Anyone have this problem w/ blum undermount?

[Karl Brogger]

Double sided tape seems like alot of wasted effort in my opinion.

Open and close the drawer a couple of times, paying attention to where it stops when it closes. Sometimes they kick one way or another, and you need to find the happy medium of where it will be stopping. Chances are you are bumping the drawer around as you are sticking the front on.

I use a couple of shop made shims, depending on how crazy I'm going with margins a couple of finish nails, or even brads work well using the head if I need to cheat a side up. I just put a piece of scrap in the chop box at a real shallow angle and cut them off to make a quick shim.

With the drawer box sitting about the best its going to get, set your drawer front in the opening and shim the bottom up to get an even reveal. If you've got one that looks like it'll be a real pain, raise the adjusters up a bit on the front/back of the drawer so you can really twist it around if neccessary. Then I just nail it in. You need to be careful that you aren't putting any pressure side to side on the drawer box as that'll pretty much hose your alignment. Open an close to double check, then pull it out and screw on the face.

Using the locking device with the adjustable stop is good as well. I actually set the slides a bit deep so they have to be adjusted forward to get them flush.

The Blum undermount slides, (actually all of the Blum hardware), are pretty much useless if you want to be using a 1/16" or less margin. The slides are too sloppy, the hinges don't kick the door into the opening enough to clear the face frame. there's a trade off to everything, I still use the Blum stuff, you just have to learn to work with the little nuiances, instead of them working against you.

[Karl Brogger]

Also, make a jig to drill the first hole for the slides. That way they are consistent. I just use a piece of angle aluminum with countersunk holes in it, place it in the bottom of the drawer opening and use a Vix bit.

All of my drawer openings get a stretcher that is dado'd in across the front and the back of the opening. Being that I set the face frame an 1/8" above the hieght of the stretcher, I just use a spacer to raise the slide in back to the level of the face frame. If the slide is not perfectly perpindicular to the face of the box its no big deal, that's where the adjustments come in handy. If I see something that is wildly off, I will cheat it in whatever direction is neccessary. Its way more effecient to make use of the adjusters, than to spend large amounts of time to get it perfect. Especially sitting in a shop, since everything must be adjusted again once installed.

[Dan Chouinard]

Karl,
Custom made shims are a staple of any finish carpenter. I make a dozen at a time and keep them in my apron. Stock shims just dont cut it.

Double stick tape is just the ticket if you want to put your fronts on without nail holes. Why would you use nails when "everything" needs to be re-adjusted after install???

I shoot for 3/32 margins.

Dan

[Peter Quinn]

Looks like you have your answer, but as far as all this tape, screws and nails, "For what" I ask. Get some blum inset drawer front adjusters, a set of marking templates and the drill bit and have at it. Makes adjusting and READJUSTING drawer fronts in the field a snap. You drill a few holes on the drill press on the backs of the drawer fronts, you shim them in the openings to get the basic reveal, you put the guides with the points in the holes and give them a good BOP with your palm. Voila, its done, you know just where to put the screws. Slightly over sized screw holes in conjunction with these can add even more flexibility. Try them, you may like them better than tape. Many of the cabinets we make at work get finished on site by a sub after install, so the drawer fronts are coming off and going back on at least once, and tape/nails is really out then.

As far as the slides, I use a simple small combination square to keep the set back consistent, which is critical, and we use the clips for inset drawers, which help particularly well for situations where something in the construction is racked. We buy our drawers and I have hung a few that were less than square (though parallel sides), but by carefully packing the the offending opposing corners out with some slim shims I have made them function perfectly. Same for boxes with a little irregularity to them.

[Karl Brogger]

fronts on without nail holes.

Just to be clear, I'm putting the brads through the drawer, not through the face.

[Dan Chouinard]

Those blum adjusters certainly make sense especially in the case of onsite finishing which is how my last kitchen cabinet job was done and the next two will be as well.

Thank you Karl and Peter for your advice.
Dan

[Peter Quinn]

Dan, for small to average sized drawer fronts I find the blum adjusters and the drawer pull or knob screws are sufficient to keep the fronts in place permanently. For some of the larger drawer fronts on pot and pan banks or such I like to get the adjustment with the buttons then reinforce them with a few washer head screws from the back. Things in the 30" plus range get a few extra screws on my watch, whether they need it or not. Oh, and you only get one chance to put the adjusters in the fronts correctly, and they only go one way, so practice on a scrap piece or test piece. DAMHIK

[Dan Chouinard]

Peter,
Tape really works quite well but you loose adjustability.
How many adjusters per front and the cost of each? What kind of investment is there for the marking template and drill bit?
Thanks,
Dan

[Dan Chouinard]

One other thing Peter,
Not that it matters, but did you call me a dam hik?