sanding drawer boxes to compensate for un even closing?

Keith Thomas

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florida
I just made a drawer box for one of my cabinets. the drawer box is very square but the face frame must be off some because the left side of the drawer sticks out almost a 1/8" more than the right side. Moving the back of the left slide didn't help much if any. can I sand the front of the box to compensate for this or will it be noticeable some how,. I figured if i beveled the box onthe front so the left side was 1/8" thiner the drawer front would sit flush on the frame.
 
That may work, sanding the box front.
Are the faces inset? May be possible to knock the face frame loose and shim it out, reattached it with a glue block from the back where it would be hidden
 
What is hitting first? Is it the face or the back end of the drawer? Maybe a careful measurement of the drawer opening depth and the depth of your drawer will find the problem. Are the guides in your cabinet angled? This could also cause your problem. Check for the guides to be at a right angle to the face frame.

Trimming off the face of the drawer would not look good. Find out what is really wrong and fix it using some method that won't be seen from the front.

Charley
 
Trimming off the face of the drawer would not look good. Find out what is really wrong and fix it using some method that won't be seen from the front.
Yes, this.

If the drawer and carcass are square and the face frame is tight against the carcass then the face frame would be irregular in thickness to cause this. I would think an out of square box, drawer or fouled guide mounting would be more likely. If the carcass and frame prove correct your drawer box, false front mounting (if present) or the material the guides are mounting to are not.

Best fix is to find the culprit and repair or replace it. Another fix is to make the path let the drawer rest correctly when closed. If simple shimming of the guides will not correct this (an 1/8" is a lot to fix this way) then shaving or replacing of the blocks or strips the guides mount to may be able to be modified to correct the misbehavior.
 
Thanks for the reply.
Darren. they are not inset. that face frame is not coming off.

Fred. yes. I think when you open the drawer. you will see the thickness difference on that side of the box but thats not an issue with me. Seeing the gap on the drawer front is though.

Charles and Glenn I haven't attached the fronts yet. But when I close the drawer and put a straight edge across the frame I can see one side of the drawer sticks out. I did check that and shimmed the left back but it really didn't help much. the drawer boxes are square but the cabinet case is out a little. I can not fix that. With the drawer closed no one will see the drawer box and with it opened you would have to be looking specifically at the top front of the box to see it wasn't the same thickness across. the drawer front would mostly hide it. I would be fine with that because I can't figure out any other way to solve the problem.

Larry. its a narrow cabinet of drawers. for the left side of a sitting area. and shimming didn't solve the problem as I said earlier.

Just really want to know if sanding the drawer box face at an angle would help and allow the drawer face to sit flush on the faced frame.
 
Obviously, from the responses, we are reluctant to advise you to go that way ;-) The short answer is yes. You could modify the drawer box dimensions to compensate for whatever is wonky,
bad drawer fix idea.jpg
I would watch for and possibly add a block for any corner that was weakened should that happen. Given the drawer front takes a lot of abuse I might be inclined to pick the opposite corner to modify.
bad drawer fix idea-2.jpg
I still would recommend you modify the material that the glides are mounting to versus the drawer box itself.
 
Obviously, from the responses, we are reluctant to advise you to go that way ;-) The short answer is yes. You could modify the drawer box dimensions to compensate for whatever is wonky,
View attachment 117135
I would watch for and possibly add a block for any corner that was weakened should that happen. Given the drawer front takes a lot of abuse I might be inclined to pick the opposite corner to modify.
View attachment 117136
I still would recommend you modify the material that the glides are mounting to versus the drawer box itself.
Thanks for that Glenn. I just found out something that surprised me. There are 4 drawers in this narrow case. I had only done the lowest drawer and that is the one I was talking about. Today I put the slides and boxes in the other 3 and all those are fine. So if my problem was my case like I thought that would be impossible. Wouldn’t it? On the bright side I only have to fix one drawer.
 
Thanks for that Glenn. I just found out something that surprised me. There are 4 drawers in this narrow case. I had only done the lowest drawer and that is the one I was talking about. Today I put the slides and boxes in the other 3 and all those are fine. So if my problem was my case like I thought that would be impossible. Wouldn’t it? On the bright side I only have to fix one drawer.
Excellent. We all ask questions and we all get varied responses. If any of them help us get to a solution, it's a win!
 
thanks to all of you suggesting I keep at it till I figure it out. I thought for certain the problem was the case. It is a little out of square but when I put the other drawers in and they all closed flush I decided you were all right and I must have been wrong. I'm getting frustrated with the time I'm putting into this and guess I was looking for a corner to cut.
The problem with the bottom drawer turned out to be on the side that was flush (right side) and not the side that was sticking out ( the left side) . Just like in Glenns second picture ( at least I think thats what you were saying).
On these Blum undercount soft close slides there is a pin in the back that fits into a hole you drill in the drawer back. (sure you all know that) That pin on the right side was not going in all the way. The hole was misaligned just enough to hang things up but not enough to keep the mechanism from locking and working. I enlarged the hole. the drawer now closes flush.
And because of that I was able to fix a second problem I was having with the next drawer. The bottom one glided perfectly but wasn't flush and the next up was flush but didn't glide as smooth. I was going to leave that but decided to double check the pins on that one also. Another mis aligned hole that was making things bind in a different way. I widened that hole and and now it glides nice and smooth. 4 tiny drawers done and now 4 large drawers to build and install for the main vanity.

thanks for all the advice. hopefully some day I will finish all the cabinets for the bathroom and you can see an install. ( at the rate I am going It may take a couple more years and a divorce though. The wife REALLY wants here bathroom back)
 
...I'm getting frustrated with the time I'm putting into this and guess I was looking for a corner to cut...
It has taken me lots of years to learn that shortcuts almost always aren't shorter, because I end up spending the time saved going back and fixing the other problems the shortcuts create. Same thing with rushing to get something done. Like the Navy SEALS say, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
 
i can tell yu many stories as many others can that have made a few projects that short cuts re never short and the time it takes to do a project needs to be forgotten.. my last project seemed to be easily done in a set time frame in my mind in reality it took twice as long. hurrying cause mistakes and sometimes dumb mistakes yu normally wouldnt have made in a smooth progress time frame. glad yu found your fix,, write your self a ote and put in your shop to remind yu that slower is better.
 
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