Hey Guys, I have been wanting to use blum tandem drawer slides for my cabinets. They have a 18” and a 22” my questions is; can I use the 22” when the distance from the backside of the faceframe to the back wall of the cabinet box is 22 3/4 ” The doors and drawers are inset too
Thanx, Lou
Replies
Yes you can use the 22" in that space.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Dave, Are you sure about that? I talked to my rep from my supplier and he was unsure. I would amagine that if you use them all the time, you would know. I did order the tandems! I just started doing dovetail drawers and I can,t see hiding the dovetails with full extension exposed slides. So I am biting the bullet and making them the standard (passing the cost on). I have to say; They are pretty costly!!!! I paid $780.00 for 20 sets (21inch)with blumotion. Does that seem right?
Thank you, Lou
Edited 2/16/2007 6:12 am ET by loucarabasi
Lou, your original post said you've got 3/4" over the nominal size, from the back of the faceframe to the rear of the cabinet. I'm assuming that the front of the drawer is the same thickness as the faceframes, so it doesn't enter into the equation. In my experience, and I use these constantly, you need 1/2" over the nominal size to accomodate the little hooks in the rear of the slides. So you should be OK.
Over and above that, I'm interested - are the Blum slides sold in the US actually inch sizes, or are they close metric equivalents? I suspect that your 22" slide is actually 55cm. In which case, you've actually got another 3/8" or so of free play. The 56cm. needed for these slides is equal to only 22". I'd be surprised if Blum makes a different line of slides just for the US market with actual inch lengths.
Just another point - I don't know how your making the drawers, but you hinted that they would be dovetailed. Pay attention to the required specs of the drawer members. I make the sides extend 15mm (about 5/8") below the drawer bottom. At that measurement, in order to hide the slide mechanism when viewed from the front, the face of the drawer must extend some 3/8" below the sides. But if you're using an applied drawer front, then it's a whole different story. The "real" front, the one you're dovetailing, must be short to allow the drawer bottom to pass under it, just like the rear. Otherwise the slides will be set back to far.
This got complicated and I didn't mean to...if you have questions about the drawer construction, tell us what type of front you're using and I can give you details. If you give me the thickness of the materials and the cabinet openings I can give you measurements to build. After you've done it once it's a cinch.David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
David,
You're giving Lou some excellent advice here. If he hasn't already done so, Lou should request a product information package from Blum. It's a huge package (multiple pages along with a 3-ring binder to put it all in). They'll show you, with diagrams, all of the many options for making drawers along with required clearances and dimensions. Ten years ago, it was all in metric but they now also show it in inches. As David notes, the most important difference in the construction of the drawers is that 5/8" extra on the sides below the drawer bottom (normally, it's only 1/4") but there are other dimensions to be concerned about, as well.
The two times I've used Blum Tandem slides, I constructed the drawer boxes out of 1/2" maple with 1/2" finger joints at the corners and then used false fronts out of a contrasting wood. The finger joints are easier to make than dovetails but still give some visual interest to the drawer when it's opened.
Chip Tam
Chip, I have the big binder. I'm fishing for some tips
thank you LMC
David, thank you for the advice and direction. I worked on the drawers yesturday. I almost made a big mistake but I picked up on it just when I was ready to cut my first dove tail. I went back and looked at the numbers of the slide and they did not match my invoice numbers. This meant my drawer width should have been a 1/4 shorter or (9mm). Once I get the hang of it It will be smooth sailing. (its the fear of the unknown)
On the metric question; We In the US better get with the program and switch to metric (we are in the stone age!!!)
Be safe over there my friend,
Lou Carabasi
I work in a cabinet shop and we use blum hardware almost exclusively. We pay approx $32 for 21" blumotion slides from Richeillu America
Hey David, Can you look over in the general discussion area. I posted a question on a lazy susan hinge problem. I think you can figure it out.
Thank you, Lou C
Also, you should get the slides before you make the drawers, since the drawers must be specifically designed for them.
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"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
you can download the install guide from blum's web site...
You can get Blum's installation instructions from their website and they will have everything you'll need to know regarding sizes, clearances, etc. IIRC, the actual lengths are 1/4" less than the stated length (i.e. a 22" glide is actually 21-3/4" long).
If you haven't figured it out already, they're very pricey. Most of my customers really like the self closing feature - until they find out the cost differential. Then, they decide that an occasional slamming drawer is ok. - lol
I've also found them to be a bit of a pain to install. If they aren't perfectly aligned, the self closing feature doesn't want to work very well.
I've found that the best place to install Blum Tandem slides is in the rubbish bin. Accuride makes a far superior slide at a very competitive price. I can probably even get you a part # if you'd like.
Nat
send the part # over
Need to check my catalogue, which is at the shop. Will get it for you tomorrow.
The part # for the 22" self-closing bottom mount accuride slide is T36002G200 They have the "silent opening/silent closing" feature and are IMO vastly superior to the Blum slides. My old boss used to say the Blum slides could be misadjusted in all three axes. Not sure if misadjusted is a word or not, but you get the point.
big nat, Blums are overpriced!!!! I looked into the KV they are 22 bucks compared to blums 37 bucks. The only problem I see is that the blums adjust horizontally for an inset application. The KV's dont. I called KV and they said they are going to add horizontal mounting slots soon.
Thanks but I will look into accurides
Lou
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