In article , J.
Clarke wrote:

In article ,
says...

In article ,
gary wrote:

A cross dowel is used to join two pieces of wood. That's not what I
needed
to do.

The issue was how to get strong threads in particle board. Cross
dowels are used for this, in lots of cheap furniture.

Joe Gwinn

While they are how do you get them in place in an existing desktop?

I don't have a drawing of the desktop, but assume that one can drill
holes.

Alternately, I've used a bit of sheet metal with threaded holes and a
machine screw from the other side.

Particle board just isn't that good a material for wood screws and the
like.

Joe Gwinn