Just finished making some drawers and need to attach the fronts. The drawer fronts are overlay style with a raised panel. The drawers have standard full extension slides on the side of the drawers.
Basically, if I want to put a screw thru from inside the drawer to the front, I’ll hit the groove for the raised panel. I would have to go at an angle to get any solid wood of the stiles.
Me —-> not knowing what to do.
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Replies
You could pack out the back of the panel, ie glue a filler so it is tight to the drawer and fasten to that. What kind of drawer pull will you use and will the pull itself aid in the attachment?
Maybe you could hot-glue the fronts on, then drill through both layers to install the drawer pulls (so the pulls are taking most of the force). Would be wise to put a spacer in the pull area in any event, to keep the pull screws from mashing in the panel.
So it's Ok to just screw into the panel if I use a spacer? The drawer pulls would help too.
Edited 9/19/2007 12:10 pm by JMadson
Are the drawer front frames/panels solid wood?Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
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Yes, the fronts are all solid oak. Standard rail and stile drawerfront with a raised panel.
how thick is the drawer stock??? I use 1/2" Baltic birch generally."The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a governmental program" -Ronald Reagan
What's the thickness of the panels? Is there enough to give a screw purchase without damaging the face?
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Also, what's the thickness of the spacer that would be needed? (Might work out to glue spacers to the back of the panel and screw into the spacers.)
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Overall front is 13/16", the recess in the back is 3/16", which leave 5/8" for the raised panel at the center of the panel.
You could probably get by without a spacer and screwing into panel only, but I'd sleep better knowing it was there....easy to do. 5mm ply, (often called 1/4") is real close to 3/16". Doesn't have to be pretty ;)
I'd drill 2 1/4" holes in box, use these to fasten, http://www.mcfeelys.com/super-round-washer which gives some wiggle room for fine align / adjust. Once adjusted mount hardware which locks everything in place. No hardware? Then 1 or 2 additional holes, screws driven after adjustment.PJ
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
I'd mount it on the panel. The pulls will give a lot of support as long as they go through the box too. You got 4 screws holding the face to the box.
On 1/2" BB boxes and 4/4 hardwood I drill a 1/2" hole through the drawer box. Take a fender washer and a #8 1" pan head screw started in the center of the 1/2" hole. You can move the face 1/2" in any direction for centering. With maple you better do a pilot hole. Oak doesn't seem to matter. After centering, drill your holes for the handles/knobs.
Why do you need to hit the molded edges of the panel with your fastener? Why not position the screws to hit the thicker middle ground of the panel?
Double stick mounting tape to position the drawer fronts. Drill, remove tape, screw them together. But honestly, if you are using a pull (though not a single knob), i'd just use the drawer pull bolts to hold that little drawer front on.
Spacers glued on the back? My god....now THAT would be ugly...
PS: I can't tell what kind of joint you're using for your BBP drawers, but if that's a simple butt joint, it makes a sturdier joint to run the sides over the front so that the staples or whatever are acting in shear instead of being prone to pull out. If that's a sliding dovetail, ignore my intrusion. <G>
Edited 9/19/2007 2:31 pm by splintergroupie
Spacers glued on the back? My god....now THAT would be ugly...
You would never see it. It would be sandwiched between the front and the drawer. Basically just to fill the void on the back of the drawer front so the panel doesn't crack when the screws are tightened down. (did I just say the back of the front?)
My problem was that I didn't think it would be a good idea to go into the panel instead of the edges. But if that's the norm then that's what I'm going to do. Just a couple of screws thru the drawer into the center area of the raised panel. I'm also going to put the spacer in just to spite ya ;)
NEXT TIME you can raise the back side, too, instead of planing down the panel stock. ;^)So what kind of joint did you use in that BBP?
I purchased these drawer fronts from cabinetdoorshop.com. I have come to the conclusion that my time is worth too much to make my own doors/fronts. I also don't have the space to buy the equipment I actually need to do it right. The next time I buy them, I will specify that they come this way. I like that idea.
The drawers are dovetailed. That is something that I actually do like to do.
We could collaborate. I'm fussy enough to dovetail everything, but i don't enjoy that part. I get excited once i get to the shiny bits!
You could attach the spacer to the front of the drawer instead of the back of the panel. Not sure what good that would do, other than you could make the spacer exactly large enough to position the panel.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Note that you do need to worry about folks pulling the drawer open by the edge, leaning on the edge of the front while digging through the drawer, etc. There needs to be at least incidental attachment beyond just the pull.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
You've managed, from the sound of it, to have hit every possible snag a raised panel drawer front can have. (This is sometimes an excellent reason to not use raised panels for drawer heads--BTDT.)
Here's the real pain of it, though--adjusting the head once the drawer is installed.
So, your spacer, for over the drawer box front, probably ought to have some slots in it that the attachement screws pass through--since I'm going to guess that the drawer guides likely don't have any sort of "give" to get the drawer head aligned with adjacent heads or the door below.
By using a filler, you may actually be ahead of the game a bit. You can "perch" the head on the filler on the box front, and get everything fiddled in just right. After that, then you can decide if you want to glue the filler to the head's frame, or just rely on the friction of the panel in the frame to stay aligned.
Could be worse, though. Back in my perdition at the cabinet shop, we went through the fad of "bin' drawers, where they were either glass fronted to see a persons rotting produce, or there was a panel which could be artfully filled with various varieties of vermin-bait. (Can you tell I'm a fan of this?)
Both required an exact fit to the inside of the drawer front frame--something line-built face frame cabinet carcasses sometimes lacked. Our ideal answer was to blind-pocket the box or picture frame to the front. Then we'd "sneak" the tip-out hardware in where it didn't show. Worked fine unless the sales weasels sold the job with either the 3/8" semi-lipped frame profile, or with the 1-7/16" "full" overlay--those 2.5" stiles just did not "like" either of those . . .