32mm system
- Jun 1, 2009Jun 1, 2009 The 32mm cabinet system, also often referred to (somewhat inaccurately) as "Euro style" cabinetry, has been with us for over 20 years now. Even so, there still seems to be a lot of misunderstanding of 32mm cabinet construction.
tools device :
32mm Systems
- Festool 496939 32mm Hole Drilling 55" Guide Rail Rating: ...
- Festool 491066 Dowel Drill Router Bit, Hw 5X30mm $37.00 ...
- Festool 491622 32mm Hole Drilling 95" Guide Rail Rating: ...
- Festool 584100 LR 32 Hole Drilling Set for OF1010 & OF1400 Routers in T-LOC Systainer Rating: ...
- Festool 496938 Longitudinal stop LA -LR 32 FS - 2 Pack ...
- Festool 485758 Edge Stop ...
- Kreg Kma3220 Shelf Pin Jig 5Mm Bit .
Flex32 Jig
The Keku Scribe Tool is quickly morphing into an all purpose jig. It can also be used for Mod-eez keyhole connectors (scribes and panels), drilling door pulls, scribing/mounting applied ends, system holes, doweling, etc. More later.
Keku Scribe Tool
The Keku Scribe Tool makes it easy to securely and accurately index and hold trim - for marking, sizing and mounting - using Keku connectors. In Scribing Cabinet Trim I show two methods of using Keku connectors for scribing/attaching cabinet trim. While the holes can be drilled with a boring machine, I wanted a faster/easier way. While the scribe tool can be adjusted in 32mm (1-1/4") increments, it doesn't require that the cabinets be built using the 32mm system.If you click on the image and follow the "Next" buttons (at the top-right of the page), you can follow the process from drilling the box side to setting the scribed trim. The only requirement is that the fingers be placed an equal distance from each stop and that you choose top or bottom indexing, i.e. a stop is always placed against the top or bottom of the piece being drilled. In the example I used bottom indexing because the counter overlaps the cabinet (the trim is 8mm shorter than the cabinet).
Videos @ YouTube
A flush/inset face and wall return demo (first attempt and not very good)
A simple scribe, from start to finish in real time (7min.). Instead of using the jig, a tape measure and a single 'finger' were used (still not a very good video).
The jig is made of aluminum and consists of a 1/2 x 1/4" bar (...now 1x1/2 T track), 2" wide x 3/16" thick fingers and 1" wide x 1/4" thick stops. The bar has 5mm holes spaced 32mm apart (16mm at the ends). The fingers can have VixBit holes or drill bushings and have 5mm locating pins to mount them to the bar. A tape measure and a single finger can be used to mark/drill long runs. The distance/spacing of the holes/bushings from the bar is dependent on the desired trim thickness, setback and/or overlay. The stops have holes 16mm apart and also mount to the bar with 5mm locating pins. Stop spacing can be any increment of 32mm +/- 8 or 16mm.
There are three indexing methods - screws, 5mm pins and brackets. With the screw method (images) two sets of holes are drilled, one set is for marking the scribe line on the trim and the other for mounting the trim. A VixBit can be used to drill all holes. With the screw method 0 to ~8mm setbacks or 3, 8 and 16mm overlays are possible.
With the pin method (the videos) a single set of 5mm holes is drilled in the trim (drill bushings in the fingers). A 5mm shelf pin is used to index the trim for marking and a system screw is used in the same hole for attaching the bracket / mounting the trim. With this method larger setbacks (0-19+ mm) are possible using built up connectors that hold the trim while marking it.
... It is also possible to use EuroScribe-like brackets (works better than built up connectors for inset scribes) to hold the trim for marking and/or cutting with the QuickScribe. The bracket is mounted to the trim using the same holes that will be used to mount the Keku connector. The brackets shown can do inset or overlay trim. Modified EuroScribe brackets (tongue removed, screw holes added) might be a better design if you only do inset trim... This bracket is also the best way I have found to scribe inset toe-kicks (I used to use the pin method and shims under the kick board to push the pins against the bottom of the box). While I have been mounting toe-kicks with Keku clips, I'll likely use this method with leg clips as well (to-do: leg clip fingers so everything is on the bar and can be bored with a single setup). Only a few Keku clips are needed and locating them between bulkheads makes this method compatible with leg clips - provides additional kick board support on wide boxes.Currently the jigs are hand made on a milling machine that has +/- .01mm digital accuracy. While this method allows for custom setbacks/overlays, it makes for a relatively expensive jig. It would help to know what others want and use for scribe trim overlay/setback and material. Coming up with a limited set of options would allow production/reasonable pricing. My personal preference is for the trim to always be flush with the door face (not this). This requires using 5/4 or 4/4 H&M stock for the trim. I easily get the 21-22mm thickness I need from 4/4 H&M.
