Strong Cabinet Latch suggestions

[Brian Kent]

I am making plywood garage storage cabinets. Each door is 2' x 4'. I was going to use double roller catches on top and bottom, but they are too weak to do the job. They have to overcome up to 3/8" warp on some doors.

Any suggestions? The whole project will have 24 doors, so I would like to keep it to a couple of dollars per door.

These are overlay doors, not inset.

Thanks in advance.

Brian

[Jamie Buxton]

Suggestion 1: ditch the warped doors. Make flat ones, and then you can use normal latches.

Suggestion 2: use self-closing hinges. They won't remove a 3/8" warp, but they'll at least close the door as much as it can be closed.

[Brian Kent]

Thank you for the suggestion, but I have spent way too many hours building the doors to start over.:rolleyes: Also, they are already mounted on recessed butt hinges.

By "plywood" I mean laminated 3/8" Baltic birch ply. The panels are one layer and the frames are 3 layers, or 1-1/8". The entire surface of the cabinet is covered by strips of 3/8" BB that are 3.5" by 5'. They were free.:D

When I measured instead of guessing, the warp or spring in the doors that I need to take care of is up to 1/4". Over 4' of door I can live with that - not for kitchen cabinets but certainly for garage storage.

So - about the latches or catches…

[Andy Casiello]

Wow, those are nice cabinets. I'd love to have those in my shop!

I had a similar problem with some old hallway cabinets in my house. The house is from 1916, and the cabinets were put in not long after the house was built. The doors have some warp, and to make the problem worse, we stuff those cabinets with things like extra blankets, pillows and towels. The cabinets are only about 12" deep, so the stuff inside presses out on the doors.

I bought some heavy double-magnet latches from the BORG. When I installed them I just made sure that the door had a little (1/8" or so) gap rather than being "sealed" shut against the frame. The little gap isn't noticable, but allows the doors to latch the magnets even when there is some pressure keeping the door open.

That's the best I've found. I'm also interested to see if anyone comes up with some trick new latch for this application, however.

[Charles Seehuetter Panama City]

I had that problem on a stereo cabinet I made years ago using pine rails and stiles and plexiglass inserts. I used Velcro as latches in the warped corner of both doors. It's cheap, easy to replace and holds really well.

Some times we tend to over think things. :):):)

Chuck

[Brian Kent]

Jamie, Andy, Charles et. al.

Answer #1 - Turns out the warped doors are not warped. They just were not hung well enough. I'm brand new at this kind of cabinet door. I added a few shims between 1/16 and 1/32" under a few hinges and the doors all touch on the top and bottom at the same time. They stay in place by themselves.

Answer #2 - I got the double magnet catches from the BORG and they hold just fine. Woohoo!

Answer #3 - I'll try velcro next time I need a solution to a problem.

Thanks y'all!

[Brian Kent]

Oh yes…

Answer #4 - If I would have started with the hanging tuned up, those double spring catches would have sufficed, but I like the magnet catches better.