Which screws for 18mm mdf

Check out my article that gives a full explanation of clearance holes and why you need one. A clearance hole will also provide relief for the screw when it is tightened down to ensure the MDF does not split. Clearance holes also provide some room for aligning your joints after you have screwed them together. A small tap with a hammer will get your joints lining up perfectly. If you had only used a pilot through the primary piece, you would not have that clearance to adjust your joins.

MDF fibers will tend to be weaker near the ends of the board as these fibers are unsupported. This will drastically reduce the chances of it splitting. Although I still highly recommend you use a pilot drill when screwing into MDF regardless of where your screws are positioned. MDF can easily be planned. See my full guide on how to plane MDF. This rule also applies to any wood you plan on screwing together. Keeping the screws in from the ends can prevent splitting in real wood and it makes your finished project look better.

This is unnecessary and unprofessional. Try moving those screws in and you will be glad you did! Because MDF is made from pressed wood fibers, it will not be as strong in the edges as real wood is. For this reason, just tighten your screws up firm but do not try to overtighten them. Overtightening will result in the screw threads pulling through the MDF and stripping out your screw hole. Look here if you need to fix a stripped-out screw. A quick tip for applying the right tension or tightness to screws is to use the clutch on your cordless drill.

The clutch is the turnable collar at the front of the drill with the numbers around it. The clutch is there to prevent you from over-tightening your screws!

Turn the collar to the lower numbers and your drill will make a slipping sound when you try to drive in a screw. If you turn it to a higher number, you will be able to drive your screw in further before it slips. If you can drive your screw into the center of the edge of the MDF, your chances of splitting it will be significantly less. If your screw wanders off or you drilled in the wrong spot, there may not be enough wood fibers near the outside edge to support the screw.

This will result in split MDF or you may even cause a breakout on the outside surface. Both of these situations will not only look bad but will result in a very weak joint. To ensure you are drilling into the center of the MDF, always measure the thickness and divide that by 2. Mark that measurement with a pencil to ensure accurate and neat joints. I would always recommend using a straight shanked wood screw in MDF as opposed to a tapered variety. The reason for this is the tapered wood screw will act as a wedge when driven in and will force the wood fibers to separate.

The tapered wood screws are mostly the old style of screws and are not commonly used these days in woodwork. No matter what screw you choose to use, always drill a pilot hole just to be sure. Post by dewaltdisney » Tue Aug 21, pm. Post by big-all » Tue Aug 21, pm. Post by handypainter » Wed Aug 22, am. Post by Blakey » Wed Aug 22, pm. Post by dewaltdisney » Wed Aug 22, pm.

Post by big-all » Wed Aug 22, pm. Post by Job and Knock » Fri Aug 24, pm. Style by Arty - Update phpBB 3. Privacy Terms. Quick links. I would suggest a pilot to be on the safe side in the end of the board. Answered by: Screw-Tite Product Expert. Butt joint into 12mm MDF boards I would like to use these to make enclosed box shelves with a open front. Will this work with 12mm MDF board to make butt joints without blowouts, splits or bulging?

Do these screws require a Pilot hole before application? Thank you for your enquiry. What's the exact width of the head in 0. Thanks all, G. Last edited: 27 Feb Self tapping are definitely not the ones for MDF, they're usually used with metal. What you want are probably either decent twin thread screws, or something like these specifically MDF ones from screwfix but shorter.

Personally I never go to Homebase for screws these days, since Screwfix opened a store locally I always go there even before that Homebase was the last resort for a Sunday as their own brand screws always seemed to break and anything else was expensive.

As above turbogold screws all the way for me. Pilot the holes so the MDF dosent split. Thanks mate, I mainly went to Homebase for the wood, because they are the only place in town that will cut it to size, so I've got an 18mm piece of MDF the exact size of the bottom of my PC for 30p Think there is a screwfix nearby, I may wait for the wheels to arrive, take the wood and the wheels down there and see what they suggest.

Never thought of them tbh, good shout! Hopefully that won't weaken the board too much. Also those casters are crap for carting stuff around lan, you need big wheels like a sack truck, I picked up a foldingtruck from the range for a tenner back in the summer before doing iseries Last year. Lakeland Soldato Joined: 1 Nov Posts: 5, As long as you're not screwing in the edge end of the material you can just use normal wood screws.