Slipping rail bolt anchor

deLusan

Registered
One of the rail bolts in my Olhausen table appears to be turning in its anchor inside the wooden part of the rail. It spins inside the rail and I am therefore unable to tighten it. Is there a fix for this?
 
Will the bolt come out? If not you will cut it with a reciprocating saw. Take the rail off and route the wood to take a nut plate instead of using the insert. Thats what ive done when those inserts get forced and stripped.
 
remove broke rail bolt

One of the rail bolts in my Olhausen table appears to be turning in its anchor inside the wooden part of the rail. It spins inside the rail and I am therefore unable to tighten it. Is there a fix for this?




first take a razor and cut the cloth off the rail by starting in the center of a pocket side. cut the cloth under the rail all the way fold back cloth or cut it all off ..peel off pocket facing...stick screw driver between rail and cushion and pry cushion off.....use needle nose pliers to hold insert or u might be able to wedge something in there to hold the insert in place and turn bolt.....
or
put the rail in a bind with a screw driver or something so that when u turn bolt there is something binding the insert and u might back it off...

or
put the rail in a bind with a screw driver or something so that when u drill the head of the bolt the bolt don't spin with the drill bit>>after drilling the head of the bolt if the head of the bolt is still attached use a chisel or punch to knock off the head of the bolt...remove rail>>remove cushion from rail...now the bolt is stuck in the rail..use sawzall with short blade to cut the long side off thru the small opening from the front side of the rail where the cushion covers...u might have to cut the top excess bolt the same way or drill a small hole over top of the insert hole and then drill the hole a lil larger and larger to get enough for bolt and insert to slip out of hole with only the top excess of the bolt intact.......

wish u woulda made it to alsip
or pm me and i will call u...its easy
 
first take a razor and cut the cloth off the rail by starting in the center of a pocket side. cut the cloth under the rail all the way fold back cloth or cut it all off ..peel off pocket facing...stick screw driver between rail and cushion and pry cushion off.....use needle nose pliers to hold insert or u might be able to wedge something in there to hold the insert in place and turn bolt.....
or
put the rail in a bind with a screw driver or something so that when u turn bolt there is something binding the insert and u might back it off...

or
put the rail in a bind with a screw driver or something so that when u drill the head of the bolt the bolt don't spin with the drill bit>>after drilling the head of the bolt if the head of the bolt is still attached use a chisel or punch to knock off the head of the bolt...remove rail>>remove cushion from rail...now the bolt is stuck in the rail..use sawzall with short blade to cut the long side off thru the small opening from the front side of the rail where the cushion covers...u might have to cut the top excess bolt the same way or drill a small hole over top of the insert hole and then drill the hole a lil larger and larger to get enough for bolt and insert to slip out of hole with only the top excess of the bolt intact.......

wish u woulda made it to alsip
or pm me and i will call u...its easy

Just put a 1/2" wrench on the head of the bolt to keep it from turning, then center drill the bolt with a 3/8"s drill bit and the head of the bolt will pop right off:grin:
 
first take a razor and cut the cloth off the rail by starting in the center of a pocket side. cut the cloth under the rail all the way fold back cloth or cut it all off ..peel off pocket facing...stick screw driver between rail and cushion and pry cushion off.....use needle nose pliers to hold insert or u might be able to wedge something in there to hold the insert in place and turn bolt.....
or
put the rail in a bind with a screw driver or something so that when u turn bolt there is something binding the insert and u might back it off...

or
put the rail in a bind with a screw driver or something so that when u drill the head of the bolt the bolt don't spin with the drill bit>>after drilling the head of the bolt if the head of the bolt is still attached use a chisel or punch to knock off the head of the bolt...remove rail>>remove cushion from rail...now the bolt is stuck in the rail..use sawzall with short blade to cut the long side off thru the small opening from the front side of the rail where the cushion covers...u might have to cut the top excess bolt the same way or drill a small hole over top of the insert hole and then drill the hole a lil larger and larger to get enough for bolt and insert to slip out of hole with only the top excess of the bolt intact.......

wish u woulda made it to alsip
or pm me and i will call u...its easy

Taking off the cushion on a olhausen is not gonna do much. They do not use the floating nut plate like Brunswick. It is a t insert sandwiched between the liner and the rail cap.
 
I havent removed the rail yet, so I dont know if i will have trouble getting the bolt and insert out of the rail. In fact, Im assuming that there is some sort of insert inside the wooden part of the rail that the bolt screws into. My question is - once the bolt and the insert that it screws into are removed from the wooden part of the rail, is there something like an oversize insert that i put back into the hole, or what other way is there to fix it? I think I understand the first suggestion that a plate could be used, and it seems that this would be a relatively simple solution. Are there supply companies online where these 'nut plates' can be purchased? Are there any other suggestions?
 
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I havent removed the rail yet, so I dont know if i will have trouble getting the bolt and insert out of the rail. In fact, Im assuming that there is some sort of insert inside the wooden part of the rail that the bolt screws into. My question is - once the bolt and the insert that it screws into are removed from the wooden part of the rail, is there something like an oversize insert that i put back into the hole, or what other way is there to fix it? I think I understand the first suggestion that a plate could be used, and it seems that this would be a relatively simple solution. Are there supply companies online where these 'nut plates' can be purchased? Are there any other suggestions?

The insert you're talking about is more of a t-nut with 3 spike prongs on it that when driven into the rail base plate sink in as to stop the t-nut from spinning when a bolt is threaded into it. What has happened is that when the rail bolt was threaded in, it must have had messed up threads on it, which in turn ceased the bolt in the t-nut, causing the t-nut to spin the prongs flat, thereby allowing the t-nut to now spin. Don't know what kind of luck you're going to have getting the bolt and t-nut out short of taking the rail liner and rail cap apart to get the t-nut out to replace it, which is actually the correct thing to do, but....you can try drilling a small hole into the t-nut along side the rail bolt, just deep enough to go through the flat lip of the t-nut so that you can run a small sheet rock screw into the rail and t-nut to hold it in place while you try and back out the rail bolt...it may or may not work, it depends on how tight you ran the rail bolt in before the t-nut spun.

If that don't work, then taking the rail apart is the only other real answer as they do come apart.

Glen
 
If the bolt will not come out. Before cutting or drilling the head off. Get a fat, long flat head screwdriver or small pry bar and pry down between the washer and slate backing. At the same time try backing out the bolt. Pulling the T Nut down might get the teeth to catch enough to get the bolt out.
 
Thanks

Thank you guys for the much appreciated sharing of know-how. Due to other issues, I cant get on this right away, but I will let you know how it turns out, etc. once it can get into it.
 
Thanks

Thank you guys for the much appreciated sharing of know-how. Due to other issues, I cant get on this right away, but I will let you know how it turns out, etc. as soon as I can get into it.
 
If the bolt will come out then you should be able to push the T nut into the rail enough so you can put a nut plate on top. You will have to get a new bolt, different size and length(shorter one) so it doesnt push on the T nut to much when tight. You will find the plate here http://www.classicbilliards.net/html/gandy_parts.html

I know you can install a nut plate over the existing rail bolt t-nut, one could also drill a hole through the slate and anchor the rail in that spot with a lagbolt next to the old bolt hole, but I prefer not to have a short cut repair...that does and will work, not saying it don't...but I like to fix things on a pool table as close to original as possible, unless it's to make a table better than when manufactured.

Glen
 
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