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Mod-eez
Mod-eez keyhole connectors are a better option in some applications. One side of the jig fingers have holes for drilling the bracket mounting holes (mounted). The other side of the fingers are for drilling the trim screw holes. There are four holes so that the fingers work with the keyhole brackets facing up or down and to allow for shifting the trim 12.5mm/.5" when marking/mounting overlay scribe trim. These particular fingers were designed for mounting recessed trim using #6 screws and the hole spacing is such that the trim gets pushed tight against the box. For the same job as the above example images, I used Mod-eez connectors to mount the trim to the wall as well. I used a piece of 1/4" MDF with 1/4" holes and a Vix-Bit to drill pilot holes into the wall. With these particular brackets, the layout is easy because the wall/trim screw holes and bracket mounting holes (open end) work when drilled offset by 32mm. I laid out the MDF and trim using a True32 tape measure (marked in 32mm increments).
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Back to: Tools
Hardware
There can be a lot of hardware involved in 32mm Cabinetmaking. This area is for technical and application specific hardware information. Sometimes you have to use what you have and sometimes you find ways to use hardware that never occurred to the designer.
NOTE: This category needs a lot of work, it currently contains just a few random entries.
Subcategories: Connectors Shelves
NOTE: This category needs a lot of work, it currently contains just a few random entries.
Subcategories: Connectors Shelves
Knock-in Leveler
I've tried every leg/toe-kick method these knock-in levelers are my current preference for notched panels.Notes: The bottom mounting hole and the box bottom adjusting hole (both 10mm) can both be bored 17mm from the edge. If your box assembly involves fasteners in line with system rows, shifting the mounting holes back 16mm works well.
Hafele catalog entry
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Home : 32mm : 
Cabinotch's default Full Access (image source) cabinets are based on True 32 49.5/46.5 start 3/0 reveal modular panels. System rows start at 37 and are a multiple of 32mm apart. Faces are a multiple of 32 - 3 gap tall. Unfortunately, the bottom drawer slide is moved up 10mm (like Process 32's +12) and their wood drawer boxes are (like Process 32's) sized in inches, i.e you cannot use the system to register drawer faces to boxes.
32mm system rows and doors
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CabParts uses 32mm system rows 37mm from the front and some multiple of 32mm apart. The only other things that are metric in their system are the bottom system row start hole (42 typ, or 36.6 ) and the bottom hinge cup hole on doors (122 typ, 58 or 83). System row and hinge cup spacing from the top of the panel/door vary and are never the same as the bottom spacing. Door and drawer face sizing is inches plus 1/8, 3/8 or 7/8. Presumably this all works out in tandem with their 1/8 gaps and top reveals (0 bottom), but most of them have no consistent relationship to the 32mm spaced slides and hinges. The image is from their 2/1/16 catalog.
32mm system rows
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Jim Christ is the author of European Cabinetry: Design & Construction (1990, ISBN 9780806969589). Jim uses 16mm stock and a balanced 8/8mm top/bottom, 37/37mm front/back panel. At first glance this looks like System (Varianta) 32 using 16mm (5/8") material. While that would be a 32mm system panel, a key difference is that his system rows are not a multiple of 32mm apart (image is from pg 73). The problem with this (apart from it breaking the row spacing rule) is that you cannot use a 32mm boring machine or jig to drill the construction and rear drawer slide mounting holes. Nothing else in his system uses 32mm multiples or increments.
32mm system row spacing is not a multiple of 32mm
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KISS II (402.3KB pdf, 2007) is Grass's 32mm system and was written by Joel Ketner. It uses balanced 35/35mm top/bottom panels and system registered 32mm increment overlay faces which results in 4.5/4.5mm top/bottom reveals. Individual and side joined boxes are modular, top joined boxes are not (9mm gap between stacked box faces).
32mm system rows, doors and drawers
See also:
Full Overlay: Other Panel Designs
Drawers: Increased Reveal
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Woodhaven's discontinued 786 Kurka Jig is setup to make balanced panels with 48mm top/bottom start holes. It can drill three system rows some multiple of 32mm apart and the back row could be 37 from the back of the panel if you wanted. The jig can be used to make modular full overlay cabinets with 1.5mm top/bottom reveals. The cabinetmaking method presented in the owners manual (859KB pdf, image source) has all sorts of inconsistencies and has nothing to do with any modular 32mm system.
