Adjusting cabinet drawers

WoodSam

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Jun 19, 2010
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As a learning woodworker I would like to get some advice on adjusting drawers in a face frame cabinet. I built a couple of 5 drawer clothes dressers using face frames and having overlay drawer faces. The drawer sliders are the simple Blum self closing type. After installing the sliders all of the drawer boxes closed smoothly into the cabinet and all were a uniform depth ( approximately 1/4 to3/8 inch)inside the face frame. After adding on the drawer faces I have one drawer that is not closing completely flush to the face frame and sits proud of the face frame by about1/4 inch on the left side but is flush against the face frame on the right side.

Is there a simple adjustment to correct this situation? Thanks in advance for your guidance and expertise.
 
Check like Harry said and also re-check the slides in the cabinet and on the drawer.  Maybe one of the slides isn't tightened fully and not going in all the way when you slide in the drawer.
Maybe the depth isn't right on something or the slide is wrong, damaged or bent.  Maybe take both slides off the drawer and work them by hand comparing the two sides.
 
Are the drawers the same size? If it is,try using a different drawer on and see if it sits ok.If it is then you have a out of square drawer.
 
WoodSam said:
As a learning woodworker I would like to get some advice on adjusting drawers in a face frame cabinet. I built a couple of 5 drawer clothes dressers using face frames and having overlay drawer faces. The drawer sliders are the simple Blum self closing type. After installing the sliders all of the drawer boxes closed smoothly into the cabinet and all were a uniform depth ( approximately 1/4 to3/8 inch)inside the face frame. After adding on the drawer faces I have one drawer that is not closing completely flush to the face frame and sits proud of the face frame by about1/4 inch on the left side but is flush against the face frame on the right side.

Is there a simple adjustment to correct this situation? Thanks in advance for your guidance and expertise.

As the others have said, the drawerbox is likely out of square. If you can't adjust the drawerbox itself, then there is a workaround by putting packers between the runners and the carcase sides Assuming they're the Blumotion slides?). If it's proud on the left as you describe, then you need to pack the back of the left-hand runner (about 1/32" initially), and do the same to the front of the right-hand runner. This will have the effect of skew-ing the drawerbox slightly. Adjust the packers in thickness until the front sits flush.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. When I am in the shop tonight I will double check the squareness of the drawer box and also the realignment of the slides. The sliders are the Standard Blum Slides with 3/4 single- extension. They are attached to the face frame at the front and sit in brackets on the rear wall of the cabinet and are on the bottom corners of the drawer box. About the simplest type of slide available. Thanks again.
 
If the drawer box is out of square, try a quick fix that almost always works for me (at least with preassembled dovetail drawers)  Take the longer dimension from corner to corner and rest one corner on the floor (with a blanket or something to avoid damaging the drawer) and push down on it, this should put the drawer back to square.  Or use clamps.  I use this technique on jobsites since I don't carry many clamps around and it's saved a lot of time and hassle.

Jon
 
if the drawer is square (check that first ) then i would check that the screws used to mount the slides is the right size. i had a similar problem once where one side wouldnt go back. turns out the far screw was a bigger head size than the rest. it was hitting somthing in the slide. make sure they are fully set in
 
Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I checked tonight and the drawer box was very slightly out of square. I tried Jons method to adjust the drawer and it worked just fine - a great tip and easy to do. Problem solved and new knowledge gained.
 
The Fog strikes again  [big grin].  Good to hear it worked, and glad its fixed.

Jon
 
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