Is there way to retrofit blumotion onto drawers that do not have their slides? Is there any easy way to keep the exsting drawer box and slides, and just use some sort of retrofit gizmo that google won’t find? Ive searched on google but not much luck?
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Seems to me that if your drawer dimensions and your drawer opening dimensions are a match, you could just install the Blumotion slides.
If not, perhaps you can think of a way to alter those dimensions to fit.
And if not A, and not B, then no go -- I'm not aware of any product that mimicks the blumotion action on other slides.
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
try the website for lee valley tools. they have blumotion stuff, maybe even what you need.
toolman65
Without seeing your drawers my guess is that you wont be able to use the blumotions.
Blumotions have to have drawers built to handle the hardware and those dimensions are usually not the same for other full extensions slides. Saying that I don't know what you have so I wouldn't say for certain that you cant retrofit but it may be difficult.
What do you currently have for hardware? Dimensions of drawers? dimensions of drawer openings?
Doug
Blumotion slides mount under the bottom of the drawer and clearances must be pretty much exact. Also the length of the drawer box sides is critical for the slides to work. I think you will probably have to make new drawers.
It is a bit more involved than Blumotion, but it can be retro fitted:
http://www.blum.com/pdf/BUS/7038_sdr_fb/7038_sdr_fb.pdf
thats probably the most useless, but coolest thing i have seen recently! yea its kinda dumb, but the cool factor is there..
I wonder what it costs.
Agreed. The big thing with the Blumotion slides is the drawers have to have a 1/2" hanging down past the bottom. So I suspect they a charging for new drawers as well. There are little plungers that can be attatched to slow down the drawer so it dosn't slam but they wont pull the drawer closed.
I agree that it's dumb for the vast majority of drawers.But there's a trend lately to have no base cabinets except for the ones with drawers -- including the drawer that holds all of the dishes.And if that one slams, you'll need to have the large-size wallet when you go to the store.
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
the dampers etc, are pretty good idea, but this is the cool but dumb thing i was reffering to: http://www.blum.com/pdf/BUS/7038_sdr_fb/7038_sdr_fb.pdf
its a powered door opening and closing system made by blum.
That's the little servo motors? I was just demo'ed those....lovely. All the gadget people will want them. They work nicely.
If you just want soft-close, what's wrong with the little plungers you just drill into the gable, or am I missing something?
Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Edited 7/30/2008 9:00 pm ET by Adrian
You've seen the servo's in action!? how much are they?
little plungers? where are these found?
Go here http://www.grassusa.com/sensotronic.html
Watch the video, then decide. With the Grass hardware in play (not yet released and awaiting UL approval) everything else will seem like junk.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
You might check accuride. I was recently shown a new soft close side mount slide that worked the same as the blum soft close. I'm pretty sure it was accuride, I've got a call in to my manufacturer to confirm, I'll let you know when I find out. If I recall it was 2/3 less thn the blum and a heck of alot easier to install.
Okay, wasn't accuride but Knapp an Voight
http://www.knapeandvogt.com/8450_Soft-Close_Full_Extension_Drawer_Slide.html?page=details.664
If they come with side mount glides these will work, probably :)
Edited 7/29/2008 7:11 pm ET by deskguy
I think you'd have more rework than I'd be prepared to do, considering the cost of boxes and slides.
Drawers designed for Blumotion slides are 5/8" narrower than the width of the opening, and they're notched on the back, and have a hole for the tab at the back of the slide. Also, the drawer box depth (front to back) is specific to the depth required by the slide, which comes in 3-inch increments, such as 15, 18, 21-inch, etc.
Drawers designed for most side mount slides are 1" smaller than the opening, a difference of 3/16" on each side. The depth of drawers for sidemount slides usually come in 2-inch increments, such as 16, 18, 20, 22, 24-inch, etc.
Gary W
gwwoodworking.com
Thanks for all the great replies.. This is pretty much the conclusion I came to. The story behind this is, a freind of mine is getting a new condo, and the upgrade charge for soft close drawers is 2K (for 10 drawers). I know the hardware is only about $40 per drawer, so I was wondering if there was a way we can do this after the fact. Also, my Ikea kitchen sports the blumotion dampers, since they clip into the slides they use, for about $3 a drawer.
I suspect the kitchen company is charging a lot, becuse they probably have to use differnt drawer boxes etc to accomodate the blumotion slides.. This is an upgrade through the builder so i suspect there may be several hands in the pot for every upgrade.
Thanks!
I build cabinets and buy all the different kinds of drawerslides.
The most basic 3/4 extension epoxy-coated self-closing slides cost me about $2.20 per drawer, and the Chinese-made Blum clones, with soft-close action, run about $16.
My cost for a notched and bored d'box (the little bit of machining at the back to accommodate the undermount slides) runs about a buck premium, when compared to a plain box.
But I am a little nobody, in comparison to the name-brand cabinet outfits, and their cost diff for the premium is probably half of my $15 per.
For the first few years of Blum doing the Blumotion damper (it's a little shock absorber with a magnet on its plunger) it was possible to oufit their non-Blumotion slides with a Blumotion clip-on kit to add the softclose thing to existing drawers. No longer.
That said though, the d'box and cab preps are exactly the same for Blum Tandems without Blumotion. If that is the hardware offered as the "non softclose" option, you could take it, then buy Tandems with Blumotion and retrofit by swapping slides.
The "casual user" price is about $35 a pair for the slides without the front end clips.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
I just built a kitchen using some Chinese made cabinets that came disassembled. The slides (undermount) that came with them seemed too flimsy to me, so I bought Blumotion slides for all the drawers. The only modification I had to make was to put an extension block on the bottom of the back of each rear drawer panel. The notches underneath the back were already there, since they were set up for undermount slides already. They cost me about $30 each through the company I bought the cabinets from.
Jamie