5

Over the years, I've bought many IKEA Terje foldable chairs. It's a popular model.

However, they quickly get "wobbly". I think the problem is with the joints (although I'm not sure). Any ideas on how to tighten them... I actually think it's not possible to tighten them...

Video of wobbliness.

enter image description here enter image description here

John Assymptoth
  • 235
  • 7

2 Answers2

10

You'd need to re-squeeze the rivets, which is likely impractical, or just temporary respite.

An alternative may be to replace the rivets with nuts & bolts - though if you're stripping the joints that far, it would probably be better to also re-line the holes, as they will be expanding due to the off-axis movement occasioned by the loosening of the original rivets.

Maybe something like small dome or countersunk barrel nuts could do the job - & be less prone to snagging on things.

enter image description here enter image description here

Images search, for multiple examples - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=sunk+barrel+nuts&t=osx&iax=images&ia=images

Tetsujin
  • 10,454
  • 1
  • 19
  • 37
  • 3
    Then you can add some bearings around the barrel nuts to improve this *inherently poor design* wait, no it's: **clever bit of planned obsolescence.** – Ecnerwal Mar 26 '23 at 16:36
  • 1
    @Ecnerwal, yep, definitely planned obsolescence. Netflix has a documentary called "Broken" that include an episode of how Ikea and similar manufacturers use the cheapest ways to make junk that doesn't last. It's intended to be broken, discarded, and replaced, rather than fixed. – computercarguy Mar 27 '23 at 17:15
4

Those fasteners are rivets. You can tighten them up by placing the smooth end on an anvil or other very hard surface and hit the other end with a large nail set and hammer. The problem with this is it's not a long term fix since the wood has been ground down a bit and you can only compress the rivet so much.

A more durable fix would be to grind the rivets off with a rotary tool and get some nuts, bolts and washers and re assembly the chairs. You can repair any ground down wood with expoy or wood filler.

JACK
  • 78,739
  • 18
  • 72
  • 188
  • 1
    Great info, @Jack. This is very useful. And thanks for telling me the name of "rivits". I see there is no "easy" fix. ;) I wish IKEA made these chairs more durable... – John Assymptoth Mar 26 '23 at 17:52
  • 1
    @JohnAssymptoth It's "rivets".... I shouldn't type before coffee. – JACK Mar 26 '23 at 18:25
  • 2
    Might be easier to just drill the rivet heads out. Rotary tools can be hard to control. When reassembling with the new bolts, get some plastic/nylon washers and use one between any wood parts. After assembling the bolts (use nylon lock nuts), you may opt to cut off the excess bolt length. – Huesmann Mar 27 '23 at 14:03
  • @Huesmann Good points. It seems more people now a days get rotary tools than drills. – JACK Mar 27 '23 at 14:46
  • Well, I know with my luck I'd skate the rotary tool wheel or bit off the rivet and score the wood on the chair. :) I'm much less likely to do that with a drill, since the rivet's already got a "punch" for the bit to start. – Huesmann Mar 27 '23 at 14:53
  • @Huesmann On the other hand, a rivet can catch the drill bit and just start spinning along with it, especially in a case like this (tubular rivet in a worn hole). Personally I would start with the drill and watch closely, and if they start spinning, finish them off with the rotary tool. But, many people may only have one or the other available. – CameronSS Mar 27 '23 at 20:33