# uneven gap on sides of drawer fronts



## sm424 (Jan 13, 2013)

Hello all, I just finished putting full overlay drawer fronts on two cabinets I built that are the base of a desk top. I used ball bearing side mounted slides and one is not set in deeper than the other. I made a little jig to make sure of that. However for some reason I can't figure out why one side of the drawer front is touching before the other side. Nothing is out of square , so I'm having a hard time understanding what the problem is. Thanks in advance and here are some pics.


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## Road rider (Jan 29, 2012)

Something is out of square 

I would guess the rails inside the cabinet itself are off... Try squaring the rails on each side with the cabinet facer...
If not the cabinet rails then drawer itself is not square


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

That is more common than you think. When I build a cabinet I use faceframe construction and mount the cabinet member of the drawer guide to a separate board running from front to back. That way I can adjust the back of the drawer left or right or up or down so the drawer front fits perfect to the faceframe. Some drawer slide manufacturers also sell a plastic clip that fits on the back of the drawer slide for that purpose.

It looks like in your case you might try lowering the cabinet member on the right side in the back and correct the drawer closing at the bottom first. If the drawer front isn't severely twisted it might work


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*bottom center rail or side glides?*

In either case the rear of the glide(s) is too high, pitching the drawer out at the top on that one side. Just lower the glide a bit. They may have slotted holes for that purpose.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Before you start tearing things apart or moving anything there are a few things to check.

First, take the drawer out and look at how the front is attached. Look to see that it's flat to the drawer box.

The cabinet could be racked. IOW, if the cabinet box is forced to be out of square, it can affect how doors and drawer fronts seat on the front of the cabinet. It could be as simple as one of the corners where the cabinet is on the floor is high, or has some debris under it. If you use a probe...like a chisel or screwdriver under the corners, one at a time, you can see what happens to the drawer fronts.

Most sidemount slides have up and down adjustment on the drawer member. You could try moving the rear of the slide up, or the front of the slide down.





















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## sm424 (Jan 13, 2013)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I already checked how tight the drawer front is to the drawer itself, and it's definitely not the problem. I'm not understanding how the rails can be out of square either. I used a spacer block to center and level the rails, so I can't see where the issue is or how to adjust it. The rails are also set in at an equal depth... I'll double check the squareness of the drawer box itself. If that's not it, then I don't know.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

sm424 said:


> Thanks for the replies everyone. I already checked how tight the drawer front is to the drawer itself, and it's definitely not the problem. I'm not understanding how the rails can be out of square either. I used a spacer block to center and level the rails, so I can't see where the issue is or how to adjust it. The rails are also set in at an equal depth... I'll double check the squareness of the drawer box itself. If that's not it, then I don't know.


It could be something as simple as the rear adjustment is down, and/or the front adjustment is up. When you set the slides with a spacer that positions the slides in a neutral adjustment.


















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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

woodnthings said:


> In either case the rear of the glide(s) is too high, pitching the drawer out at the top on that one side. Just lower the glide a bit. They may have slotted holes for that purpose.



If the top of the drawer is showing a gap, as in the photo.... the rear of the glide need to be lowered. :yes: It really doesn't matter if the glides are "square" or level, it just has to work right. You may have an accumulation of small errors causing the drawer to tip out at the top on one side. Just fix it and forget what the reason is...


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

woodnthings said:


> If the top of the drawer is showing a gap, as in the photo.... the rear of the glide need to be lowered. :yes:


I hate to disagree, but to get the top of the drawer front to close up, the rear of the drawer has to be lowered, and that is done by raising the rear of the slide up...*Most sidemount slides have up and down adjustment on the drawer member. You could try moving the rear of the slide up, or the front of the slide down.*...See Post #5.

















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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

I may be wrong with my drawer hdw installation but I usually mount the cabinet pieces using the vertical holes, just for this reason. On the drawer pieces, I mount the screw in the horizontal openings. I try to stay consistent with this practice so I can make adjustments if needed. I also used spacers for the initial mounting of the cabinet members.


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## sm424 (Jan 13, 2013)

*Verdict*

I think the picture is making it look more like the drawer is slightly tipping forward, but that's not really the case. The gap is pretty much even down the side. The verdict is that two of the drawer boxes themselves are slightly out of square. Basically, I got lazy and built the boxes exclusively out of pocket screws instead of breaking out the dovetail jig like I've always done in the past. This resulted in too much human error with me making butt joints and pocket screwing it all together. I'm still confident the pocket screw joints will hold up in the long run, but as I said it made assembling the boxes too risky. Feeling the back of the box the butt joint on the left side is flush, and the right side (gap side) is ever so slightly proud. I guess I'll glue a 1/16" shim on the left side of the drawer front and reattach it to the drawer box.

I've been at this for a little over a year now and it seems like almost every job is a learning experience. I'd like the learning to end and just put out professional looking pieces every time.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

MT Stringer said:


> I may be wrong with my drawer hdw installation but I usually mount the cabinet pieces using the vertical holes, just for this reason. On the drawer pieces, I mount the screw in the horizontal openings. I try to stay consistent with this practice so I can make adjustments if needed. I also used spacers for the initial mounting of the cabinet members.


A convenient way of installing the slides is to use the vertical slotted holes first to get the adjustment, and then install the screws in the dedicated holes (in front, middle, and rear).








 







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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

sm424 said:


> I think the picture is making it look more like the drawer is slightly tipping forward, but that's not really the case. The gap is pretty much even down the side. The verdict is that two of the drawer boxes themselves are slightly out of square. Basically, I got lazy and built the boxes exclusively out of pocket screws instead of breaking out the dovetail jig like I've always done in the past. This resulted in too much human error with me making butt joints and pocket screwing it all together. I'm still confident the pocket screw joints will hold up in the long run, but as I said it made assembling the boxes too risky. Feeling the back of the box the butt joint on the left side is flush, and the right side (gap side) is ever so slightly proud. I guess I'll glue a 1/16" shim on the left side of the drawer front and reattach it to the drawer box.
> 
> I've been at this for a little over a year now and it seems like almost every job is a learning experience. I'd like the learning to end and just put out professional looking pieces every time.


POCKET SCREWS

In your initial description that wasn't mentioned. It sounded like the boxes were square, with no problems. We might have addressed that issue.


















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## sm424 (Jan 13, 2013)

cabinetman said:


> POCKET SCREWS
> 
> In your initial description that wasn't mentioned. It sounded like the boxes were square, with no problems. We might have addressed that issue.
> 
> ...


Yup!  Another failed experiment of trying to rush something and make it too fast. It didn't dawn on me last night that the boxes should be a problem, I though I did a better job on those drawers than what is actually true. There might be an additional problem that the fronts are ever so slightly off too. I made those using a raised panel cap molding thinking it might look nice. It's alright, but they might have a very small problem. On some of them one side might be 1/32" higher than the next, which adds to the overall gap on the side. I love how a couple tiny mistakes show up later.


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