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Learned the hard way about drawer slide tolerances on a rush job
Installed a full set of soft-close undermounts in a kitchen last month, but the drawers kept binding because I didn't account for the 1/16th gap on each side. Had to pull everything apart and shim the slides, cost me an extra half day. Anybody else run into this or have a trick for measuring that gap faster?
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elliots4927d ago
Man I used to be the opposite way on this. I always thought you could just slap undermounts in with a standard 3/4 gap and call it a day. Then I did a job for a buddy last fall and had to fight the same binding issue you ran into, it drove me nuts. That 1/16th tolerance is no joke, I totally get why you had to pull it apart. Now I keep a set of 1/8 spacers pre-cut and just clamp them in place while I screw the slides in, saves me from having to guess the gap each time. It feels like overkill til you actually see how much difference that little bit makes, then it clicks.
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the_cora26d ago
The playing card trick is smart, I might steal that for quick adjustments on site. Precut metal spacers feel more reliable for production work though, at least for me. Once you dial that gap in tight you forget why you ever fought with it in the first place.
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thomas86226d ago
Ditch those pre-cut spacers and go with a stack of playing cards, man. I tape a stack of three right to the slide face before I screw it in, lets me dial it in way faster than guessing with metal spacers. Once you realize that 1/16th is the difference between a buttery smooth slide and one that feels like it's dragging through wet sand, you never go back to eyeballing it. I even started marking my tape measure at that exact spot so I can check twice before I commit. It's wild how much time you save on the back end when you just slow down on the front end for thirty seconds. Nobody talks about how much of a headache a binding drawer is until you're the one cussing at it on a Saturday.
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