Re: [VAL] Re: How to possible answer

["Fred Coldwell" <agrijeep@xxxxxxxxx>]

Patti:

    A little more information describing the magazine holder would be 
helpful, but I'll run with what my mind's eye sees.

    It sees a magazine rack with two 3/4"+- wide wood vertical sides 
with rods or flat slats between them and perhaps a small thin horizontal 
wood bottom.   If that's the case, then your can blind mount it to the 
wall as follows.

    1.  Buy 6 pan head head sheet metal screws, 4 to use and 2 as extras 
to save a return trip to the hardware store when one rolls into an 
inaccessible location.  "Pan head" means they have a wide flat head.
Also buy a dozen small wood screws.

    2.  Buy a 6" (probably 3' minimum length) strip of soft metal, such 
as aluminum, that is 3/4 inches wide, or just as wide as the back sides 
of the magazine rack.  If you cannot find that width, then find a metal 
strip having a width wider than the diameter of the pan head but not as 
wide as the width of the magazine rack side.  If the metal is wider than 
the back of the rack sides, cut or file it to just less than the width 
of each wood side.

    3.  Cut the strip into four pieces 2" long each.  You are going to 
put a keyhole into each metal strip.

    4.  In each cut metal strip, near the bottom drill a hole just wider 
than the diameter of the pan head, so the pan head can go through this 
hole.

    5.  Above that large hole, drill a series of smaller holes in line 
that are just a tad bigger that the diameter of the threaded shank of 
the pan head screw.  File them into one large oblong hole wide enough so 
the shank of the pan head can go up and down this oblong hole.  You 
should now have a keyhole in each metal strip.

    6.  Lay the four 2" metal strip on the backs of each side, one near 
the top and the other near the bottom, and mark the top and bottom of 
each metal strip with a pencil.

    7.  Chisel out or sand away the wood on the back of each side in the 
area between the top and bottom pencil marks to a depth equal to the 
thickness of the metal strips.  You want the metal strip to be flush 
with the back of the wood sides.

   8.  Mark the top and bottom of the key hole on the back of the wood 
sides with a pencil.  Cut a trough into the sanded away area that is 
just wider than the diameter of the pan head and goes the length of the 
keyhole.  The trough should be twice as deep as the depth of the pan head.

    9.  Drill small holes in the top and bottom of each metal keyhole 
strip.  Place the metal strips in the sanded away areas with the large 
hole at the bottom.  Attach each strip to the back of the wood side with 
two flat head wood screws, one at each end.

   10.  Put a piece of paper over the back of the magazine rack and 
punch through it with a pencil into each large hole in each keyhole.

   11.  Put the punched paper on the wall where you want the magazine 
rack to be and mark the center of each punched hole with a pencil mark.

   12.  Drill 4 holes in your wall where the 4 pencil mark are.  Each 
hole should be the diameter of the round shaft of the pan head screw 
without the threads.  Do not use the overall diameter of the pan head 
screw threaded shaft as there will be nothing for the threads to bite 
into in such a too-large hole.

   13.  Put a pan head screw into each hole so there is maybe 1/4 inch 
between the back of the pan head and the wall.  In other words, screw 
them in perhaps 80% of the way.

   14.  Put the magazine rack against the 4 pan head screws so each 
screw fits into the large part of each keyhole.  Once all the screws are 
in all the keyholes, push down on the magazine rack to mount it flush 
against the wall.   If one corner is not quite flush with the wall, take 
the rack off and tight down the screw in that corner and try again.

   The above approach assumes it is easier to make new holes in your 
wall to match the back of your magazine rack than it would be to try to 
match the back of the magazine rack to existing holes in your wall.

Good luck, and have fun!

Fred C.