Tim S wrote:
Hi,

This weekend I'm starting a bit of drywalling for the new tank and airing
cupboard. Got a load of 100x50mm PAR ready and a plan on Sketchup...

I've already got a load of GoldscrewPlus screws, but having tested some, I
wonder if there's a preferred screw for knocking studwork together.

The GoldscrewPlus have good grip and self-starting ability, but fail to pull
the timber together well.


I'm wondering if you have faulty technique?

If you don't drill a pilot hole through the first piece of wood, the
second piece will never pull in at all (not with any type of
fully-threaded screw).

When you screw two pieces of wood together with no pilot hole, you screw
through the first piece, then when you bear on the second piece it (the
second piece) "moves away" before the screw begins to cut. This gives a
permanent gap between the two pieces.

The trick is to screw through the first piece, then screw partially into
the second piece, then unscrew from the second piece, then screw back
in. The second time, the gap between the two pieces is eliminated.

Just a thought. Sorry if this is Granddmother/egg/suck territory.

Dave Osborne coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S wrote:
Hi,

This weekend I'm starting a bit of drywalling for the new tank and airing
cupboard. Got a load of 100x50mm PAR ready and a plan on Sketchup...

I've already got a load of GoldscrewPlus screws, but having tested some,
I wonder if there's a preferred screw for knocking studwork together.

The GoldscrewPlus have good grip and self-starting ability, but fail to
pull the timber together well.


I'm wondering if you have faulty technique?

If you don't drill a pilot hole through the first piece of wood, the
second piece will never pull in at all (not with any type of
fully-threaded screw).

When you screw two pieces of wood together with no pilot hole, you screw
through the first piece, then when you bear on the second piece it (the
second piece) "moves away" before the screw begins to cut. This gives a
permanent gap between the two pieces.

The trick is to screw through the first piece, then screw partially into
the second piece, then unscrew from the second piece, then screw back
in. The second time, the gap between the two pieces is eliminated.

Just a thought. Sorry if this is Granddmother/egg/suck territory.

Not at all - it's an interesting idea.

I've been playing with some of these "new fangled" screws and I haven't got
the hang of them yet ;-

Cheers

Tim

Tim S wrote:
Dave Osborne coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S wrote:
Hi,

This weekend I'm starting a bit of drywalling for the new tank and airing
cupboard. Got a load of 100x50mm PAR ready and a plan on Sketchup...

I've already got a load of GoldscrewPlus screws, but having tested some,
I wonder if there's a preferred screw for knocking studwork together.

The GoldscrewPlus have good grip and self-starting ability, but fail to
pull the timber together well.

I'm wondering if you have faulty technique?

If you don't drill a pilot hole through the first piece of wood, the
second piece will never pull in at all (not with any type of
fully-threaded screw).

When you screw two pieces of wood together with no pilot hole, you screw
through the first piece, then when you bear on the second piece it (the
second piece) "moves away" before the screw begins to cut. This gives a
permanent gap between the two pieces.

The trick is to screw through the first piece, then screw partially into
the second piece, then unscrew from the second piece, then screw back
in. The second time, the gap between the two pieces is eliminated.

Just a thought. Sorry if this is Granddmother/egg/suck territory.

Not at all - it's an interesting idea.

I've been playing with some of these "new fangled" screws and I haven't got
the hang of them yet ;-

Cheers

Tim

Depends on the timber rather than the screws. Structural timber
(studding) is a lot softer than PAR redwood.
Nails are faster but IME the joints have a habit of going slightly out
of alignment with the last hammer blow

"Stuart Noble" wrote in message
...
Tim S wrote:
Dave Osborne coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S wrote:
Hi,

This weekend I'm starting a bit of drywalling for the new tank and
airing
cupboard. Got a load of 100x50mm PAR ready and a plan on Sketchup...

I've already got a load of GoldscrewPlus screws, but having tested
some,
I wonder if there's a preferred screw for knocking studwork together.

The GoldscrewPlus have good grip and self-starting ability, but fail to
pull the timber together well.

I'm wondering if you have faulty technique?

If you don't drill a pilot hole through the first piece of wood, the
second piece will never pull in at all (not with any type of
fully-threaded screw).

When you screw two pieces of wood together with no pilot hole, you screw
through the first piece, then when you bear on the second piece it (the
second piece) "moves away" before the screw begins to cut. This gives a
permanent gap between the two pieces.

The trick is to screw through the first piece, then screw partially into
the second piece, then unscrew from the second piece, then screw back
in. The second time, the gap between the two pieces is eliminated.

Just a thought. Sorry if this is Granddmother/egg/suck territory.

Not at all - it's an interesting idea.

