Positioning of undermount runners inside the cabinet

[kelsey smith]

Hello,

Does anyone have a fail-safe way of working out Blum under-mount drawer runner positioning inside cabinets?
I'm switching from side-mounted runners to under mount but can't find a good guide.

To be specific I want to know how to position runners vertically. There is plenty of guidance on the front-to-back position from Blum.

I've seen one video where the maker used the lower edge of the drawer facia as a maker for the runners. Does anyone use this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Spectric]

There are jigs to make the drilling easy



and this guy from Rockler may help,

It helped when I was looking at the various options for drawer slides and the ease of fitting.

 

[Mickjay]

Peter Millard has recently done a YouTube video on that very subject, within the last couple of weeks.

 

[Ollie78]

I have the orange jig for the drawer part which is handy and worth it, from memory (not done any for a bit) I just fitted a set of runners to the drawer and then measured the position from that. I have seen several fancy jigs and stuff but I never do enough to feel like its worth the price of them.

Ollie

 

[worn thumbs]

I found the whole business easier after discovering this document on the woodweb.com site https://woodweb.com/knowledge_base_images/ms/Process32_041204.pdf . Since there is more than one supplier of hardware competing for the same European business I also looked at the information from Grass,which has common features in order to be applicable and this useful,but complicated file can be found there https://www.grass.at/fileadmin/downloads/installation-instructions/MA_110074_Nova_Pro_Scala.pdf.

I used the Grass information to build a 3D CAD box model of the drawer box and located it in the cabinet,where it was easy enough to extract the dimensions.You can do the same thing with a piece of ply and a pencil.

 

[kelsey smith]

There are jigs to make the drilling easy



and this guy from Rockler may help,

It helped when I was looking at the various options for drawer slides and the ease of fitting.

Thanks for your reply. The jig looks useful. However, the jig and the video demonstrate how to fix the runner to the drawer. My issue is I don't know how to position the runner to the inside of the cabinet. Most videos demonstrate installing runners on the base of the cabinet. But I'm installing 4 drawers.

 

[Etaf]

missed your comment here

Most videos demonstrate installing runners on the base of the cabinet. But I'm installing 4 drawers.

so the video may not be what you are after

peter millard video is here , or at least one of them

 

[kelsey smith]

Peter Millard has recently done a YouTube video on that very subject, within the last couple of weeks.

Excellent video. This helps me a bit because I can see that Peter is fixing the runner to the lowest available position on the cab side. Peter is using inset drawers but in theory, the vertical position on the cab side could be the same for overlay.

 

[kelsey smith]

I have the orange jig for the drawer part which is handy and worth it, from memory (not done any for a bit) I just fitted a set of runners to the drawer and then measured the position from that. I have seen several fancy jigs and stuff but I never do enough to feel like its worth the price of them.

Ollie

So you fitted the runners to the drawer and then offered them up inside the cabinet to find the right position to attach to the cabinet interior side?

 

[johnnyb]

I do this. get a steel rule and a laser level. put the steel rule on the face frame and adjust the laser to cast a line 38mm up the rule. Mark either side and draw a line along those. Next offer the runner the correct distance in front of the face frame and mark a couple of holes. screw in and voila( adjust as necessary)
38mm is the distance from the bottom to the top set of holes.

 

[johnnyb]

the position of the drawers is slightly less fussy than the false fronts( if that's what your using) but the same rule of 38mm applies. doing stuff at random like offering the drawers up to find the position is a sure way to end up with problems. also make sure your cabinets are square and level.both in construction and installation.

 

[kelsey smith]

Ok, so I've worked it out by making a SketchUp drawing.

I think the trick is to use the drawer front position as a guide.

1. Blum instructions indicate there is 37mm from the base of the runner to the screw hole line.

2. I make a side elevation of the cabinet in SketchUp with the drawer fronts in position.

3. I draw a horizontal screw hole line 42mm above the bottom of the drawer facia. 42mm because I'm adding 5mm to the 37mm required. If I didn't add the 5mm the bottom of the runner would be in line with the bottom of the drawer front. The gap means the runners are definitely hidden behind the drawer front.

5. I can then measure the distance from the base of the cabinet side to the screw hole line and use that to mark up the cabinet sides.

Other thoughts:

- The bottom drawer is different because of the lower overlap.
- These are the measurements for Blum Tandem runners but the same approach would work for other runners if the measurements were available.
- Marking up the cabinets this way means I can drill holes in the cabinet sides before assembly.
- I'm sure that following a System 32 approach would make life much easier however these are custom cabinets with odd dimensions.

Thanks for your help.

 

[HOJ]

I quickly put your dimensions into my Blum configuration software and produced these:

 

[johnnyb]

that's a pretty sophisticated approach..can't see why it wouldn't work tbh. just be aware that this approach risks a little twist between pairs of runners if everything isn't perfect. twist will stop the runners pulling in perfectly even.

 

[kelsey smith]

I quickly put your dimensions into my Blum configuration software and produced these:

View attachment 157276View attachment 157277

Thanks very much and great to know there is a software tool. I think this is the answer I've been looking for.
I've just signed up for the online version.
Good also that my numbers are very close to yours. I think the difference is that I've specified a 4mm gap between drawer fronts whereas you have specified 2mm.

 

[Sean33]

I wish I could help with some technical advice, unfortunately I have literally just fitted 10 pairs of Movento tip on blu motion. Don't usually use runners if I can help it but the client wanted push to open soft close, the jigs are handy for time saving but as to spacings etc I found it the most frustrating thing I have ever done, trying to work out where to space them to then sit in line with a shelf in the middle cabinet almost sent me over the edge..!
Still trying to work out depth adjustment for overlay drawer fronts so not wishing to steal this thread but any advice would be welcome