Installing drawer and cabinet hardware

[nightfighter]

Went back to the blue island We installed ten days or so ago. Took out a jig I ordered last year designed just for this job. Just shoot me. The screws into the plastic came loose and I ended up making obvious errors in a drawer and a trash cabinet before i went back to the tried and true combination square. Just so pissed off at myself. Depending how my repair turns out when the paint arrives, I just might well be ordering two new fronts! Get what you pay for!

[Rmarsh]

Don't feel too bad......everybody makes mistakes.....I've done as bad or worse. it's easy to pick out even minor discrepancies with everything we do in our proffesion. I tell people all the time....that nothing is a easy as it may seem to them...lots of opportunities for things to go wrong as they sometimes do.
I've no experience with commercial made hardware jigs ....but I think they are a waste.

Couple of replacement drawer fronts or a door is not too bad....but with painted cabinets you may be able to do an unnoticeable repair.

[Hookedagain]

As far as kitchen installs go...that probably the most common mistake made. I recently installed a kitchen in Little Compton, $78,000 for the cabinets. All custom made and and sprayed in Tiverton. Amazing quality. I had to cut a switch box in an end panel of a pantry cabinet, Marked it out so careful to be sure it was in the right position. I nailed it, box was spot on. I did however drill a 3/8" hole for my jig saw blade on the wrong side of the layout line. I was so mad, it ruined my day. Thankfully the electrician had a goof plate.

[Guppy]

I never made mistakes…..

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

I never made mistakes…..

Son and I are working on a project to finish a room over the garage.
Hes in the surveying engineering business.... when things go wrong or a mistake is made he gets frustrated. I tell him that after being a carpenter going on fifty years now....that I make some kind of mistake every day. But I know how to correct them.
Bottom line is that ...sometimes you have to do something wrong...to figure out how to do it right.
I would bet that Ross doesnt drill any more holes where they dont belong going forward.

[redlite]

that sucks but it happens. inferior tools can make you so angry. Hope u
fixed that jig real good with a hammer so it never happens again

[Slipknot]

Good one redlite

I know it's frustrating Ross, but you are a craftsman and can fix your mistakes and will always learn from them I'm sure.


I have seen those kinds of jigs for sale all through my career and always resisted buying any of them. I make my own from scraps of hardwood and sometimes drill them out ahead of time on the drill press. I must have drilled tens of thousands of hardware holes in the past 40 years and made my share of mistakes, they can happen even with a jig if not paying attention. I have had to order replacement doors because of mis-measuring door and drawer front sizes plenty of times but never from mis-drilling hardware luckily as many times the hole can be tweaked and covered by the handle etc.

better luck next time

[nightfighter]

It doesn't take much to be "#^&#^&#^&#^& by just an RCH and have to work at getting the thread to screw in straight from a buggered hole shot. The design of this one is not far off from being good. Just get aluminum instead of plastic for the body and to thread into. And then add an additional set of holes in line with the drill guide holes and fasten the handle to those holes. That would guarantee the correct distance between the holes... Then the only thing you could mess up is centering or height....

Today's "Really?" moment was installing new grab bars in an elderly couple's shower, toilet, and garage stairway. I ordered some 18'" and some 12" off of the river site... (I know) One 18" bar had been previously used!!!! Full refund via internet... This country, if not the world has just gone to chit.

I am assuming I dont have to translate "RCH"....

[nightfighter]

Wow, JR. The auto censor got me for putting the word, off, in quotes.... I find that funny.

[Nebe]

measure thrice, cut nice

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by nightfighter

It doesn't take much to be "#^&#^&#^&#^& by just an RCH and have to work at getting the thread to screw in straight from a buggered hole shot. The design of this one is not far off from being good. Just get aluminum instead of plastic for the body and to thread into. And then add an additional set of holes in line with the drill guide holes and fasten the handle to those holes. That would guarantee the correct distance between the holes... Then the only thing you could mess up is centering or height....

Today's "Really?" moment was installing new grab bars in an elderly couple's shower, toilet, and garage stairway. I ordered some 18'" and some 12" off of the river site... (I know) One 18" bar had been previously used!!!! Full refund via internet... This country, if not the world has just gone to chit.

I am assuming I dont have to translate "RCH"....

that is disgusting, yes world has gone to chit, globalization will finish it off if they get their way.

[Rmarsh]

I installed another kitchen this week and since this subject came up I took a few pictures of my hardware hole marking jig for drawer fronts.
The door drilling jigs are simple enough to make and Ive posted pics of them before....drawers are much different.
For a while now the door and drawer fronts we use at our customers request have been shaker style or "inset panel". This made drawer drilling even easier for me with this jig. I make my living doing this so it has to be accurate and fast.... here's how......i hope I can explain it.
I measure the vertical height of just the inset panel for top drawers.
then I take a small piece of the 1/4" thick toe kick material...can be any 1/4" stuff.... and rip it to half the height of the inset. I look for the widest drawers to do first and cut that piece to the length of the inset panel.
I then take that strip and find dead center and mark it as the CL.."center line". Next I take the actual door pull and measure the distance between holes and divide it exactly in half.....and mark my jig strip to match. Then I lay the strip against the inset panel and use an awl to push into the panel at those marks. The awl is better than using pencil marks and makes a tiny indent that is perfect for starting a brad point drill. Then go to the next smaller in width drawer....cut the strip to that width....keeping the CL in the center of the strip.

Sometimes I do a shorter version of the strip.....just longer than the pull and mark the center of the panel and apply the jig to it. I do the same for lower drawers which are wider. This method has saved me a ton of time and is super accurate.

[Rmarsh]

....unfortunately it will be the only drawer in the kitchen with a knob.....stupidly small blind corner base anyway ...almost useless.....i dont do the layouts

[Rmarsh]

you can buy this nice gadget for $250.....Im satisfied with my scrap wood jig

[spence]

Originally Posted by Hookedagain

I recently installed a kitchen in Little Compton, $78,000 for the cabinets. All custom made and and sprayed in Tiverton. Amazing quality.

Guy’s name wasn’t Andy was it?

[piemma]

Originally Posted by nightfighter

Wow, JR. The auto censor got me for putting the word, off, in quotes.... I find that funny.

Had to think for a second but.....BINGO!

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by piemma

Had to think for a second but.....BINGO!

Funny expressions we use on the job....does the R stand for red...i know what the others are....and we dont use the acronym.

I just heard one the other day that made me laugh. Some guy was bitching and moaning to another guy...and that guys response was "Whats the matter ? Your vagina hurting today?" Crude and not politically correct but thats how weve always talked on construction sites.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Funny expressions we use on the job....does the R stand for red...i know what the others are....and we dont use the acronym.

I just heard one the other day that made me laugh. Some guy was bitching and moaning to another guy...and that guys response was "Whats the matter ? Your vagina hurting today?" Crude and not politically correct but thats how weve always talked on construction sites.

As I remember, R does stand for RED