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What I like the most about Ikea furniture is that it is of high quality, high enough to survive moving multiple times, while being so cheap. I tried other self

What I like the most about Ikea furniture is that it is of high quality, high enough to survive moving multiple times, while being so cheap. I tried other self assembled furniture before - the quality was just not there. I did not love them, and threw them away as soon as they became too obviously crooked. Using the Ikea brand in the title is incorrect if the specific effect described should extend to Walmart furniture, but doesn't.

2bluesc 11y ago
One of the tricks to Ikea furniture is to use wood glue in all the dowel pins. With this trick it survives multiple moves for me. Other people have the same stuff and after 1 move it's loose/wobbly without glue.
- kazinator 11y ago
  Applying glue to a pure dowel pin joint isn't a trick; it's how you complete the joint. Some IKEA pieces in fact come with little plastic pockets of glue for this purpose. You should be able to get that free from the store. The trick is that with IKEA ware, even joints that in theory shouldn't need glue benefit from it. In some pieces, there is some fastener holding parts together, often that silly cam screw which locks onto the head of a pin. Then there are secondary dowel pins that, in theory, reduce a degree of freedom and prevent parts from rotating. Problem is, those cam lock things are poorly designed. So in fact the joint benefits from glue. That is not a trick; that's how you complete dowel pin joints in woodworking. If the only thing holding a joint together is dowels, you must glue. Here is the thing. In some IKEA units, the dowel pins only prevent the rotation of a part, which is held by a metal fastener (e.g. those shit cam screw and lock things). Glue isn't going to do much there, in theory! In practice, those fasteners are poorly designed garbage, so the glue will help there.
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    Well, it depends. I have an Ikea shelf that is roughly 7' x 7'. If I'd glued the dowels, it probably would be sturdier, but it would also still be stuck in my living room from two apartments back. Without glue, it holds together well enough, and still comes apart when I need it to.

2bluesc 11y ago

One of the tricks to Ikea furniture is to use wood glue in all the dowel pins. With this trick it survives multiple moves for me. Other people have the same stuff and after 1 move it's loose/wobbly without glue.

kazinator 11y ago
Applying glue to a pure dowel pin joint isn't a trick; it's how you complete the joint. Some IKEA pieces in fact come with little plastic pockets of glue for this purpose. You should be able to get that free from the store. The trick is that with IKEA ware, even joints that in theory shouldn't need glue benefit from it. In some pieces, there is some fastener holding parts together, often that silly cam screw which locks onto the head of a pin. Then there are secondary dowel pins that, in theory, reduce a degree of freedom and prevent parts from rotating. Problem is, those cam lock things are poorly designed. So in fact the joint benefits from glue. That is not a trick; that's how you complete dowel pin joints in woodworking. If the only thing holding a joint together is dowels, you must glue. Here is the thing. In some IKEA units, the dowel pins only prevent the rotation of a part, which is held by a metal fastener (e.g. those shit cam screw and lock things). Glue isn't going to do much there, in theory! In practice, those fasteners are poorly designed garbage, so the glue will help there.
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  Well, it depends. I have an Ikea shelf that is roughly 7' x 7'. If I'd glued the dowels, it probably would be sturdier, but it would also still be stuck in my living room from two apartments back. Without glue, it holds together well enough, and still comes apart when I need it to.