam lock holes are drilled into. This will make the distance between the cam locks and the screws slightly longer, and the cam locks will then grab the screw heads properly and hold tightly.
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if you want to secure those cam-lock screws into place then put the coffee table on a smooth surface [[ newspaper under ]] and remove the screws then drop some super glue into those holes and put the screws back into place and allow the super-glue to dry over-nite while on that flat protected surface ....
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No they're the ones that come with flat-packed furniture that you just use a large screwdriver with.
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What are you trying to tighten the nuts with? A socket wrench or open end wrench is the proper way to do it.
