Drawer Building

[Birdhunter]

I just finished building two drawer units each with four drawers. I used full extension ball bearing slides. I used every trick I knew in installing the drawers and still had to reset some of the drawer fronts because they didn’t line up perfectly.

What’s the “magic trick” to get perfect drawer alignment the first time?

 

[Bohdan]

LR32

 

[Mario Turcot]

LR 32 works fine, there is other jigs for few/fast drawer setup like the Kreg jig. Lately I saw several videos where people install the drawer slides before assembling the carcas. Perhaps it would work for you.

 

[Cheese]

Do you use a CAD program?

If you input the correct dimensions, my experience is that the correct geometry will always position the slides correctly.

After that it’s just a matter of measuring correctly or fab a jig for repetitive processes.

 

[Lincoln]

Not sure I follow...are you attaching the fronts to the drawer before sliding the drawer in the carcase??

 

[Birdhunter]

I tried that first and had to go back and adjust several of the fronts.

I used spacers, precise measuring, etc and still had to make adjustments.

 

[bertv]

What I have learned (the hard way) is that you need to be as precise as humanly possible: sizes have to be identical, corners square, measuring instruments identical to each other, etc. Being off by a mm doesn’t sound too bad, but it can be the difference between a no-problemo-install and an endless struggle.

 

[Roachmill]

One other thing to keep in mind is that, once loaded up with whatever you put in them, the weight can (depending on runners used) further raise your blood pressure by dropping the drawer fronts down a bit. Best to check and see what weight does to the bottom drawer before fitting the front and act accordingly. Don't ask me how I know this [big grin]

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I just finished building two drawer units each with four drawers. I used full extension ball bearing slides. I used every trick I knew in installing the drawers and still had to reset some of the drawer fronts because they didn’t line up perfectly.

What’s the “magic trick” to get perfect drawer alignment the first time?

[member=15289]Birdhunter[/member]

I'm trying to learn from this too. Could you provide some more info like what drawer fronts you are using (inset/face frame)? What type of misalignment (not flat/flush/twisted/canted...)?

One process I have used is to drill the drawer pull holes in the face and use wood screws through them to hold the face on the drawer until I pull the drawer and drive screws from the inside into the face.

 

[Birdhunter]

After my initial failure, I used double sided tape to do the final positioning of the fronts then drive the screws in from inside of the drawer. That worked.

 

[Michael Kellough]

“One process I have used is to drill the drawer pull holes in the face and use wood screws through them to hold the face on the drawer until I pull the drawer and drive screws from the inside into the face.”

That’s clever!

They do make drawer face screws which are oversized truss head screws. You just drill a larger hole in the drawer box so you have more adjustment slack then tighten the screws just enough that you can still pry the face into position but still get the drawer open to fully tighten.

 

[jarbroen]

After my initial failure, I used double sided tape to do the final positioning of the fronts then drive the screws in from inside of the drawer. That worked.

I read a tip here(or another forum) that comes in handy.  There are screws made just for this type of fiddling.  It's a Philips with a large washer head.  You drill an oversized hole on the inside of the drawer box front and then screw into your front panel.  If you snug them enough, but not too tight, you can wiggle the fronts around to get them just right.  This only helps with gap on the top/bottom or sides.  Depthwise, for setting the slide in the cabinet, I make myself a stop block and clamp that with a square to the cabinet side.  Kind of a DIY jig like you can get from Kreg or rockler.
So far, I've just installed blum undermount slides - they need to be spot on.  My current project I'm using Accuride side mounts... we'll see how those go.

 

[grobkuschelig]

Talking about Blum, they do make a drawer front fastener which gets built into a 20mm bore in the front and is screwed to the drawer with an M4/20m length screw.

It is basically a small M4 nut-plate inside a nylon body and gives you +/- 2-3mm of adjustment in all directions.

I have switched to using these on any installation where the final results needs to be spot on.

 

[Jasonj888]

I just finished building two drawer units each with four drawers. I used full extension ball bearing slides. I used every trick I knew in installing the drawers and still had to reset some of the drawer fronts because they didn’t line up perfectly.

What’s the “magic trick” to get perfect drawer alignment the first time?

I'm definitely not an expert on this subject, but one method that has worked for me is using carpet tape. I start by installing all of the slide hardware and putting the drawer in the slot. I add a couple heavy strips of carpet tape, use all of the mentioned tips to get my drawer front lined up, all the while being cautious not to let it touch the carpet tape. When the alignment is right, I press the front on. Usually, I'm also applying pressure from the back to the back of the drawer as well. You can then drill and attach the drawer front. The carpet tape is amazingly strong, but does allow for very tiny adjustments.

 

[fixit]

With all drawer boxes and slides installed simply clamp the bottom drawer front on the box where you want it to be, take a little time as this will be your reference point for all the rest. Screw it in place when you are happy. Quick measure from the top of the base drawer front to the top of the unit, simple maths will give you the desired gap between fronts, make a pair of shims and start clamping and screwing checking your measurements as you go.

 

[sancho57]

https://www.fastcap.com/product/drawer-front-clamps?cat=10