Constructional Fixings  

KD fittings are otherwise known as Knock Down Fittings They can be taken apart and put together again. They allow furniture to be flat packed and assembled at home.

QA fittings are otherwise known as Quick Assembly fittings. Their main feature is that they can be assembled quickly but they may or may not be able to be taken apart again.

Galvanising

Because the topic this year is outdoor you have to coat all your fittings to stop them going rusty, unless you use rustproof materials like stainless steel or brass. Both are expensive. Galvanising is a cheap coating. It involves coating mild steel with zinc which stops the mild steel rusting. Some of the fittings are shown below.

Used here if you click	COACH BOLT - notice the little square under the head. I is cut into the wood to stop the bolt going round and round and coming loose if it is being moved all the time (as in a opening and closing a deckchair).		CAP NUT - Look at the coach bolt on the left. If you put an ordinary nut on the end like the one shown, the thread is sticking out and it could be very sharp when sitting in your deckchair. Why not use a cap nut instead, It looks good and is safer. What would stop the nut coming loose? A spring washer of course. Look below.
GALVANISED NAILS - I included these because often rustic furniture is held together using them. Why did I show twisted ones? They are much more difficult to get out. (well there are vandals about you know).	Rustic stuff here	SPRING WASHER -The spring washer on the right goes under the head of the nut. Because it is sprung it presses against the underside of the nut and stops the nut coming loose when it is moved a lot (like a deckchair).
Look here to see 'em in action	GALVANISED SELF TAPPING SCREWS - Used a lot for plastic. They make their own thread and are quick when assembling stuff. They are also used on metal constructions.		LEG BRACE - This is explained in much better detail on the page about wooden furniture, click here to see. It is a metal plate bolted into the underside corner of the table and it holds the rails and legs at 90 degrees. The rails are often positioned using wooden dowels which are shown below left.
BUTT HINGES - I have shown these because they are the most common. Look for others on the internet just to see a variety. Why include them? Well if something folds away, it most likely need a hinge. Why brass? It doesn't rust. Could be brass plated if you are cheap.		STAYS - These can be used to hold folding parts in position once they have be 'unfolded'. The example on the right is screwed to moving parts and when it is opened it 'locks out' to stop it collapsing again. Another way of preventing collapse is putting rings round moving parts once they are opened (like a pram) look at the bottom of this page to see it. to see it.	Look below to see it in action.
	DOWELS- These can be made of wood metal or plastic. They are used to hold things together (if used with glue) or to put things into line when assembling them as in the leg brace above. (see here for an example)	STAY IN ACTION You can see from the diagram on the right that the stay could be used to hold up a extending part of a table (called a table drop leaf). This in effect would make the table longer if more folk were eating. Notice on the diagram there is a hinge at the top left (seen from the edge as a little circle) allowing it to fold down when not in use.
	RAWL BOLTS - I included these because there was a lot of concrete on the preparation sheet. They are used to bolt down furniture in public places to stop it getting stolen, blown away and vandalised. The more you tighten the bolt down, the more difficult it is to ever get it out. See here for the example.		CONNECTING BOLTS- You have seen this sort of thing before. They 'clamp' bits of wood together. You use an Allen key to tighten them up. Often used for holding picnic benches and tables together.
	CORNER BRACE - Made from HDPE and is screwed into the corner of two connecting pieces of man made wood to form a right angled joint.		WING NUTS - are a fast way of putting stuff together. You don't need a spanner. You don't need a screwdriver. You simply tighten them by hand. Its quick and easy to screw them onto a bolt, coach bolt or threaded bar.
	CORNER BRACKET - These are super strong, being made from galvanised steel. The into the corner of two pieces of wood to form a right angle, Notice the slotted screw holes to allow for adjustment.	RIVETS and POP RIVETS- Traditional rivets and the way they work are shown here. Pop rivets are Quick Assembly but not Knock Down fittings. In other words the can't easily be taken apart once done. You apply them with a 'gun and in picnic stuff they would be used to connect aluminium tubes together on folding chairs. Look here and Here	.