I've been playing with some of these "new fangled" screws and I haven't
got
the hang of them yet ;-

Cheers

Tim

Depends on the timber rather than the screws. Structural timber (studding)
is a lot softer than PAR redwood.
Nails are faster but IME the joints have a habit of going slightly out of
alignment with the last hammer blow

If the screw has cut itself a thread in first piece and you start with a gap
then no amount of tightening will close the gap - it may be more likely to
strip out the thread in the second piece than the first. A clearance hole
(at least as big as the outside diameter of the thread) will absolutely
assure a good clamping effect

Stuart Noble coughed up some electrons that declared:

Depends on the timber rather than the screws. Structural timber
(studding) is a lot softer than PAR redwood.

Ah. My "studding" is PAR, because I ordered lots of random sizes and I
didn't want to end up with mixed types - this lot will do for anything non
pretty.

Nails are faster but IME the joints have a habit of going slightly out
of alignment with the last hammer blow

And excessive Anglo Saxon when thumb replaces nail...

John coughed up some electrons that declared:


If the screw has cut itself a thread in first piece and you start with a
gap then no amount of tightening will close the gap - it may be more
likely to strip out the thread in the second piece than the first. A
clearance hole (at least as big as the outside diameter of the thread)
will absolutely assure a good clamping effect

OK - so the traditional way then. I'm happy with this. Only asked because
I've seen builders whacking in screws without pilot holes so I though it
was a "feature".

Cheers

Tim

HI Tim

Tim S wrote:
John coughed up some electrons that declared:


If the screw has cut itself a thread in first piece and you start with a
gap then no amount of tightening will close the gap - it may be more
likely to strip out the thread in the second piece than the first. A
clearance hole (at least as big as the outside diameter of the thread)
will absolutely assure a good clamping effect

OK - so the traditional way then. I'm happy with this. Only asked because
I've seen builders whacking in screws without pilot holes so I though it
was a "feature".

Cheers

Tim

Two ways round this problem...

The one that Dave mentioned earlier in the thread...

alternatively...

In certain 'joints' you can use one of those trigger-operated clamps
(sort of like the love-child of a g-ramp and a mastic gun)
to hold the two pieces of wood in exactly the right place, before
whacking the screw in tight (no pilot holes required).

Hope this helps
Adrian

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:45 +0100, John wrote:
If the screw has cut itself a thread in first piece and you start with a gap
then no amount of tightening will close the gap - it may be more likely to
strip out the thread in the second piece than the first. A clearance hole
(at least as big as the outside diameter of the thread) will absolutely
assure a good clamping effect

Doesn't drilling a hole that large mean that all the stress is then on the
head of the screw, rather than (with a smaller hole, or no hole at
all) being distributed along the length via the screw thread? For softer
wood in particular, won't that result in a joint that's prone to flexing
if the wood ever has the chance to wear against the screw head?

If I'm using relatively soft wood, I've always found the "tighten, back
off a bit, re-tighten" method that someone else mentioned further back to
work well - for harder wood I'd go the pilot hole route.

cheers

Jules

Dave Osborne wrote:
Tim S wrote:
Hi,

This weekend I'm starting a bit of drywalling for the new tank and airing
cupboard. Got a load of 100x50mm PAR ready and a plan on Sketchup...

I've already got a load of GoldscrewPlus screws, but having tested
some, I
wonder if there's a preferred screw for knocking studwork together.

The GoldscrewPlus have good grip and self-starting ability, but fail
to pull
the timber together well.


I'm wondering if you have faulty technique?

If you don't drill a pilot hole through the first piece of wood, the
second piece will never pull in at all (not with any type of
fully-threaded screw).

Whack em in with enough force and the thread strips on the first bit and
the second bit pulls in quite nicely. Sounds like you are being too gentle!


--
Cheers,

John.

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| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:


If you don't drill a pilot hole through the first piece of wood, the
second piece will never pull in at all (not with any type of
fully-threaded screw).

Whack em in with enough force and the thread strips on the first bit and
the second bit pulls in quite nicely. Sounds like you are being too gentle!



My poor old 9.6V battery drill obviously isn't up to the job ;-(

Dave Osborne wrote:
John Rumm wrote:


If you don't drill a pilot hole through the first piece of wood, the
second piece will never pull in at all (not with any type of
fully-threaded screw).

Whack em in with enough force and the thread strips on the first bit
and the second bit pulls in quite nicely. Sounds like you are being
too gentle!



My poor old 9.6V battery drill obviously isn't up to the job ;-(

Try it with a decent 18V impact driver or combi/drill driver and it just
keeps turning until something gives... usually the wood!

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/