Beginner question - Drawer fronts

[Dave In Oz]

I am building a chest of drawers. I have already completed the frame and the drawer "boxes" (don't know the correct term). I am trying to work out the best way to accurately attach the fronts of the drawers so that they line up with the frame and with each other. I don't want to put any holes through the front of the drawers.

So - the drawers are sitting on their sliders and I put them to their closed position and can manually lay the fronts onto the boxes - but can't mark any lines on the inside for when I glue them up as they are closed!

This is probably a pretty dumb question, but it is my first time making drawers and I want them to look professional.

[efgh]

Screw the drawer front on from the inside of the drawer and into the back of the drawer front.

You're going to want to the drawer front to be centered on the drawer so cut yourself a scrap piece that's of the same width of the drawer front overhang. i.e., your drawer is 12" wide, drawer front is 13" wide so you're going to want a piece that's 1/2" wide. Clamp this piece to the edge of your drawer front and then screw the drawer front on.

[RayV]

Use double sided tape to hold them in place then open the drawers and clamp before attaching.

or

Drill oversize holes in the drawers and use panhead screws to attach. This will give you *some* wiggle room.

[RayV]

Use double sided tape to hold them in place then open the drawers and clamp before attaching.

or

Drill oversize holes in the drawers and use panhead screws to attach. This will give you *some* wiggle room.

[Dave In Oz]

Thanks for the reply.

I can do all that, and then the drawer front will line up perfectly with the drawer box. But, if the slides for the drawer are not perfectly aligned, then the drawer boxes will not sit perfectly parallel. Even a 1mm difference will be noticable when the drawers are closed, as they are about 80cm wide.

So, I am wanting to align the door fronts with each other and with the frame, which may mean that they are not perfectly aligned with the boxes inside, but that is no problem.

I hope that this is making sense - I'm finding it hard to explain.

[Dave In Oz]

Thanks Ray. I think I will go with the double-sided tape. I feel kind of dumb for not having thought of it myself. Cheers.

[Dave]

I am using a slight variation to acheive what you are describing.

Drill oversize holes in the drawer box on opposite corners. Using screws and finish washers from inside the drawer box you can move the face slightly to get the correct spacing. Once it is aligned, tighten down these two screws and then screw the remaining two corners without using oversize holes.

Works well and the finish washers cover up the oversize holes so there is no problem with the appearance to me.

Dave

[mew]

[Swingman]

I've used many different methods, but a variation on the above is to use two sheetrock screws, with their extra sharp points just sticking through the front of the drawer box about 3/16".

With the spacer as a guide, pressing the drawer front onto the sharp points of the sheetrock screws is enough to help hold it into position while you open the drawer and drive the temporary screws home, to be replaced after you're satisfied with alignment of ALL the drawer fronts.

Advantage is that when Murphy strikes, you don't have to pull a bradded drawer front off its box.

[Dave In Oz]

Thanks - that sounds great.

I've never heard of sheetrock screws. I'm in Australia and some things have different names here. Do you know of another name for sheetrock or sheetrock screws?

[mac davis]

Can't really answer your question because you don't want holes in the front of your drawers, but you might try the old double-sided tape method... us 2 SMALL pieces of mounting tape to hold the drawer front to the drawer.... close the drawer and carefully align the face where you want it and reseat the tape... open drawer and use screws or whatever to attach drawer front..

I usually have 1 or 2 holes in the drawer and face, depending on the type of pulls... I try to make the hole(s) in the drawer large enough to allow a little adjustment space since the pull is what's holding the drawer front in place.. Mac

[Swingman]

Probably "drywall" or "plasterboard" in Oz?

[jo4hn]

I know them as drywall screws. Other names for sheetrock/drywall are wallboard and gypboard (gyp for gypsum). The screws are non-tapered (except at the tip), black in color, and with a phillips head.

screw you, jo4hn ;-)

[Mike]

I think it's the same thing as plasterboard / drywall screws.

[Tim W]

Or a hot melt glue gun can work really well here. Put a little weight in the drawer box, squeeze out some glue, press the front carefully into place, then check alignment and screw securely from the inside. Voila.

Tim W

[Bill]

Hi, Dave. I faced the same problem recently. I put a couple of dabs of construction adhesive (e.g. "Liquid Nails") on the drawer boxes, and then applied the fronts. I then used shims to adjust the fronts so that they were all aligned properly. After the adhesive had cured, I pulled open the drawers and secured the fronts with screws from inside the box. Consider it a variant of the two-sided tape method.

Bill