How to adjust drawer slides

[jtpr]

I just finished a workshop cabinet with drawers, well, almost finished. An= yway the problem is the drawers are crooked and I can't figure out how to g= et them straight.

When you look at them from the left side there is a gap between the drawer = front and the face frame. The other side is pretty much flush. No matter = what I do I can't seem to straighten them out. As far as I can tell everyt= hing is square when measured diagonally, the drawer boxes, the carcass (bot= h side to side and top and bottom, the face frame. Here are some pictures = of it as it looks at this point:

aren't great, but I think you get the idea, and no comments about the = mess.

Oh, the sliders are full extension side mounted.

Thank you for any advice

-Jim

[Doug Winterburn]

Anyway the problem is the drawers are crooked and I can't figure out how to get them straight.

front and the face frame. The other side is pretty much flush. No matter what I do I can't seem to straighten them out. As far as I can tell everything is square when measured diagonally, the drawer boxes, the carcass (both side to side and top and bottom, the face frame. Here are some pictures of it as it looks at this point:

If they're side mounted, you must have put some sort of strip to account for the face frame? if so, you'll have to adjust those strips.

If they're not screwed to the sides of the cabinet, but the back mounted to the back of the cabinet - then the back mounting would need to be shifted to the right a scosh (which is a little more than several RCH's).

It did look like the right side also had a smaller gap in one of the pics?

[Leon]

Anyway the problem is the drawers are crooked and I can't figure out how to get them straight.

front and the face frame. The other side is pretty much flush. No matter what I do I can't seem to straighten them out. As far as I can tell everything is square when measured diagonally, the drawer boxes, the carcass (both side to side and top and bottom, the face frame. Here are some pictures of it as it looks at this point:

There are a few things that will cause this. This can happen if the drawers are not square but since you have this problem with all of the drawers I would rule that out.

If the cabinet is not square this will happen.

Are the cabinet side of the slides set at the same depth from the front on both sides?

Are the cabinet slides square to the cabinet opening? Since you have face frames I would venture to say that the backs of the slides are closer to the back cabinet sides on the left side than they are on the right side.

[Swingman]

Anyway the problem is the drawers are crooked and I can't figure out how to get them straight.

front and the face frame. The other side is pretty much flush. No matter what I do I can't seem to straighten them out. As far as I can tell everything is square when measured diagonally, the drawer boxes, the carcass (both side to side and top and bottom, the face frame. Here are some pictures of it as it looks at this point:

Just looking at the pictures I would say that your cabinet end panels are not parallel to each other (the cabinet is not square), and one may be a bit longer, front to back, than the other.

FACT: In order for the drawers to fit flush with the face frame, the left and right stiles and rails of the face frame must be in the same plane, AND the left and right end panels must be parallel to each other AND perpendicular to the plane of the face frame.

With a cabinet that is out of square, you must shim the slides to make the above parameters a reality.

With that in mind, my first thought would be to shift the _cabinet side_ drawer slides on the left end panel slightly toward the back, and possibly shim the very back of the slides on the left side to try and make them parallel to the right side.

In any event, the solution lies in the second paragraph above, guaranteed.

[HerHusband]

I agree, it looks like the cabinet is not square (when viewed from the top looking down). But, there's probably not much you can do about the cabinet now.

Rather than hassle with shimming out the drawer slides, I would just put shims behind the right side of the drawer fronts. They appear to be applied door fronts, so this should be relatively easy. I had to do that with a drawer in my computer desk and you would never know unless you open the drawer and specifically look for it.

Good luck,

Anthony

[dadiOH]

To me, you have two problems...

1. The drawers seem to gap on *each* side. That means the slides aren't properly installed; the slide portion on the drawer sides should be - IIRC -

1/8" back of the drawer back.

1. If the gap is unegual it means that the drawer front and slides are making a parallelogram; i.e., the face frame isn't at a right angle to the drawer front and that is most likely caused by the face frame not being at a right angle to the cabinet ends (could be because the drawer itself is not square). To fix, you need to shim out the cabinet portion of the slide, as others have said.

[JayPique]

Just a quick pet peeve of mine. When you install sidemount slides they hav= e elongated holes in both directions. Pick one direction for the part you = mount to the drawer, and the other direction for the part you mount to the = cabinet. Don't mix, and don't fill in the small un-elongated holes until y= ou install the cabinet. Thank you very much. JP Frustrated in Manahattan

[Morgans]

Rather than hassle with shimming out the drawer slides, I would just put shims behind the right side of the drawer fronts. They appear to be applied door fronts, so this should be relatively easy. I had to do that with a drawer in my computer desk and you would never know unless you open the drawer and specifically look for it.

*********************** I have a different way to work the fronts not being even against the face of the cabinet. I make the drawers so the bottoms slide in from the back, and I do not fasten the bottom in until the drawers are installed. If need be, make the drawer a bit out of square for the out of square cabinet, by nailing the bottom in a bit out of square.

-- Jim in NC

[jtpr]

Yes Doug, there are 3/4 strips of pine under the slides. The face frame is= 1 1/2" thick.

I'm going to go take some more measurements, but when I assembled the carca= ss and after I attached the face frame, I put it face down and measured it = diagonally and it was equal. Perhaps with movement it went askew somehow.

Now, I did try sliding the left side slider back, but this gave me no joy. = Then I shimmed the back of that slider out 1/8", again, nothing. =20

OK, I took more measurements and the damn thing is square across the top an= d back and bottom. One side has about a 1/8" difference on the diagonal. = But I realized that I have been doing the wrong thing trying to pull the si= de (left) back. I need to push the right side sliders forward so they hit = the face frame at the same time as the left side. Once I envisioned it fro= m the top it makes more sense. I'll try that this weekend.

Jim

[DanG]

I suspect that the carcass is out of square when viewed from the top. The plane of the face frame is NOT square to the sides of the carcass. You can probably shim the front of the right hand slide to correct if there is enough forgiveness in the drawer dimensions.