Drawer Box Out Of Square

[Burritt, Chase]

I have just completed a small linen chest with three drawers. They are all solid drawer boxes with box joints and ply bottoms. The problem is one of the drawers is out of square. When I glued them up they were in square and now they are out by about 1/8". The result of this is the drawer front of this one drawer is not flush with the carcass. I have tried to move the slides forward and backward with no help....still out of square. Now I've seen some posts on other sites that suggest.....planing the side that is too long to achieve square.....shimming one of the sides to 'imply' square....moving the slides completely to the back of the case....dropping the case on it's edge to pop the box back into square (now that one is impossible....each drawer has some 10 box joints per corner that have been set-up for two weeks....they are not 'popping' anywhere). And the last suggestion was make kindling and start over.

Now, I don't want to start over....I can live with this error....this is my first case and I am a rookie....but if there is a fix that is easier than planing the thing, or shimming it to death, I'd appreciate a post.

Thanks in advance,
Chase

[Larry Frank]

You might want to post a picture of the drawer and the cabinet so that we can make some suggestions.

When making drawers and cabinets, you have to make certain that everything is square. I clamp all for corners of a drawer or box until the glue is dry to make certain there is no movement. I have made some plywood corner clamps for the inside of the corners that I use to do this.

[Ethan Melad]

i would personally say scrap it and make another. i cant see how any good would come of trying to re-square by re-cutting or jointing the front; if you shimmed the front, it might make it parallel to the carcass but you'd still have one side with a big gap visible from the top. at least its winter and you always need more kindling...

[David Kumm]

I hate when that happens. I've put an out of square box on the edge sander if you have one to take a little off the face. Problem is you will see it and cuss yourself every time you open it. Dave

[Burritt, Chase]

Here you go.
Chase
file://localhost/Users/mchaseburritt/Desktop/Mom's%20Case%20Top%20Drawer%20Out%20of%20Square.jp g
file://localhost/Users/mchaseburritt/Desktop/Mom's%20Case-Out%20of%20Square%20%232.jpg

[Burritt, Chase]

Here are some pic's.
Thanks in advance for any help...
Chase


253953253954

[Leo Graywacz]

If you have the bottoms trapped in a dado you can put some 23ga pins through the bottom of the sides and fronts making sure it goes through the bottom. Of course you want to square up the drawer first. If it still isn't totally square you can hit the front of the drawer on the side that it sticks out and the nails will bend a bit and still hold the drawer in place.

[Lee Schierer]

There's a lesson here. After you get te glue on and everything clamped, check the diagonals and make sure they are equal. If not square up the box using the clamps before the glue sets up.

Now, how to fix your problem. Since the out of alignment is 1/8", I would cut a thin strip of wood (1/8" or thicker) that is the same width as your drawer slide and glue it to the out of square side of the box where the drawer slide will mount and cover it when it is intalled. Then place the box on your table saw, flat side to the fence and adjust the fence so that the blade will leave the needed 1/8" at the correct end of the box. Raise your blade to a height that will completely trim the added strip. Place feather boards to insure the box stays tight to the fence. Start the saw and trim the strip, forming the needed taper. Add your drawer slide and you should be in business as you drawer will now be square as far as the drawer slides can tell. The thin shim won't show unless someone looks for it.

[Burritt, Chase]

Here are some pics of the drawers.....

253956253957
Thanks for any help,
Chase

[Jerry Lawrence]

I've never made a drawer, nor have I installed drawer slides, so I have no idea if this idea would work or not, but here's my thought: Is there room in the case to add something, maybe a washer, behind the mounting screw of the case mounted part of the slide, on the rear end of the left side, and one behind the front end of the right side? Basically like adding shims behind the slides. My thinking is to shift the slides themselves so they are at a slight angle going back into the case, compensating for the angle of the drawer, making the drawer front close tightly. As I said, I have no idea if this is feasable, but it seemed like a simple enough idea to try before gluing, cutting, or starting all over.

[Roger Rayburn]

I've done what Jerry suggested and it was successful. Lee's answer is a better one, in my opinion, because the slide is supported for it's entire length.

[Jerry Miner]

Chase-- This is fixable. If you have room in the case to shim out the slides, as suggested, then that's your easy out. But if you don't, you can create room by either:

1. Shaving some wood off one or both of the drawer sides, or

2. Cutting a shallow rabbet in the side tall enough to accommodate the slide. If you take 1/16" off each side, you will create 1/8" of shim space.

