A tip on how to screw a rail onto wood

chapz

chapz

Active member
There has been many threads and questions asking how to screw or nail a rail or PVC into plywood to hold it in place. Some people say to go from the bottom up, but i dont know what they mean so i will tell you my way.

1. First, on the rail, drill two holes the smae size. Make it big ebough for the screw to fit through the hole.

2. Next, on the top of the rail, make the hole bigger. (big enough for the head of the screw to fit through.

3. Now, get a washer that the screw can fit through. (Just for the body of the screw, not the head.) Place the washer in the rail, over the smaller hole.

4. Take your screw and put it thorugh the bigger hole on the top. Then, put it in the smaller hole and drill it in the wood. (Make sure that the washer gets in between the two holes. Drill the screw all the way in, until it gets stuck in due to the washer.

5. You can even make two smaller holes, so two screws go in, instead of one.

I hope this is helpful, and if you have any questions or better methods, post them here.

 
That sounds like a sweet technique, more complicated than screwing from the bottom, but this'll use smaller screws, and you won't have the pointy ends sticking up in the pipe, in case the pipe cracks that saves you gashes in the skis.

plus, I'm sure this way holds better and will reduce cracking
 
yeah but they dont do anything. i just take a metal file and sand it down, its really easy and good
 
i think this is what he meant, anyway this is the way i would do it... dam i was bored to make this

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perfect man, sorry guys, i would have made a pic but i forgot about this thread...

this picture is exactly what i meant
 
I have used this method and it works great but i like the bottom up method better because it looks cleaner.

for the bottom up you have to pre drill a small hole from the wood into the pipe then just screw it in from the bottom up, not to hard but kinda time consuming. It also looks much nicer.
 
i dont see what the washer is for

this will only work if you have a pretty small pipe

and you dont even need to file the hole down
 
Or you can also use U bolts, drill 2 holes in the bottom of the pvc, put the U bolt in and then drill 2 holes in the wood. Put the U bolt through the wood and put nuts on the ends, it looks cleaner and I think its easier than screwing from under
 
really? it took me all of 15 minutes to screw on 4 pipes in 4 places on each pipe drilling from the bottom up. just line up your pvc, lay your 2x4, plywood or whatever on top, and drill. whats hard about that? that way you don't have to worry about drilling 2 different size holes or getting the 2 different holes lined up, and you can use a power drill instead of using a screwdriver.
go up from bottom. /thread
 
Why the hell would you need a screwdriver to go from the top? just use an extender with the power drill. And lining the holes up is easy if you drill all the way thru with the small bit then widen the top hole with the big bit.The bottom hole isn't completely necessary any way, but its a good idea so the pipe won't crack.
 
I guess the picture up there^ threw me off, but i just don't see what advantage you get from screwing in from above rather than below, and it seems like it would be more of a hassle to drill from above.
 
i feel better on a rail drilled from the top down like this method, when you drill from the bottom up, the only thing holding the pvc on is the thread of the screw.

when you go top down, the whole area aroud th washer has to fail for the rail to break.
 
k, i was also thinking about this because right now im building my summer setup...in my case i cant go from the bottom cause i did it from 15 centimetres high wood...so i find it much easier to drill it through and then sand it and if somebody says that it actually works no reason not to try....i believe in it,will try next week when i get my tubes
 
it is better if you try to put the big hole on the side, so that you dont catch and edge or chip the piping. Just my personal experience.
 
i do the same thing but i dont drill small holes in the bottom or the washers. if its pvc, a drill will push a screw through pvc just as easily as wood and holds fine. just a time saver i guess.
 
Ill have pics up soon, these all are not the BEST way to do it, what you really need is a few bolts, and spacers, and a side access hole...
 
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