Drawer Slide Toes In

[Chuck Schultz]

I installed some drawers in my laundry room last night, and on the final drawer, I ran into a problem. When the drawer closes to within about 6 inches, it gets real tight and extremely hard to close. I can eventually close it, but with more force than should be required.

I determined that one slide toes in slightly at the back which causes the drawer to pinch. Do I have any options to remedy this situation short of rebuilding the drawer or the cabinet?

I though about chiseling out the portion of the cabinet where the slide toes in, but that could get awfully tedious.

Thanks!

[Joe Scharle]

You may be able to sand that side of the drawer enough, since if you can force it closed it shouldn't be much. Or a little from both sides.

[Chip Lindley]

You can perform *surgery* on the drawer side, OR the cabinet wall, OR you can use a *bigger hammer!* Rap the lower back inside cab wall with a hammer and block of wood and see if it doesn't give you the room you need. (prolly 1/16") Should the cab box separate a bit at the bottom, squirt a *very little* polyurethane glue in the crack. That will *weld* it in place.

If you fear you are *heavy-handed* and will demolish the cabinet, cut a 3/4"sq. spacer piece just a *tad* longer than the rear inside width of your cab. Tap it into place to spread the rear walls apart slightly.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you can get a router into the cabinet, that'd be easer than chiseling. You can run it on tapered shims to make it cut into the casework more at the rear than the front. The alternative is to make the drawer narrower, then put a shim between the front of the slide and the casework to make it square.

[Chuck Schultz]

I better clarify my situation here a little. The drawer is in the cabinet that the washer/dryer sits on, and is in the middle of several cabinets that I joined together when I installed them. My house is over 100 years old and I don't think there is one 90 degree angle anywhere and my cabinets may have followed along that line.

If I try to bang out this particular cabinet wall, I'll be pushing other existing cabinet walls in the process, so I don't think that will work?? The drawers are made out of 5/8" melamine, so if I sand them down, I'll take off the melamine. I think I'm left with cutting down the drawer box and shimming the front of the slide or routering out the drawer slide channel as Jamie mentioned.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Chuck, you just illustrated one BIG benefit to undermount slides...

[Jamie Buxton]

Chuck, you just illustrated one BIG benefit to undermount slides...

In my experience, Blum Tandems and the like are just as picky about the width of the casework. If the case is too narrow, they don't slide properly either.

[Chuck Schultz]

Yeah, I looked at the undermount slides, but most, if not all, require you to attach them to the sides of the case as well.

I could use a centermount slide, but I think those are all light duty slides or no more than 35 lbs.

[Chuck Schultz]

Has anyone ever installed side mounted drawer slides on the bottom of a drawer? I would need to install a spacer block under the drawer bottom to make it flush with the drawer frame, but that would solve my spacing issue by freeing up the sides.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Chuck,

I recently bought one of the new Dremel tools....similar to the Fein Multi-master. I bought it because I could get a grout blade for it to remove some grout and change the color. I've managed to find 3 distinct uses for it. I am always skeptical about specialty tools but this one has really proven to be useful.

With it you could get in there and cut using a wood/metal blade and/or sand. It is long and narrow and you can change the blade angle to fit the job.

Something to consider for around $100 IIRC.

[john bateman]

Couldn't you just rout a groove in the drawer side. 1/16" deep with a piece of veneer for a shim at one end. The slide would fit in the groove and be unnoticeable.

[Leo Graywacz]

I would say sanding the drawer side would probably be easiest as long as it was solid wood. If plywood then groove the slide into the drawer. If you are trying to keep the drawer pretty you may have no choice but to carve/route the side of the cabinet. But in either case when you are routing a slot make sure the slide is going to operate properly and not rub on the buried part.

[Steve Clardy]

Yeah, I looked at the undermount slides, but most, if not all, require you to attach them to the sides of the case as well.

I could use a centermount slide, but I think those are all light duty slides or no more than 35 lbs.

Yes. Not on a drawer, but I use the same BB slides on spice pullouts in the upper cabinets. One on top and bottom.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

In my experience, Blum Tandems and the like are just as picky about the width of the casework. If the case is too narrow, they don't slide properly either.

But, you do have the positions of the catches and holes under the drawer to fudge with, giving a few more "rescue" options then the one available with side mounts. True though, stuff that is built wrong, just won't fit.

[Russ Boyd]

Are you guys sure about altering the drawer itself? Seems to me if you alter the drawer side you will make it "loose" when it is pulled out. I think the only fix is to notch or widen the case at the problem point as suggested by other posts.

[Chris Friesen]

Are you guys sure about altering the drawer itself? Seems to me if you alter the drawer side you will make it "loose" when it is pulled out. I think the only fix is to notch or widen the case at the problem point as suggested by other posts.

Drawer slides generally have a bit of tolerance on the negative side...that is to say that your drawer can be a bit narrower than nominal, but can't be a bit fat. I'd guess that sanding down the back of the drawer or routing out a channel for the slide would work just fine.

[Peter Quinn]

Chuck, look at accuride for undermount slides that actually mount underneath. I haven't used them as undermounts, but I know they have several types that work both as side mounts and as under mounts to the bottom of a case. Blum side mounts are A LOT MORE FORGIVING than ball bearing side mounts, check the product literature if you don't want to believe me for the tolerance margins. But at this point I'd guess your drawers are built to accommodate standard 1/2" side mounts, not side mounted undermounts?

Are you sure they are toeing IN, and not out as they go back? Have you checked this with a good square? Because I have put in a few that were toeing OUT as they went back, they give you that same tight feeling, but that situation is much easier to correct with a few thin shims or slips of cardboard. Another possibility is that they are not in the same horizontal plane. They don't have to be level, but they do have to move in the same plane, and if they don't, that will give you that same tight feeling if out enough.

One more crazy thing that has worked for me is shimming the FRONTS out a bit if the backs toe in. Some of the slides have a margin for error as far as over all width of drawer versus opening, but they need to run parallel front to back in order to function properly, and a few thin shims at the front to correct the offending slide has solved minor problems for me.

One thing I would not do is sand melamine. Too cheap to bother breathing that stuff for my tastes. Another thing I wouldn't do is beat apart a cabinet that will hold a washer and dryer. Not a good plan in my estimation to weaken that particular box.

[Peter Quinn]

Another thought: The shop I work in buys all the drawers from a speciality vendor, and I have had a few come in out of square. They are machine made parts, so when not square they are pretty perfect parallelograms. To correct for this (within reasonable margins) I figure out which direction the drawer skews, and shim the BACK CORNER of one slide and the FRONT CORNER of the opposite slide. Often it goes from binding at the last few inches of travel as the drawer is closed to smooth as a kitten. This has also worked when the drawer is square but the box is not.

The drawer is most likely to bind in the last few inches of closing regardless of the cause of the problem because that is when the majority of the two parts of each slide are in contact and the error is most exaggerated. It can take a little detective work to figure out exactly what is causing the problem and how best to handle it, but I find its best to check everything closely and try shimming before making assumptions or a new drawer box.

[Shawn Stennett]

I had the same problem with a piece I just got done with the other day, I was on a big coffee table with 6 equal sized drawers. One was tight the last 4-5 inches. I actually just outlined one of the slides but it one my tables saw raised the blade to the outline height and took off about 1/16 of the side, and put the slide back on, put the drawer back in. It fits just right and cannot tell any difference.

[Chuck Schultz]

Thanks guys for all the helpful info. I'm going to give it a try by routing out a 1/16th where the slide sits. That seems to be the consensus amongst you guys. If that doesn't work I'm gonna check out the Blum undermount slides that you mentioned Peter.