32mm system rows (manual)
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A Curriculum for Teaching 32mm Cabinet Construction (2.9MB pdf) was a four page article, in Techdirections magazine (2001), based on Philip Lundgren's 1998 thesis. As drawn, drawer faces have no consistent relationship to the slides and hinge cup boring is unbalanced (84mm bottom, 77.6mm top). The only 32mm aspects of the method presented are the system rows. The rows are 37mm from the front, 480mm apart, and 73mm from the back. While a 4mm from the bottom start hole is specified, the first used hole is 36mm (4 + 32). Balancing the panel (t/b) and using 32mm increment faces would create cabinets with 1mm larger top/bottom reveals than KISS II cabinets (35/35 starts).
32mm system rows
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Plus 32 allows any full overlay 32mm system panel. My primary purpose was to find an alternative to straight 32mm system drawer layouts. Straight layouts allow top (w/ 32m sides) or bottom face registration, but waste a lot of space. Plus 32 reduces waste and moves all waste to the bottom of the cabinet. The tradeoff is bottom registration, Plus 32 layouts only provide top registration. Some metal drawer sides are probably not suited to top registration (Metabox w/ gallery rails is). I also don't like layouts where Plus 32 would make the bottom box 32mm smaller than the one above.
The example drawing starts with a half overlay example. For the Plus 32 drawing I moved the box bottom up 11mm (11>0r), used a 32mm smaller bottom drawer box (now the same size as the one above) and moved it up 32mm. All drawer boxes are still 24mm below the top of the drawer faces (24 TFR).
32mm system rows, doors and drawers
See also:
Styles: Full Overlay
Drawers: Plus 32
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There have been at least two versions of Blum's Process 32. The '93 Process 32 was Metabox centric and used incremental panel heights and depths. Panel heights were a multiple of 32 with 64mm top/bottom start holes. System rows were 37 from the front, some multiple of 32mm apart and 83mm from the back. Faces were flush to the top and bottom of the panels. Face to box registration was inconsistent because bottom and full height faces were a multiple of 32mm tall and all other faces were a multiple of 32mm - gap. Using all 32m - g faces is the only way this could be a modular system.
Blum's '04 Process 32 (1.8MB pdf) uses unbalanced panels with 56.5mm top / 46.5 bottom start holes and shifted 32mm increment overlay faces which results in 10/0mm top/bottom reveals (image). Individual and side joined boxes are modular, top joined boxes are not (10mm gap between stacked box faces).
While system rows are a multiple of 32mm apart, box depths are not in 32mm increments. Here, and elsewhere, Blum has opted for American dimensions, e.g. 12 and 24" deep boxes. Only their bottom mount drawer layouts register the drawer faces to boxes consistently, the rest of their layouts shift the bottom drawer slide up 12mm. While Meta and Tandem box drawer sides are in increments of 32mm tall, wood drawers are sized in 2" increments.
32mm system rows and doors (most drawer layouts are not)
See also:
Full Overlay: Other Panel Designs
Drawers: Minus 12
... more
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In Throw away your tape measure – Go 32mm system (2016), Scott includes a drawing that appears to be KISS II with measurements rounded to full millimeters, The door faces are 32m - 4 (gap + 1) and the drawer faces are 32m - 3 (gap), reveals are 5 instead of 4.5, hinge cups are 78 instead of 78.5, and the drawer face offset is 31 instead of 30.5.
If that 31 offset is consistent, the bottom drawer would have a 4mm reveal (35 start - 31 offset = 4) which is 1mm less than his 5mm door reveal. Going a step further, a stack of 32m - 3 drawer faces with 3mm gaps only leaves 9mm, e.g. 4.5mm top and bottom (VS 5 in the drawer/door stack). To get a matching 5mm reveal, a three drawer stack would require 2.5mm gaps and a four drawer stack 2.67. While this may be doable, the 32mm system requires accuracy and starting with fuzzy math makes no sense.
32mm system rows (doors and drawers off by .5-1mm)
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Sys32+ is my extrapolation of System (Varianta) 32's 32mm multiple (32m) + panel thickness (PT) box heights. The only possible route to modular 32mm system cabinets is half overlay or railed inset faces and shared panel construction. This is the ultimate 32mm system in that the centerline of all carcase components is a multiple of 32mm apart. All carcase componets are either 32m + PT (long/exterior) or 32m - PT (short/interior) long. Panels have balanced start holes and can have system (SAC) or shifted face registration. An extension of railed inset is full inset which uses 32m + 2*PT + g carcase heights and standard (32m - g) overlay face heights (railed inset widths).
