Popular Woodworking 2003-08 № 135, страница 48
ADJUSTING THE DRAWERS With the drawer slid into place you can see how things are starting to fit.The view of the drawer (left) shows it lower on the left side. The photo at right (getting a look from the side of the cabinet) indicates that the drawer is lower in the back than at the front. Remove the drawer, loosen the screws in the adjustable slots and move the slides to accommodate the changes. The problems shown are all height adjustments and will be adjusted on the drawer slide members.When the drawer is level, attach the false front and check alignment for front-to-back.Any necessary adjustments here will be made on the cabinet-side slides. When everything is in good shape, carefully pilot drill the center of the permanent screw holes on both the drawers and the cabinets slides, and put in the screws. If the screws aren't perfectly centered in the permanent holes, they can pull the slides out of adjustment. proper-fitting drawer Tabs extended to compensate Fitting drawers that are too small is easier than fitting drawers that are too big. If you err on the small side, it's easy to fix on the side-mount slides. Each slide has mounting tabs that can be bent away from the slide body to fit closer to the drawer.When the proper spacing is gained, the permanent screws are installed, locking the tabs in place. The under-mount slides don't have tabs to help fit undersized drawers.That's when shims come to the rescue.Almost any material can serve as a shim. In the photo above, we're using pieces of self-adhesive edging tape.These pieces can be stacked to reach the appropriate spacing and will stick to one another, as well as to the slide. Make sure you shim on either side of the screw hole.The shims shown are simply slid in place to test the fit.When correct, they will be slid behind the slide so they aren't visible. A SIMPLE WAY TO ADD A DRAWER FRONT As you may have noticed, we like using "false-front" drawers.While not appropriate for period furniture, they're easy to adjust. Inset drawers are one of the most difficult type of drawers to build because there is little room for error. By using a false-front design, the drawer box can be installed and fit into the cabinet without worrying about the front. Then the drawer fronts can be made to perfectly fit the opening.While the fronts can be simply screwed in place through the drawer-box front, we've found an even better way. Using drawer-front adjusters mounted in the false front, you gain 3/i6" adjustment vertically or horizontally. Essentially the mounting screw wiggles in the plastic housing. This allows a precise amount of fitting for the drawer front and also makes attaching the fronts easier. PW Machine screw for adjuster Permanent screw holes once perfect fit is established Drawer front adjuster's plastic housing Recess for drawer pull screw heads 46 Popular Woodworking August 2003 SOURCES The following sources carry at least the listed brand-name slides and some also carry other brands or non-branded drawer hardware. Lee Valley Tools 800-871-8158 or leevalley.com Lowes 800-44LOWES or lowes.com McFeely's 800-443-7937 or mcfeelys.com Rockler* 800-279-4441 or rockler.com Woodcraft 800-225-1153 or woodcraft.com Woodworker's Hardware* 800-383-0130 or wwhardware.com Woodworker's Supply 800-645-9292 or woodworker.com * These sources also carry the drawer-front adjusters. |
