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View Full Version : Can Blum Tandem w/ soft-close slides be made "less strong"?



Dan Friedrichs
07-11-2020, 4:11 PM
Have some small kitchen drawers built with Tandem w/ Blumotion slides. Only problem is that the drawer boxes are so small (and light) that it takes a really stiff pull to yank them open. Not a problem on bigger/heavier drawers. Is there any way to adjust that force? I see the mechanism has a cam on a spring, and I wonder if disconnecting the spring on one of the 2 slides would work?

Paul F Franklin
07-11-2020, 5:41 PM
Fairly common complaint; I don't know if disconnecting one side would work, you'll just have to try it I think. I use grass undermounts and they seem a little better, but still require a decent tug.
The grass soft close euro hinges have an adjustment for force; I don't know why the slide makers don't incorporate an adjustment for this, although it probably has to do with needing to "cock" the self close mechanism.

Robert Hayward
07-11-2020, 6:11 PM
Recently built a small cabinet on wheels to hold my lathe chisel grinder. Made the cabinet with three drawers instead of shelves and bought three cheap soft close slides on Ebay. Same complaint about opening and I thought is was my cheap Ebay slides. Way to hard to open the drawers. Am in the process of building another similar cabinet to hold my Bosch miter saw and bought simple slides with no features from HD. Just a tiny tug to overcome the holding mechanism to open.

I tried disabling one slide of a pair of soft closing ones. A little easier to open but now the drawer slams when closing. I will most likely throw these soft closers in the trash and replace with more of the simple ones from HD.

Jamie Buxton
07-11-2020, 7:53 PM
So why does the same slide feel okay on a big drawer, and too stiff on a small drawer? That doesn’t make any sense to me. But I’ve noticed that effect too.

You could transform the small light drawer into one that feels heavier by adding ballast. Test if that helps by putting some heavy things into the drawer. If it does help, figure out how to fasten ballast to the drawer. You could screw lead to the outside back of the drawer. Or you could fasten it under the bottom, between the slides. There’s a full inch height available there.

Lee Schierer
07-11-2020, 10:14 PM
Your drawer may not close if you disconnect the spring. The springs are what causes the drawer to close the last few inches against the damper.

Bill Dufour
07-12-2020, 12:01 PM
Use only one self closing slide a regular one on the other side. or will this cause the drawer to cock and not close by itself?
Bil lD

Tom Bender
07-21-2020, 4:34 AM
Maybe you could add a spring to the back of the drawer to help push it open. You'll want to get a variety of springs and be patient in getting it right.

Bruce King
07-21-2020, 12:02 PM
I like that idea, gives you soft close and fast open :)