Can Yous Drill/Screw Into It?

eleven Reasons It Is and then Cheap

Can You Drill Into IKEA Furniture?

One affair I take establish amongst the flatpack article of furniture from IKEA is that the pre-drilled holes are not always as helpful every bit you would like.

I am no stranger to having to draw out a drill to ready the besides-minor or also-shallow holes that are meant to make assembly easier.

You may besides necessitate to drill a novel hole if the previous one was damaged during assembly, disassembly, or reassembly.

Yes, you lot tin can drill into IKEA’second piece of furniture, simply you lot call for to remember how y'all do it in addition to what materials as well as tools you are working alongside will touch on your success.

What Could Go Wrong

When drilling into a slice of pre-cut furniture, you need to regard what the particular is made of, both within too out.

For instance, IKEA oft sells particleboard piece of furniture with a plastic roofing or wooden veneer. I do non recommend drilling through this unless you lot are willing to have it crevice too skin off.

If you lot place pilot holes also just about the border of the board, chipping tin come about about the spot, or sections of the board tin can snap off when yous insert the screws. This is specially a job when you lot accept to drill into the side border of the particleboard.

You can strip the screw hole. If yous mismatch the drill flake to the screws, you can exit too piffling cloth for the screw to suitcase into. In this instance, y'all tin can either go wider screws or you lot tin can repair the hole.

You tin add together woods mucilage into the hole or a wooden dowel to refill the infinite too hand the screw something to agree onto. You can nonetheless use mucilage to secure the dowel inwards the hole.

How to Do It Right

Take your time patch drilling. There is no need to rush, as well as it is meliorate to ensure you lot have the correct scrap as well as are drilling good.

Drill Carefully

You necessitate to drill your airplane pilot holes (pre-drilled holes that make putting the screws inwards easier and less damaging to the item) directly as well as the correct size. Then, offset irksome and increment the speed a little if yous are more confident.

To go along them from stripping the hole amongst the drill, which volition foreclose the screw from getting a expert traveling bag, y'all should drill easy to not overdo it.

You besides call for to think nigh where y'all are drilling. If you are adding extra holes into the article of furniture, you demand to regard the about secure placement and ensure they are non as well just about the border of the board.

Size of the Hole

You take to make the airplane pilot holes in the woods to foreclose splitting, but y'all also necessitate to brand the drilled hole smaller than the screw. If you drill the hole the same size every bit the screw, the threading won’t live able to seize with teeth into too traveling bag the wood properly.

The size of the airplane pilot hole depends on the fry diameter of the screw. Since the threads on a screw are not uniform, you lot become a major together with tyke diameter going from smaller to larger to create a more than secure correspond. The tyke diameter is the size of the thread almost the tip of the screw.

This all sounds very complicated, so an easier fashion to judge is past putting the tip of the screw against the tip of the drill flake. If the shank of the screw (the office without threads) is a chip bigger than the drill chip, the screw should travelling bag nicely going inward.

Depth

Make sure that your pilot holes are long plenty to make the job. If you place a long screw in merely alone pre-drill a shallow hole, y'all can yet accept problems with the particleboard breaking.

You as well necessitate to drill deep plenty to properly countersink (if necessary) the screw y'all will insert. Otherwise, you lot might take the screw’second caput sticking out, which tin hurt yous or catch your wear.

Best Drill Bits to Use

The best drill scrap to purpose depends on what you are trying to become through. You usually go drill bits for metallic, forest, concrete/stone, as well as plastic. These should be used accordingly to produce the best results.

For particle board, you lot volition demand a wood drill flake. This has a piffling point at the tip to assistance you place the drill more accurately. This scrap is too designed with a slight taper, which helps preclude ripping too breaking patch drilling into woods.

Once you take identified the drill bits for forest, you lot call for to pick out the size of the scrap, which, as mentioned previously, needs to live a piddling narrower than the shank screw.

Can You Put Screws Into IKEA Furniture?

You tin can position screws in the variety of wooden piece of furniture that IKEA offers, including particleboard items. However, as amongst drilling into forest (particularly particleboard), y'all necessitate to take close to aid alongside how y'all make it.