Shim the right front and the left rear to square up the drawer front. I like to use small pieces of veneer for this, but cardboard from a cereal box works well, too---it's about 1/32 thick. And some drawer slides have tabs than can be bent out to take up the extra space.

If this is your first case, you're doing great. We are all learning.

[Jim Matthews]

Can the bottom be removed?

Replace the bottom with a piece of plywood and slips to hold the sheet in place.
You'll have an opportunity to reclamp and check for square.

I wouldn't want to remake a drawer that looks this good, either.

[phil harold]

Lee has your answer!

[eugene thomas]

The best way to fix wold be to shim one slide in the cabinet and do some chisel work on other side. Or make new drawer

[George Bokros]

I am guessing that your drawer slides are mounted to the face frame on the front end and perhaps the cabinet back in the rear. If so you can throw them out of square to the front of the cabinet by moving the rear mounting of the slide to the right side which will pull the left side of the drawer front to the face frame. I would think you would not have a side clearance issue to the face frame since most slides need 1/2" of side clearance drawer side to face frame.

Worth a try.

George

[Lee Schierer]

The best way to fix wold be to shim one slide in the cabinet and do some chisel work on other side. Or make new drawer

This fix depends on which end of the drawer is wider. If the back of the drawer is wider than the front, shimming the slide on the carcase won't help as you need to make the front smaller. Shimming or trimming the box to make the two sides parallel to each other and perpendicular to the front is the only way to fix this short of making a new box.

[Jerry Miner]

Shimming or trimming the box to make the two sides parallel to each other and perpendicular to the front is the only way to fix this short of making a new box.

I'm thinking the sides are parallel, but the box is not square. You, Lee, are thinking the sides are not parallel. So Chase (OP)---which is it?

[Burritt, Chase]

Thanks everyone for your input....unfortunately nothing has worked. I haven't tried the 'shimming the side of the drawer box and trimming it on the table saw yet'....so there's still hope....but here's the results of my efforts so far:

The drawer box is out of square by less than a 1/16th (not an 1/8th that I originally reported)....but I also found out that the case is out of square by about the same amount 1/16th. The drawer face is proud of the carcass by over 3/8th's.....so something is combining to make the out of square box problem even greater. I tried the shimming the drawer slides and shimming the carcass side slides....no good...the drawer box when shimmed pinches about half way into the carcass.....so I would have to combine some of the suggestions....shim the carcass side slide while planing the drawer box side to accommodate the shims....whew....I am just a bit worried that all the changes that I would need to make to the box and/or case will result in even more of an out of square face to carcass situation when I'm all done. So I am leaving it for now and will apply the finish to the project and than see if I should take a chance on the table saw shim approach, to adjust this one drawer. Thanks again for all your help.....I appreciate the effort.

Chase

[Burritt, Chase]

Can't do this Leo...the bottom is trapped in dado's but they are completely enclosing the bottom...like a small box structure. the slipping the bottom in is a good idea which I will use on my next one....but not possible on this one.

[Burritt, Chase]

I'm thinking the sides are parallel, but the box is not square. You, Lee, are thinking the sides are not parallel. So Chase (OP)---which is it?
Jerry: Just checked the sides and they are the exact same size....they are not parallel as the measure from corner to corner is what is off that 1/16th.

[John TenEyck]

Chase, most of us would call 1/16" out of square, square! You could figure out how many degrees that is, but it's probably less than 1. You said the case is out by 1/16", too. How did you measure that? And if the other two drawers fit (and they are square?), how can that be? If the offending drawer sits 3/8" proud of the faceframe it sure sounds like you have some other problem than what those two 1/16" could add up to. Excuse me if I missed this, but how are your slides mounted inside the cabinet?

If your drawer is out of square by 1/16" you only need to adjust the back end of the slides 1/16" to bring the front square, assuming the FF is square to the sides. If the FF is off 1/16" to make it additive, that still only requires 1/8" adjustment. Unless your slides fit tight to the insides of the case, which is unlikely with FF construction, you should have that much room to shim the back of the slides left/right, as required.

John

[Jim Matthews]

So, I looked over the original photos.

If you take off the overlay fronts, do all the drawers close evenly? I don't use metal glides, I wonder if one of those isn't properly seated.
Most box joint drawers line up pretty well, and there's a great deal of glue surface to hold things together.

I'm thinking you crossscut one of the joints in the back, and reglue with corner blocks - to get the sides of the drawer back in parallel.
You could drive shims into the kerf to get the splay you want - to flex the sides back to parallel.

I would overcorrect, and handplane down to fit the opening.

Once the box is satisfactory, you could adjust each overlay to fit before fixing it to the drawer front.