E-Z LOK 400-008 Threaded Inserts for Wood, Installation Kit, Brass, Includes 8-32 Knife Thread Inserts (10), Drill, Installation Tool

Works great

The bit and inserts are great but the insertion tool breaks if you use it to fully seat the insert.It works for inserting them 80% of the way and making it straight but use a bolt and nuts to fully seat them.

Worked great for first half, but the driver snapped after about 20 threads and I wound up having to finish driving the rest with a common bolt and nuts anyway

These brass inserts are the perfect combination of material and manufacturing quality for use in securing stainless steel bolts to hardwood. The brass with knife threads easily cut into hardwood. It’s a much more reliable way to securely hold a bracket or other bolted on item to the wood while also allowing the bolt to be removable and refastened if needed.These e-z lok inserts have much tighter tolerances and finish than the cheaper knockoffs I’ve used before.The installation tool in the tool-and-insert kit makes installation very easy with a cordless driver. (Although a less efficient makeshift installation tool can be made with a matching machine screw or bolt and two hex nuts as shown in my photos. What I do NOT recommend is using a flathead screwdriver to install these inserts into hardwood… very slow and painful by hand or even with cordless driver.)

These are great inserts overall. I use them for making custom beer tap handles, but need to be aware of the limitations of the installation tool for certain species of wood.If you are working with Walnut the insertion tool will work fine on a heavy enough drill, but if you are working with Cherry or Maple, forget about it. For the super hard woods I use the insertion tool to get maybe the first 2 threads into the piece as it does help keep the insert straight. After that switch to a hardened 1" bolt and a breaker bar to get them flush.No need to use any glue on the insert, they are never backing out once they are in place.

I'm not usually one to leave reviews, but I have to share how terrible my experience with this product was as a warning to others. I was working with walnut, building an electronics enclosure. I intended to use these inserts as bases for PCB standoffs. I used the provided 17/64" drill bit with a drill press, and the provided drive tool with a hand screwdriver, so I was certain that the holes were straight and the inserts were being driven with an appropriate amount of speed and torque.Well, first, I broke at least three inserts midway through installation. The protrusions on the drive tool crumpled and gouged the brass. (See photo.) I had to remove the insert partway and start over several times.Then, the drive tool itself broke! One of the protrusions that go into the slits on the inserts sheared off. (See photo.) I got a wide flat-blade screwdriver and used it to drive the inserts instead. It honestly worked better, and I managed to finish the job without damaging any more inserts.In the end, the inserts functioned fine, but not without some cosmetic issues. The inner M3 thread is good, and I had no trouble screwing nylon standoffs in and out without damaging them. However, the inserts caused minor cosmetic damage to my enclosure. They split the grain, causing it lift away from the face of the workpiece. (See photo.) I mitigated the damage with some superglue and sanding, and it didn't matter much in my case, but I'd caution against using these inserts in places where they might be visible.On reflection, I suspect that these inserts were not tested sufficiently on hardwoods. I'm guessing that many of the issues I encountered wouldn't have happened if I was using pine or another wood softer than walnut. If you must use these inserts on hardwoods, try using a drill bit that's larger than 17/64". Maybe 19/64″ or even 5/16″. The outer threads are about 21/64" in diameter, so assuming that you don't need it to bear any notable load (it's an M3), 19/64" should work just fine. Just take care to keep the insert aligned.tl;dr I broke several inserts and the drive tool during installation into walnut. Consider alternatives.

these worked well for a tooling plate i made out of mdf. definitely better to use the installation tool and provided drill as opposed to a screw driver. happy with this product.

The threaded inserts are phenomenal, however, the installation tool is complete garbage. Save your money, use a good bolt and hardware instead. Both my m6 and m10 install tool snapped off after the insert was too deep to remove. Talk about a headache.

Worth the money

It is not possible to install these threaded inserts well without the included drill bit and insert tool.

Worked as intended for me, but I was surprised the driver has no keys to engage in the insert slots. That’s fine for insertion, but if I needed to back out an insert, I would have been out of luck.

WORKED AS ADVERTISED. GREAT.

It was great that it included everything I needed to do the job.