and I am wanting to secure the square & circular shaft together with a metal fastener of some kind that could be unscrewed / unfastened when moving the lamp. I’m curious what the best method of doing this would be & are there any common parts I could buy to get the job done?
Pics below of what I’m working with (I cut out a mortise to see how strong a small tenon would be & I don’t think its going to work haha).
I have an espresso distributor that is wielding the exact parts I need, a male and female metal screw, but I can’t seem to find something like this off the shelf anywhere
If the wood pieces were short enough you might be able to get them under the drill press to drill out for standard 3/8 or 1/2” threaded rod and coupling nuts that you could epoxy into the ends of each piece. Or just with hand drill if you oversize and ensure square some other way.
If these don’t need to be taken apart later, then your easiest solution by far is a dowel screw — these are basically a double ended screw. You can get them at Home Depot, specialty fasteners area.
If they do need to be taken apart later, then a pair of threaded inserts with a piece of threaded rod is the correct simple solution. Getting them straight and centered will be important.
The t nuts may not be rigid enough to hold the items up right (not sure of the weight). On the cheap you could use a large diameter nut and matching bolt. Cut the hole slightly bigger for the nut and use epoxy to hold in place. The bolt should be much easier just meke sure is long enough. Otherwise if you search " threaded metal ferrules," you may find something suitable such as this Amazon.com . You may still have to cut and adapt to your situation. Custom manufacture is another alternative.
Again, people keep suggesting epoxying nuts into the wood. That is a terrible idea when threaded inserts exist! That’s like suggesting someone improvise a square wheel on a cart instead of buying a nice cheap round wheel.
It looks like the original product is using threads cut into the wood. I bet you could do same thing using a pipe and a flange as your tap and die. Or just use a (recessed) pipe flange and I guess epoxied pipe nipple. Or two recessed pipe flanges and an all thread nipple.
I suggest this because I think you might want a beefier connection than 3/8" for something top-heavy like this, and above that size you’re getting into specialty insert nuts. Surely it was user error, but I’ve had a hanger bolt connection feel a little floppy before.
Well, Ethan at the end of the day you may be correct. My basis on the suggestion is that inserts and T nuts tend to be loose fittings, as they come loose quite easy. Also, the top weight of the lamp is unknown so it is possible that the small diameter of the above may not hold it upright for too long. The beefier suggestions may do the job better. The taking appart would not happen often so the epoxy (which if done right would be just to hold the harware in place) would not be stressed to the point of failure. But it looks like is cedar or pine so over time the chemical bond will fail due to the oil/tar regadless of any stress. Myself i would turn or insert a 3/4" dowell, at least 3" on inside if is an insert or turn a 3" dowel on the morse/tapered side and use a brass screw or finial to hold in place on the back side of the pole.
Learning a ton from this thread! Thanks everyone for the discourse! I ended up purchasing T-Nuts that can be screwed in along with double ended hanger bolts. Agree it ~ may ~ not be strong enough, will report back!