It is not every bit perilous as you lot intend to place screws into particleboard every bit long every bit you lot cook properly.

What Could Go Wrong

Most of the potential problems associated alongside putting screws inwards forest tin be circumvented past pre-drilling. However, I volition nonetheless bring up a few issues that tin can go on:

A certain total of force is required to go screws into woods (less amongst airplane pilot holes). However, when applying this strength, you tin finish upward stripping the caput of the screw or breaking the screw.

With the pressure level from the strength of the screw going in, yous tin can intermission the forest. Wood tin can dissever about the forcefulness of the screw. You also gamble chipping the woods about the screw, which is unsightly for your article of furniture and tin can compromise the secureness of the screw inward the board.

If you make the pilot hole as well just about the edge, y'all tin can chip the forest as well as compromise the anchor indicate. You take chances a screw snapping gratuitous alongside a chunk of forest because the forest wasn’t strong enough to withstand the pressure at that bespeak.

How to Do It Right

You take to be gentle together with steady when using screws on particleboard.

Pilot Holes

Make purpose of pre-drilled holes that are slightly smaller than the screws. These trim back the pressure on the woods every bit the screw goes inwards, preventing the particleboard from splitting and chipping. It besides helps preclude the screws from snapping or getting stripped.

Use the Right Screws

Using the right screws for particleboard is a good manner to assist preclude problems similar stripped screw holes together with screws that don’t hold house inward the board. Chipboard too self-tapping screws are the best correspond for particleboard.

Reinforce the Holes

You tin can as well role a scrap of wood mucilage to make a meliorate grip for the screw inwards the hole.

Any woods gum volition do for this, similar Titebond III _{^{(amazon link)}} or Elmer’s Carpenter Glue _{^{(amazon link)}}. However, you lot ask to make sure y'all are roofing the surface area well. Spread the glue (a toothpick or your finger will operate good) through the pilot hole in addition to permit it dry out.

The adhesive is stronger than the particle board in addition to creates a amend surface for the screws to attach to.

Tighten Slowly

When you are really putting the screw inwards, yous postulate to tighten it tardily (fifty-fifty alongside the drill), keeping constant and even pressure level. Yes, you lot demand approximately pressure to preclude stripping the screw too to brand certain it goes direct.

Since particleboard is then soft, there is a take a chance of stripping the hole alongside the screw. Instead of the screw’sec threads weaving through together with gripping onto the forest, inward this instance, it hollows out the hole in role or completely. If the hole is stripped, the screw cannot agree on properly together with won’t live secure.

If you don’t let the process go out of command, yous can as well make sure the screw is going inward straight (with enough frontward force per unit area), which helps maintain the integrity of the wood.

You too mustn’t overtighten the screws, as this weakens the wood about the screw together with encourages degeneration of the bag over fourth dimension.

Best Screws to Use

Chipboard/particleboard screws are designed for manufactured wood. These take uneven grooves in the threads. This asymmetry allows the screw to seize with teeth inward at unlike depths along the length, strengthening the travelling bag too preventing the screws from pulling out over fourth dimension.

Self-tapping screws have threading correct up to the head of the screw. This allows you to tighten the screw more than than a regular type, fifty-fifty if they begin to loosen a little.

Overall, the chipboard screws volition in all likelihood live the best option. These screws are intended to tally securely into particleboard as well as are designed for countersinking inward the wood alongside their flat heads without y'all having to countersink them expressly.

Countersunk screws await neater and forestall you, your pets, and your article of clothing from getting caught on the screw head.

Electric or Manual Screwdriver?

An electric screwdriver can live an asset in IKEA article of furniture assembly. However, yous involve to purpose your discretion if the instructions explicitly enjoin not to purpose the power tool. The material used in IKEA’s article of furniture mightiness not live strong plenty to withstand it.

I volition tell that I like using electrical screwdrivers every bit I tin more than easily employ the right pressure and can insert screws straighter too faster than past manus.

The pre-drilled holes make it possible to function a manual screwdriver, though, when assembling the furniture if yous don’t accept an electric version or are unwilling to chance damaging the particular.

With both options, yous demand to brand certain your screwdriver fits well amongst the screw to forbid stripping the caput.