Interesting I thought T-nuts were used on aluminium profiles
cosmicrookie 5 points a month ago
remotelove 8 points a month ago
Same name, two different types of nuts. (Actually, there are several profiles for t-nuts used with extruded aluminum that I am aware of.)
Theoriginalthon 1 point a month ago
I've always called them t slot nuts for aluminium profile
Iconoclast 3 points a month ago
I used these yesterday for adjustable legs on customers' bathroom counter.
vk6flab 51 points a month ago
It's two parts.
The sleeve with the teeth and the adjustable foot. The sleeve is called a captive hammer-in nut, or a blind T-nut.
Like this one: https://deltafix.com/en/product/70936/
otter 11 points a month ago
So if I'm understanding it correctly, someone would drill a hole in the wood, line up the spiky bit, and then hammer it in. Going by the comments, it sounds like these things fall out a lot. What is the recommended alternative?
LastYearsIrritant 17 points a month ago
It's not that bad, when used correctly they stay put a long time.
When I design furniture that needs one, I usually design it so the t-nut goes in from the other side so the screw secures it in, but honestly unless the wood gets wet, the t-nut will hold fine.
There are similar t-nuts with tiny screws instead of hammer in options. You can chisel out the wood and epoxy in a hex nut. You can just screw the leveling foot directly into the wood. You can put a larger metal plate in place.
But if the wood fails and the t-nut falls out, you can also just repair the wood or epoxy it back in and it'll hold for another few decades.
Most wood furniture won't last forever without repairs anyway, the fixes over the years are part of the charm.
KairuByte 3 points a month ago
Aren’t these used for adjustability? Meaning you can loosen or tighten them to deal with unevenness?
And if that’s the case, wouldn’t reversing the t nut result in the weight of the furniture pushing the t nut out of place?
LastYearsIrritant 5 points a month ago
You can use t-nuts for a lot of reasons. A t-nut specifically is for screwing machine screws into wood. This particular use case is using that machine screw as a leveler, but it's not the only case.
Sometimes you just want a large, solid bolt to hold things together, but allow them to be taken apart. In those cases I try to put the t-nut the other way around so assembly tightens the nut.
blarghly 1 point a month ago
When I design furniture that needs one, I usually design it so the t-nut goes in from the other side so the screw secures it in,
I'm confused - it seems like thats what would happen here? The foot would push the T nut into the wood from below?
grue 2 points a month ago
Think about what would happen if you just pulled on the foot. The T-nut would come right out.
Compare that to how you would typically use a normal nut and bolt to secure two pieces of material, with the bolt head and nut on opposite sides of the material being secured.
notabot 5 points a month ago
It depends what you use them for. If you arange them so the force on the bolt is driving the spikes into the wood, they are very strong, and a handy way to anchor a bolt into wood in a removable way. Where they're not so good is when the force isn't directly along that line. Sideways force tends to loosen them and then they fall off, and force in the opposite direction obviously pushes them out.
grue 4 points a month ago
What is the recommended alternative?
There are other styles of threaded inserts for wood.
I used some of the first type to make leg extensions for an IKEA coffee table to turn it into a waist-height table. They were picked mostly to match what the piece already used rather than because I thought they were better than the T-nut style ones, but they worked fine.
captain_aggravated 12 points a month ago
I think what you've got there is a threaded foot of some kind threaded into a very rusty T nut.
The way this would have been installed is, you drill the pilot hole the OD of the shank of the T nut, hammer the T nut into place, and then thread the foot in. I'll bet if you're in North America those threads will be 1/4-20.
LastYearsIrritant 11 points a month ago
path: 0 23882338, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0
scarabic 9 points a month ago
This is what you find at the bottom of a table leg. It provides a foot for the table leg which can be lengthened or shortened a little to stop your table from wobbling.
The sleeve part is called a t-nut and is hammered straight into a pre-drilled hole. Those spikes sink into the wood and keep the t-nut from rotating in that hole. The threaded part then screws into it. If the t-nut was allowed to rotate they’d both just spin together and the foot wouldn’t lengthen/shorten.
A more generalized term for things like this t-nut is “threaded insert.” It’s a way to create a place on a piece of wood where something else can be screwed in. You can’t really tap reliable threads in wood, not at small sizes and not with any kind of load bearing durability. Some crafty people fiddle with wood screws / threads but usually at much larger sizes and it’s kind of a novelty, not really popular, and for good reason.
All together I would call this device a “leveling foot” since they are used to make a table level, or at least adapt a table to an uneven floor so it doesn’t wobble.
If any of you have wobbly kitchen tables, get down there and see if the feet are like this picture. You can get that wobble out with a few turns of the correct foot.
violentfart 2 points a month ago
Paige, no!
MachineFab812 -12 points a month ago path: 0 23880401, hotness: undefined, score: -12, children: 17
SchmidtGenetics 3 points a month ago
It’s a rusty cabinet handle mate.
SchmidtGenetics 4 points a month ago
Ah, that makes more sense actually, good call. I thought the white was ivory for decoration, but probably teflon.
MachineFab812 -3 points a month ago
How the hell did this claptrap get 3 upvotes?
SchmidtGenetics 0 points a month ago
How did your comment even receive a single one?
Adding a line about furniture after the fact is just sleazy as shit dude. You were wrong, and are now trying to swing it as some stupid joke that’s not even remotely funny.
MachineFab812 -3 points a month ago
Nothing in those two paragraphs was added "after the fact", dude - I just went back and bolded the bit that should have caught-up people who took the (actually also true)joke as my entire understanding.
The Nylon sleeve and "rust-prone" bits were un-related to the joke and only applicable to the adjustable foot's intended-use as well; Y'all are just stupid and blind.
i_stole_ur_taco 3 points a month ago
These are designed to fall out when you’re moving a cheap piece of furniture too many times. They always land spikes up for when you inevitably step on it while rushing to finish up and leave.
They’re like Lego… with tetanus.
plantfanatic 0 points a month ago
You’re supposed to lift something off the ground instead of dragging it. That applies to cheap or expensive furniture, or anything really.
MachineFab812 -1 points a month ago path: 0 23880401 23881615 23887309 23888641, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 7
SchmidtGenetics 1 point a month ago
No, if you’re using sliders you’re just lazy and cheap. You always lift something to move it. Even if it’s a couple feet.
Sliders can still get debris or slide on the floor scratching it, no company worth their salt uses them. Since it’s damaging to the floor and the equipment or furniture or whatever you’re moving.
Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you should or it’s a smart thing to do. Most stuff isn’t designed to have lateral force applied to it, so to do so, even with sliders, will damage it. If you lift and move cheap furniture instead of sliding it, it won’t break the first time you move it lmfao.
plantfanatic 0 points a month ago path: 0 23880401 23881615 23887309 23888641 23889425, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 4
captain_aggravated 0 points a month ago
Keep it civil, please.
woodworking
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woodworking
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A handmade home for woodworkers and admirers of woodworkers. Our community icon is submitted by @inquanto@lemmy.world, winner of the Christmas 2025 gift contest with a lovely series of hardwood cutting boards.
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That's called a T-nut.
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