Reinforcing Seminar Furniture.pdf

Woodware Designs -- Reinforcing Seminar Furniture

Reinforcing Seminar Furniture

We at Woodware Designs often help produce seminars for Landmark Education Corporation .

Landmark has a nice set of portable furniture for use in these seminars, but this furniture has to be

continually hauled between hotel meeting rooms. All this moving about is hard on it. This note is on

ways to reinforce portable furniture to make it much stronger and easier to transport.

If you would like to know more about our positive experiences with Landmark, please drop us an e-mail .

Also check our our Baltimore Landmark Community Calender for upcoming events.

The pieces of furniture discussed below are:

1. Directors Chairs

2. Folding Tables

3. Blackboards

(Beyond Woodworking)

4. Stacking Chairs

5. Batteries for the wireless mike

6. Mike Cables

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Woodware Designs -- Reinforcing Seminar Furniture

1. Directors Chairs

Tall directors chairs need diagonal bracing for their legs. Without bracing the legs can loosen and

break. Adding a few wood screws can also strengthen the arms and back. If the footrest or feet

are broken these are also easily repaired.

1. Technical Information

A specific type of hardware is available for this task: Stanley 1-inch Chair Leg Braces (see

the sketch above). These are available at hardware stores for about $2.20 for a set of four.

No other type of hardware works as well, so accept no substitutes.

Some chairs already have diagonal braces as in the middle figure above, and require no

additional hardware. The small gap caused by the angle of the chair leg does not affect the

strength of the brace.

The materials required are:

1. Chair braces

2. 1 inch #6 flat head wood screws -- up to 12 per chair

3. Wood glue

4. Wood dowels -- as required

5. Replacement Feet -- as required

6. Sand paper

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Woodware Designs -- Reinforcing Seminar Furniture

The braces and feet can come from the local hardware store.

The tools required are:

1. awl

2. electric drill

3. drill bit for pilot hole for #8 screw

4. Screwmate Drill bit for #6 1-inch

5. Phillips screwdriver

The drill is for guide holes for the #8 screws that mount the braces. Gloves also help.

2. Recommended Action:

First take an inventory to see how many braces and other parts, such as feet or

replacement backs and seats, are needed. Also check the pegs that support one end of the

foot rest, as these often need attention. If the joints are loose, you will need wood screws

to strengthen them. Make a list of the needed materials.

1. Loose Joints

If a leg joint is loose, pull it apart, clean the peg with sand paper, and apply wood

glue. Push the peg hard back into the hole. Drill a screwmate hole from the inside

of the leg frame into the peg.

2. Chair Braces

Turn the chair upside down and remove the seat and back. Hold the chair brace in

place, centered on the leg, and hard against it. Mark the screw hole centers with the

awl. Drill the guide holes. Install the screws. The installation of the braces takes

about 15 minutes per chair.

3. Feet

Check to see if feet are missing. Some factory feet went into a 3/8 hole in the leg.

These holes must be filled with dowel before replacement feet can be installed.

4. Foot Rest

If the peg that supports the footrest is damaged, replace it with as heavy a piece of

dowel as you can fit ( 1/2 inch or larger) and reinforce this with a screw. These

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Woodware Designs -- Reinforcing Seminar Furniture

dowels should be maple (very light in color) and not the weaker tropical hardwood

(more tan in color).

5. Seat and Back

Washing the cloth seat and backs in warm water helps restore their appearance and

ironing makes them look even nicer.

Now vacuum up any wood dust and the repair work is complete. The chairs can be used

immediately. If there are a lot of chairs to repair, the people who assist tackle the task by

setting up a work party.

3. Folding Tables

People inevitably will sit on the folding tables. Their tops are made from a material that

does not hold its screws very well. Fortunately these tables can be strengthened easily and

simply by gluing the metal frame to the top with general purpose construction adhesive.

1. Technical Information

The table tops are made from Medium Density Particle board, which is

inexpensive, reasonably strong, and stable but does not provide a good grip on

screw threads. Sheet metal screws are used to attach the metal frames to the tops,

and the metal frames provide much of the table's strength. Over time, the screws

can strip out of the top. This lets gaps form between the tops and frames, thus

greatly weakening the table.

This problem is easily addressed by gluing the frames to the tops with general

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Woodware Designs -- Reinforcing Seminar Furniture

purpose construction adhesive. This material comes in tubes for a hand caulk gun

and costs about $2.00 a tube. It is normally used for jobs like mounting slats on

cinder block walls. It is available at any home fix-up store, one tube will reinforce

about three tables.

If the metal frames have an unwelded joint, these can also be reinforced with a

small mending plate and two bolts.

The materials required are:

1. General Purpose Construction Adhesive -- 1/3 10 oz. tube per table

2. #8 -- 5/8 inch pan head screws -- as required

3. toothpicks

4. Wood glue

5. 2 in. Minding Plate -- As required

6. #10 x 1/2 in. Round Head Bolt with nut -- 2 per plate

7. Soft Scrub Cleanser

8. 1 inch plastic feet -- as required

The tools required are:

1. Hand caulk gun

2. Standard screwdriver

3. Phillips screwdriver

4. Gloves

5. Power Drill

6. Small Bits

7. Pencils

8. Marker

9. Cleaning sponge

10. Plastic bucket

The following tools are most helpful

11. Long Phillips driver bit for drill

12. Whisk Broom

13. Paper towels

14. Plastic cup

2. Recommended Action

Inspect your tables, count them, and determine if any are missing screws or feet.

Purchase one tube of adhesive for three tables and some extra screws. You may

also need some wood glue and toothpicks for stripped holes. Inspect the joints in

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