Drawer Slide Adjustment
Some drawer slides are designed to leave the drawer just a hair proud of the face when closed. November 10, 2006
Question
Just installed my first Hettich Quadro 21" slide. The drawer box dropped in place and clipped snuggly, just like it should. But the box face is proud of the cabinet face by almost 1/16th.
All I have for installation info is some PDF docs that appear to come from Hettich. Going by those, the slide is set back the required 5/32" and the drawer box is exactly 21" long. The box is tight against the holding pins at the rear of the slide.
My choices seem to be to a) set the slide back by an additional 1/16th inch, or b) make shorter drawer boxes. But since I have 20+ more of these to do, is there something I'm missing? Is it possible that this is what Hettich intended, to leave a small gap between drawer face and face frame, possibly to be taken up by felt bumpers? I have no experience with Blum slides, but the Quadro couldn't be easier to install and they work great.
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor B:
I come up with the same situation - of the drawer holding proud of the box. I don't see readjusting the slides back - after all, in doing euro style cabinets, with cutting, banding and boring, I don't intend to add whacking to get the drawers flush to the list. I'm going to see this as a bumper space, as I will be using bumpers on the doors, so it should all come out even.
From the original questioner:
Thanks for the response. Nice to know I'm not the only one. I also plan to use bumpers, so I'll just live with the proudness.
From contributor J:
I've used many Quattros over the years and have always left that extra, because it is still less than the rubber bumpers I use, which are a little over an eighth in thickness. The
Blum install about the same way. The
Blumotion slides are a little smoother than the Quattro soft close. But also more expensive.
From the original questioner:
Thanks for your input. There's at least three of us now with the same experience, so apparently it's by design rather than accident. I had a choice between
Blum and Hettich on this job and I'm not sorry with the Hettich slides. The
Blums get good reviews, but I'm just not sure the extra cost is justified.
From contributor H:
Both slides are designed to have that space when closed. However,
Blum has a new clip that allows you to adjust the drawer in and out, the slides get set back 1/4". These clips take a little more room for installation, however, but they work really well. We use them for inset applications with face frames.
From contributor T:
Yes, I've had the same problem with those slides. My solution was to move to 3/16" instead of the 5/32 and that worked fine for me. I used
Blum for years, but I really like the Hettich. It's very similar to
Blum, and cheaper.
