Hi,

I have very few DIY skills, I know very little about woodworking, and I
have a desk and I have some legs and I have no idea of how to attach
them. I'm hoping someone can help me.

The desk itself is coated MDF or chipboard or possibly plywood or
something like that; it's not a single slice of tree, put it that way -
it's a cheap desk. The desk came with two metal leg stands with flat
tops about 5 - 6 cm wide that should sit flush with the underside of
the desk. (One for the left-hand side of the desk and one for the
right.) There are 8 holes in each of the two legs, but only half the
number of holes in the underside of the desk. The desk is second hand,
and so there are no screws, nails or glue for attaching the legs.

It all looks a bit like this:

Front view / Side view

-------------- ------- (Desk surface)
---........--- ------- (Metal legs)
..|..........|. .-----.
..|..........|. .-...-.
..|..........|. .-...-.
..|..........|. .-...-.
---........--- -------

(I've used '.' to mean empty space.)

A top-down view on the top of a leg looks like this (not to scale):

----------
----------
--O----O--
----------
----------
--O----O--
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
--O----O--
----------
----------
--O----O--
----------
----------

O = hole

The holes in the metal plates are quite large - what I consider to be a
standard screw would fall right through - but the holes in the
underside of the desk are quite small, fairly shallow (the desk surface
is only about 1 - 1.5 cm thick) and don't have any visible screw
threads in them - they don't look like anything's been screwed into
them before; they look a bit like the peg holes you might see on an old
domino scoring board, 2 - 3 mm across.

So, what are my options for attaching my legs to my desk? Ideally, I'd
like to be able to detatch the legs again in case the desk needs to be
moved, but I'll live with a permanent bond. If I'm going to screw
things together then I'd need some fairly unusual screws: big tops (so
that they don't fall right through the holes) with a short, thin thread
(which makes me wonder whether they'll just rip the wood open with a
little push). Does this sound right?

Any advice gratefully received.

- Lee

Well

I would size the screw to the desk part. Then put the screw thrrough a
washer to grap the leg.

Al

Lee wrote:
Hi,

I have very few DIY skills, I know very little about woodworking, and I
have a desk and I have some legs and I have no idea of how to attach
them. I'm hoping someone can help me.

The desk itself is coated MDF or chipboard or possibly plywood or
something like that; it's not a single slice of tree, put it that way -
it's a cheap desk. The desk came with two metal leg stands with flat
tops about 5 - 6 cm wide that should sit flush with the underside of
the desk. (One for the left-hand side of the desk and one for the
right.) There are 8 holes in each of the two legs, but only half the
number of holes in the underside of the desk. The desk is second hand,
and so there are no screws, nails or glue for attaching the legs.

It all looks a bit like this:

Front view / Side view

-------------- ------- (Desk surface)
---........--- ------- (Metal legs)
.|..........|. .-----.
.|..........|. .-...-.
.|..........|. .-...-.
.|..........|. .-...-.
---........--- -------

(I've used '.' to mean empty space.)

A top-down view on the top of a leg looks like this (not to scale):

----------
----------
--O----O--
----------
----------
--O----O--
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
--O----O--
----------
----------
--O----O--
----------
----------

O = hole

The holes in the metal plates are quite large - what I consider to be a
standard screw would fall right through - but the holes in the
underside of the desk are quite small, fairly shallow (the desk surface
is only about 1 - 1.5 cm thick) and don't have any visible screw
threads in them - they don't look like anything's been screwed into
them before; they look a bit like the peg holes you might see on an old
domino scoring board, 2 - 3 mm across.

So, what are my options for attaching my legs to my desk? Ideally, I'd
like to be able to detatch the legs again in case the desk needs to be
moved, but I'll live with a permanent bond. If I'm going to screw
things together then I'd need some fairly unusual screws: big tops (so
that they don't fall right through the holes) with a short, thin thread
(which makes me wonder whether they'll just rip the wood open with a
little push). Does this sound right?

Any advice gratefully received.

- Lee

Ah, yes, I didn't think of using a washer... I now have one leg
attached to my desk, and the second one will follow as soon as I've
bought some more washers.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Lee wrote:
Ah, yes, I didn't think of using a washer... I now have one leg
attached to my desk, and the second one will follow as soon as I've
bought some more washers.

Thanks for the suggestion.

If this doesn't work out after a while and things get to wobble you could
also slap a couple of 1" x 2" by what ever foot your desk is wide onto the
bottom of the desk top with something like "Gorilla Glue" and clamp them
down to dry. Then you can attach the legs to the 1" x 2" boards. Also
will improve your posture as you have to sit up that 3/4" taller to use
your desk.

Josie