Flatpack Furniture Assembly Q&A

Q: What is the weakest part of a flatpack item?

A: The joints.  The completely assembled item might be stronger than you realize but that is in terms of vertical force or force placed on it from the top down.   Force applied from the sides or at diagonal angles to the item put more force on the joints than they can resist.  This is why you NEVER drag a piece of flatpack furniture.  Pick it up or put it on wheels to move it.

Q: Is flatpack hardware actually any good?

A: We'll focus on the specialty hardware first to answer this.  Things such as camlocks and flanged quicklok connectors.

The plastic connectors can break pretty easily during install if done incorrectly. Their weakest point though is the holes they connect to in engineered wood materials.  Composite wood at contact points especially can break apart and chip away easily if too much pressure is put on them.  Once installed correctly and solid connections are made, they are actually really stable.

The composite wood is also a regular failing point of using regular screws, bolts, etc...  you can't get a great thread in holes in composite wood because it's not a solid piece the hole is going into.  This is why you should always use metal or plastic inserts and anchors to attach bolts and screws for better fastening. 

Q: What's the biggest issue facing a flatpack furniture assembler?

A: I'd say it's damage to the piece because of damage from tearout to the composite board.  It's nearly impossible to repair and almost always requires a new replacement of that specific piece from the manufacturer or supplier.  That costs you more money because damage done during assembly is almost never covered in the warranty.

If you're assembling your own item, that's more money out of your pocket.  If you are hired to assemble for a customer,  you'd better have insurance to cover the cost of the replacement piece or the entire item.  If you don't, sucks to be you.

Q: What's the one tool you recommend to assemble flatpack furniture? 

A:  I'd recommend having a few but if I have to focus on one. I'd say a drill/driver with a mechanical torque clutch that has 15 or more driver settings. 

Screws and bolts are the main connectors used in flatpack furniture and some can be very long.   Using a powered driver can save a lot of fatigue and even prevent repetitive damage like carpal tunnel.   Having a mechanical torque clutch with over 15 settings will help prevent from over-driving into the material.   That prevents tearout and other significant damage to the piece. 

Q: Are manufacturer suggested assembly times and recommendations realistic? 

A: I think that in certain conditions they are.  I also am practically sure that they don't include all the background such as not counting unpacking and sorting time and having two person teams doing the assembly.  One person, unfamiliar with the item's assembly and having to unpack, sort and familiarize themselves with the parts takes a differing extra amount of time in addition to the actual assembly AFTER unpacking and sorting. 

Personally,  I'd say to ignore the manufacturer suggestions regarding time to assemble and focus on getting the right pieces in the right places, the right way and not damaging anything while putting it together.   Take the time you need.  It's not a race.

If you're assembling for a customer and they want to hold you to the manufacturer time suggestions, make sure to give a time estimate based on your own experience and stick to it.  If they want it done faster than you can offer, let them find someone else who is more familiar and faster and will probably charge a lot more for the privilege.  Odds are, they won't be that much faster and potentially have damage as a result.

To be both fast and accurate in flatpack assembly you need a combination of being very familiar with a wide variety of pieces, have average size to smaller hands to fit into small spaces, and be particularly nimble as there is a lot of up and down activity.   Not a lot of people have all the above combined traits.

Being a fast assembler is a lot like typing fast.  Sure, you get more done in a shorter amount of time but if you have a lot of errors at the end, you're no better off than had you taken more time because now you have to go back and fix (if it's fixable) all those errors and probably take even more time than by taking a slower but more accurate approach the first time.

Focus on doing it right instead of doing it fast.  As you gain experience,  you'll pick up the pace.