Dresser drawers won't stay closed - help?

[Brian Neubauer]

Hi everyone - looking for some advice. I made a pair of 5 drawer dressers - red oak solid/ply case with red oak drawers mounted to case with KV 8400 series full extension side mounted slides. The slides are nice and smooth but they won't stay closed. The dressers are sitting on a carpeted floor in an upstairs bedroom. Obviously the floor is not even and the front of the dresser is probably riding low compared to the back (I already have some shim material under the front legs. I am still surprised that these drawers don't stay closed. I mean they just slide right open without even touching it.

Thought 1: I have not installed them properly? As in they are not engaging the built in catch completely? I build the dressers over a year ago and cannot recall the installation details now but am pretty sure I followed the instruction sheet closely.
Thought 2: do I need to add some sort of catch. After removing a drawer and looking in the case I there is significant gaps of space between the drawer sides/backs and the inside surfaces of the case. I thought about flush mounting some rare earth magnets to the inside of the drawer front, which overhangs the drawer dimensions in all directions, and the case dividers.

Thanks!
Brian

[glenn bradley]

I just went out and checked the KV8400's I have on a shop cabinet. The last 1/8" takes a good nudge to "thump" closed. There is a bit of resistance when first opening as this same area releases the slide. I have often thought they were a bit too hard to open. The one exception is the bottom drawer that is quite deep and heavy due to being nearly full of abrasives. The "thump" is not so noticeable but, I believe that is due to mass. On your units, when the drawer is fully closed, is the slide also fully closed? That is, does whatever stops the drawer engage before the slide has fully collapsed?

[Mark Wooden]

It sounds like the carcass side of the glide is set too far back; so that even though the drawer is closed all the way, the drawer glide isn't. Try removing the drawer part of the glide from a drawer and slide it into the box side of the same glide. Push it all the way closed and check the measurement against your drawer box/ drawer face to see.

[Brian Neubauer]

Thank you gentlemen. That is indeed the problem. When I removed one of the glides from the drawer slide and inserted it by itself into the case side, it closes fully with a "thump" as Glenn mentioned that I do not notice when it is installed on the drawers. Obviously I need to move the one of the slide members to correct this. The difference is about 2 mm. I guess I should move the case piece forward?

[John TenEyck]

I believe the carcase halves are supposed to be set 1/8" back at the front. Check the installation sheet to be sure.

John

[Jamie Buxton]

Thank you gentlemen. That is indeed the problem. When I removed one of the glides from the drawer slide and inserted it by itself into the case side, it closes fully with a "thump" as Glenn mentioned that I do not notice when it is installed on the drawers. Obviously I need to move the one of the slide members to correct this. The difference is about 2 mm. I guess I should move the case piece forward?

Either the case member moves forward or the drawer member moves back. You can probably get at the drawer member easier.

Most drawer slides have elongated mounting holes to provide a little adjustment range. Usually the case member is slotted vertically, and the drawer member horizontally. You put you first screws in the slotted holes, adjust things, then lock the slides in place with screws through the round holes.

[Max Neu]

Also,if you have pads/bumpers on the drawer fronts,those can keep the drawer slides from closing all the way,so you will have to take those into account also.