Blum hinges - made by the devil himself!

[Jim Mackell]

I consider myself to be a reasonably smart person. Handy too. Usually able to puzzle out things intuitively in the absence of clear directions.

For those of you who have not yet bought Blum hinges, they come with NO instructions. Off to the Rockler website as the box says, 2 pdf files that might be in ancient Greek as far as I'm concerned. Off to the youtube site that has provided lots of fellow users guidance before. I'm now on my third viewing of 4 or 5 different videos and I'm still lost.

I can see how the sliding arms are mounted. I understand the concept that the orange pieces (drawing a blank on the proper noun) will somehow engage the slides when mounted to the underside of the drawer. But I can't for the life of me see how or where they will engage the slides and I can't find a close up video or screen shot of the process.

Anyone have a suggestion as to where I might look for guidance?

[Osvaldo Cristo]

https://publications.blum.com/2020/catalogue/en/84/

[Bob Hinden]

Which Blum hinges are you having an issue with? They make a lot of different models. Are you asking about hinges or drawer slides? Hinges are not usually mounted to the underside of drawer.

Please clarify.

Bob

[Paul F Franklin]

Assuming you are talking about blum drawer slides, not hinges...

Once the slides are mounted and the locking devices attached to the drawer, and the drawers notched and drilled....

pull the slides all the way out. Drop the drawer down onto the slides with the back of the drawer landing about the midpoint of the extended slides. Don't tilt the drawer, just set it flat on the slides. Push straight back. The drawer and slides will slide back into the opening until the slide hit their stops, the drawer will then slide along the slides until the locking devices engage the slides. Keep pushing until the drawer stops. Done.

[Mark Bolton]

As others have pointed out, reads like you may have gotten yourself so frustrated your calling drawer slides hinges? I wont disagree that all of the euro hinge/drawer catalogs can be overwhelming, but they are all relatively simple to install but when you get yourself into a spin (weve all been there) nothing makes sense.

One note, you mention being someone who can make sense of things without instructions which to me sounds like you may be the type that even if there were instructions they would be the last thing you would read (or never read because you threw them away).. Sadly, reading through the documentation is always smart. Euro slides and hinges have a lot of variables for versatility and once you get your head around it its an extremely simple process.

This is the first hit on "blum drawer slide installation"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nJWXax2T4I

[Ty wayne]

Jim, I just installed these for the first time. I followed this tutorial and it helped me understand. Good luck.

https://sawdustgirl.com/how-to-choose-and-use-blum-tandem-plus-blumotion-drawer-runners/

[glenn bradley]

I have ordered my first batch of Tandems. Some of this hardware seems overly complicated but, yields a time and labor savings that professionals certainly benefit from. I am hoping it is like certain joinery, wiring an outlet or putting up drywall; once you do it once things make much more sense ;-)

[Drew Bernat]

There's a hook at the front of the drawer slide (assuming slides, not hinges) that hook to a loop on the locking device. The front edge of the locking device is basically flush with the front of the slide when it's on; they just sit inside a bit.

If you've measured right (... which I rarely do) it really is just "drop on and go".

[Jim Mackell]

Thanks for all the hints and suggestions. Yes, I meant to say slides. Making a slide out drawer for the RV for under the kitchen counter.

[Julie Moriarty]

Blum has Excel files you can download and then insert your specifics. It's amazingly accurate and, if you use the resultant dimensions, it's hard to go wrong.

I've made maybe two dozen drawer boxes for Blum Tandem slides. Each time I have to go back to the Excel spreadsheets but they have never led me wrong. I think they do a really good job helping the DIYer.

[Mike Kees]

You need to get your hands on a copy of the "Blum Bible". Seriously they have a huge book that is about 1.5" thick with all their products and installation tools and required info and dimensions to install. Pretty well a must have to figure out their stuff. I get mine at the wholesaler where I buy all my cabinet material from.

[Richard Coers]

Thanks for all the hints and suggestions. Yes, I meant to say slides. Making a slide out drawer for the RV for under the kitchen counter.
Kind of embarrassing when the subject and description in your rant is wrong! LOL So it's not just Blum to blame!

[Osvaldo Cristo]

You need to get your hands on a copy of the "Blum Bible". Seriously they have a huge book that is about 1.5" thick with all their products and installation tools and required info and dimensions to install. Pretty well a must have to figure out their stuff. I get mine at the wholesaler where I buy all my cabinet material from.

It is their updated PDF version you can either read on line or download to your computer: https://publications.blum.com/2020/catalogue/en/84/

[Jamie Buxton]

A key thing to understand about undermount slides is that the slides lodge against the inside face of the drawer sides. That's a little counter-intuitive, but it is true. To some extent, the thickness of the drawer sides doesn't matter. For Blum 563H slides (the most common) the inside width of the drawer box is 42 mm less than the width of the drawer opening in the carcass. The drawer box sides can be anything up to 16 mm thick.