Häfele America Shop Shot: Millwork

In another life I managed an architectural millwork company for a time, so millwork  always catches my eye.  We have some excellent woodworkers in the Häfele America Co. shop, and when they get a chance to break-away from assembling trade show displays and building hundreds of little mock-ups to work on millwork like this display for one of our showrooms, they jump at it with a vengeance.  In the foreground you can see the architectural drawings of the desired display, as well as a couple photos of the soon-to-be-replaced current display with critical notes and measurements.  The real magic is that the large millwork in the background is being built here in Archdale, NC and will be installed in our showroom in NYC!  Our craftsmen are utilizing lots of Häfele connectors, levelers and several tricks of the trade to allow for minor and in some cases major surprises that they may encounter during install.  I’ll keep you posted on this, because it really is neat to see how projects like this move from concept to reality.

Screws for Nerds (TMI)

One of the topics that a new customer service or sales rep at Häfele America Co. must wrap their head around is the issue of screws for attaching deco.  First off, being a hardware guy I know that threaded steel fasteners that thread into tapped (threaded) holes are called bolts.  That is unless they are smaller than 1/4″ in diameter.  Don’t ask me why, but something mysterious happens when bolts are smaller than 1/4″; they become “machine screws“.  Wanna get really nerdy?  Why not?

In the USA bolts are measured in diameter, thread and length.

For example, you could go to the hardware store and purchase a 1/4-20 x 2″ bolt.  Notice that I didn’t type 1/4″-20, but instead typed 1/4-20.  The 1/4 represents the diameter of the bolt, while the 20 represents the number of threads per inch, or TPI.  Yep, I agree; that’s weird.

Something similar happens with machine screws.  The diameters of these small “bolts” are measured not in fractions but in something called “wire gauge”.  So back at the hardware store you’ll see machine screws that measure 8-32 x 2″.  This time I didn’t type 8/32″, because the “8″ has nothing to do with the “32″.  True, they are hanging out together, but in this case the machine screw was made with #8 gauge wire, and it is threaded with 32 threads per inch.

Another factor in buying bolts, machine screws and the nuts or other items that they thread into, and that’s the coarseness of the threads.  You’ve no doubt heard of fine thread screws.  In the case of machine screws there are two different “threads” that are typical in the USA.  For example, the course version of a #10 machine screw would be a 10-24, while the fine thread version would be a 10-32.  Again, this is not pronounced “Ten thirty-seconds”, but rather “Ten, thirty-two”.   These two “standards” are called USS and SAE.  USS is the course bolt, and that stands for “United States Standard”, and SAE stands for the “Society of Automobile Engineers”.  Do you need to know this?  Why not?  Besides, if you’ve read this far it’s a little too late to be asking that now, isn’t it?

As usual the metric world simplifies all this.  The bolt or machine screw is referred to by the actual metric size of the wire used to produce it, but because the wire is threaded, the actual measurement of the finished part will be a little less than the original wire.  To signify this we refer to a 4mm diameter machine screw as an M4 screw.  See what we did there?  We dropped the two lowercase m’s from the back of the 4, and replaced it with a single uppercase M ahead of the 4.   This is a lot like the nominal dimensions used in lumber, like the 2×4 that we all know does not actually measure 2″ x 4″.

What about the “TPI” count on the metric bolt?  Well, the problem with that question is there is no “inch” in the metric system!   Instead of measuring an inch on a bolt and counting all the threads, in the metric system we simply measure the distance from the tip of one thread to the tip of the one next to it.  This distance, measured in millimeters, is know as the “pitch”.   In most cases metric bolts and machine screws are available in two pitch types: One course and one fine.  At Häfele America Co. I’ve measured the pitch on hundreds of the bolts that I’ve encountered over the past 13 years and in every case the pitch was the course pitch.

Now, what prompted this post?  The other day I dropped by a customer’s showroom and noticed that one of the pieces of deco on a prominently placed drawer was sitting closer to the face of the drawer than all the other pulls in the kitchen.  (Click the pic to Biggie-Size it)   BTW, “deco” is the generic name that hardware nerds call any handle, pull, or knob that’s intended for furniture and cabinets.  As I did a double take I realized what had happened.  The person who installed the deco obviously didn’t have the correct length machine screw, and I imagine that someone in the shop suggested that they just countersink it (meaning the head of the screw) but instead the installer countersunk the deco!   It took everything in me to not laugh out loud and then I realized how awful that would be for someone who lacks the ability to grasp small objects .

