Threaded Screw repair

[Littlewyan]

I have a 1x12 Marshall Bluesbreaker style combo cabinet and a few of the screws holding the back panel (The one the chassis is mounted to) in place have broken threads. I've managed to repair some with the cocktail stick trick, but one is still bad. I bought some wooden dowels from B&Q to use instead to fill the holes, but this would require drilling out the holes first. Obviously this is quite a step to take, as once I've done this I need to hope it bloody works! What are people's thoughts on this? My concern is that the wood the panel screws into isn't that thick....

[Phil_S]

No envy here. Doing this sort of repair requires screwing up your courage. Without pictures, I'm in the dark

Go with your first instinct. Don't drill out the holes. Save this if all else fails.

I believe we are separated by a common language. Cocktail stick = tooth pick? Can you coat several cocktail sticks with epoxy and afix them to the edge of the hole, basically making the hole smaller, but not closing it? You can nip off the high ends with a flush cutter.

[martin manning]

These screws go through the back panel and into a square-ish batten on each side? Maybe you can drill through, put some T-nuts on the back, and replace the wood screws with machine screws. Got a photo of the area you're wanting to repair?

[pdf64]

Yes, cocktail sticks are pretty much toothpicks, minus minty tips
My go to method is to squirt some white wood glue into the stripped hole, then ram that with as many cocktail sticks (that have been dipped in wood glue) as possible. Tap them in with a hammer, cut off flush.
Options are then to give it a go with the screw but don’t torque it up until it’s set overnight, or to leave to set overnight, drill a pilot hole and give it a go with the screw.

[Littlewyan]

Thank you all. I’ve given the cocktail sticks (toothpicks ) another go, except this time I’ve used a different wood glue and I am leaving them overnight to set before torquing the screws. Admittedly, in my previous attempts I used contact adhesive and I didn’t leave the glue to set before tightening the screw.

I would love to use machine screws for this, but I’m not sure if the wood is thick enough. I’ve attached an image that hopefully shows you what I’m on about.

[Littlewyan]

I can confirm that it is fixed. Thank you all!

[Littlewyan]

Just thought I'd give an update. The cocktail stick method still wasn't holding up too well, so I turned to wood filler! Worked a treat.

[Bill Moore]

I recently discovered another fastener option, I disassembled a display from behind my grocery store for a shelf. They have serrated coarse threads into the wood, and machine threads internally. The majority in the display were 1/4 x 20, (so far I haven't found a use, but I kept them!)

[Doug R.]

You can always mix a small amount of epoxy and fill the holes...let the epoxy dry and drill a small pilot hole before inserting screws.

[thetragichero]

1/4 inch drill bit
1/4 inch hardwood dowel
wood glue
drill a pilot home after the glue has dried and you'll be as good or better than new