jordan_webb•21d agoProlific Poster

Spent a whole afternoon fighting a drawer slide alignment issue

I was installing undermount slides on a built-in, and the drawer just would not sit flush. Kept binding at the back. Took me about four hours of fiddling before I realized the cabinet box itself was out of square by a tiny bit, maybe an eighth of an inch. Had to shim the rear mounting bracket on one side to compensate. Anyone have a better method for checking box squareness before you even start on the hardware?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_alice21d ago

Been there, the diagonal trick is a lifesaver.

terryk2821d ago

Oh man, "four hours of fiddling" is the real story of every cabinet project. I've been there, staring at a drawer like it's a magic trick I can't figure out. My method is pretty low tech, I just measure the diagonals of the box opening from corner to corner. If the two diagonal measurements are the same, you're square. If they're off, you've got a parallelogram situation and you know you're in for a bad time before you even touch a slide. It saves a lot of that late afternoon rage.

sean78220d ago

Yeah, the diagonal check is solid. It reminds me of the time I was helping my buddy with a closet system. We got the whole thing built and then the doors wouldn't close right. We spent forever adjusting the hinges before I finally laid a level across the top. The floor sloped so bad the whole unit was leaning forward like the Tower of Pisa. Had to pack the back legs with a stack of washers. Sometimes you just forget to check the simple stuff first.