So, what is the correct length machine screw for deco?  If the deco is to be installed in a kitchen you will likely need two lengths:  For doors you’ll need one for most knobs and two for most pulls that’s the length of the doors thickness plus 4 to 5mm to engage the threads in the deco.  For drawers we need to know a bit more about how the drawers are constructed.  Most kitchen drawers begin life as a four sided 1/2″ or 5/8″ thick box with a decorative front that matches the doors.  Where I come from we call this a four-sided drawer.

If the doors are 3/4″ thick (19mm), and the drawer box is 1/2″ thick (let’s just call that 12mm), we’ll need to add these two numbers, 19 + 12 to get 31.  To that we’ll add 4 to 5mm for the deco and we wind-up with needing an M4 x 35mm machine screw.

Some drawers have only four sides; meaning that the front of the drawer box is also the decorative drawer front that is seen from the outside of the cabinet.  This is common in furniture.  If that’s the case the length of the screw would be the same for a drawer and those used on the doors.

Just so I don’t totally confuse things, please note that while some of these things apply to standard wood screws that might be used to construct cabinets and to attach functional hardware, the TPI and pitch info does not.

Someday you need to remind me to tell you about cut-off machine screws that we sell for deco and why I hate them and think that no toolbox is complete with them.  But that’s another post.

Everything Old is New Again

I made a surprising discovery the other night as I was perusing some old Popular Science magazines.  As you can see from the short scanned article and photo from  a 1945 issue, they showed a pull-out table that hid-away beneath the counter top in a space the size of a drawer.  I immediately sent a message to the folks in our NYC showroom and asked them if they wouldn’t mind snapping a picture of our 505.58.103 Rapid Pullout Table, which we recently installed during the remodel of our showroom.   The second photo  is that very picture, and as you can see it’s a neat way of adding a work surface to any kitchen.

This is one of those products that when you see it you just say “wow!”  Imagine grabbing what looks like a drawer, but instead pulling out of a 24” base cabinet a table that’s up to 43 ¼” long!  It’s really like a Las Vegas magic trick.  We happen to have a crazy-small kitchen at home, and I’ll admit that there have been times that I’ve had to pull open a drawer just to have a place to set a cookie sheet!  Think about how this could add a table for baking, cutting and serving, mixing, etc.

Häfele America Co. has a couple of versions of pull-out tables.  Two of them have a solid section that pulls out first, followed by a matching section that’s made like a tambor (roll top) door.  While most folks would never guess that the back half is segmented, you wouldn’t want to roll-out dough on that part of the table top.  Actually, I suppose you could, if you were making ravioli.  Anyway, the other version, the poorly named “Top Flex” is made with two solid leaves that the Cabintmaker provides.  This one works somewhat like an expandable dining table, but with the back leaf that “automagically” moves out of its storage place above the front leaf, and slides into place behind the first.  It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s very slick to see in action

Now consider all the other uses for this type of pull-out table: In the home office as an extension to a desk; as a folding table in the laundry room; as a work table in the craft room; or how about as a desk-top writing surface in a piece of furniture that looks nothing like a traditional desk.  And don’t miss the fact that this table is a bit lower than the average kitchen counter top, which means it could be installed at the ideal height for kids or for folks who prefer to or must work while seated.

Yep, this is an idea that was way ahead of it’s time, but fortunately for us, that time is now.

If you study the two photos carefully you’ll notice a major difference between the two tables.  What is it?  Take a look at our 505.59.703 Presto Pull-Out Table for a clue.

As always, click the pics to Biggie-Size them.

Häfele America Shop Shot: Trade Show Planning

Here’s  a rare sight.  In fact, unless you happen to be in a large convention center a few days before or after a major trade show, you are not likely to ever see this.  What is it?  This is the foundation of our booth that you’ll see at the 2012 KBIS.  KBIS is the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, and is one of the most important trade shows in the kitchen industry in the USA.  Nathan  is in the background installing Häfele Keku fittings, which are neat panel connectors that we sell and obviously utilize.  These fittings allow us to snap panels on and off the skeletal framework that you see, making our entire display a flat-packed, ready to assemble “Booth in a Box”.  More to come.

As always, click the pics to Biggie-Size.