32mm system rows, doors and drawers
See also:
Styles: Half Overlay Railed Inset
Panels: Shared Applied Ends
Drawers: Center Indexing
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System 32 is Hettich's 32mm system and is one of the the oldest 32mm systems. What is currently available on Hettich's System 32 (pdf below) is from the front of one of their catalogs (2017). What is presented is a fully balanced panel, system rows are 37mm from the front and back of the panel (balanced rows) and the system row start holes are 1/2 the panel thickness (e.g. 9.5) from the top and bottom of the panel (balanced start holes). The top and bottom system holes are used as construction holes (SAC). I'm not aware of any material that covers how door and drawer faces integrate into this system. The only possible/logical/workable paths to modular 32mm cabinetry is half-overlay or inset cabinetry.
32mm system rows (doors and drawers not covered, see Sys32+)
System 32.pdf (260KB)
... more
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System Varianta 32 is Hafele's 32mm system. I believe it is the same/similar to Hetich's System 32, but the image is all that I have been able to find from Hafele's old training material (1985-89 VHS/booklet). It sure looks like the same fully balanced (37/37 x 9.5/9.5) panel. I'm not aware of any material that specifies how door and drawer faces integrate into this system, but there is a Hafele drawing (taken from Jim Christ's book) showing Shared Panel construction, i.e. half-overlay (or inset) cabinetry.
32mm system rows (doors and drawers not covered, see Sys32+)
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I believe Blum's The Pearls: Increasing Productivity in 32 Millimeter Cabinetmaking, written by Charlie Karp, predates all of the Blum Process 32 manuals. While the system starts with a balanced (12.5mm t/b start holes) panel and system registered 32m - g faces (14mm t/b reveals), the addition of a "B rule" messes it up. The B rule is that 14mm get added to the bottom of doors and bottom drawer faces (14/0 t/b reveals). Face sizes are no longer incremental and hinge cup boring is unbalanced (78.5/92.5 t/b). The presented drawer face registration is inconsistent because it only considers the bottom drawer face reveal. Because the presented drawer boxes are in 32mm increments, the top drawer face reveal is a constant, i.e. top registration works.
32mm system rows
The Pearls (923.2KB, includes a few pages from "the stick" manual)
... more
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Bob Buckley wrote True32 Flow Manufacturing (1999, ISBN 9780967356105). Other folks I remember being associated with True 32 are Mark Poole and Keith Hill.
True 32 boxes are a multiple of 32mm tall because they wanted their boxes to be stackable. While balanced 32m boxes are stackable, they don't provide the clearance needed to open drawers that are under a countertop. True 32 uses unbalanced panels, with system rows moved down 1.5mm (w/ 3mm gaps), to make the faces (32m-g) flush to the bottom of the boxes and provide a 3mm gap between the faces and the countertops. The end result is consistent 3mm gaps between all horizontal components; stacked boxes, countertops, top mounted crown, etc.
When True 32 was conceived, their favored drawer slides were the Zargon metal box sides/slides. The problem with Zargons is that they waste a huge amount of space when using traditional system registration (face edges align w/ system holes). The True 32 solution was what I refer to as shifted registration, shifting the system rows by 16mm so that face edges center between system holes. Using shifted registration can reduce wasted space, significantly so when using Zargon slides.
True 32 drawer faces register off the bottom of the drawer boxes. Consistent registration requires straight 32mm system drawer layouts without any tweaks to reduce wasted space. True 32 panels do not have construction holes and cabinets are assembled with staples and screws. While I know Bob considered the possibility of making cabinet widths in 32mm increments, I don't think he ever pursued it.
32mm system rows, doors and drawers
See also:
Full Overlay: Modular Boxes
Drawers: Shifted Registration
True32 Ten Commandments
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Lee Valley Tools Veritas 32 drilling jigs are sold under the heading Veritas System 32 Cabinetmaking System and their instruction booklet (459.6KB pdf, image source) describes System 32 (pg 4, 32m + PT tall, 32m + 2*37 wide). The Veritas 32 jig appears, through the use of adjstable gauge heads, able to make any 32mm system cabinet.
32mm system rows (doors and drawers not covered)
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Systems
There are numerous approaches to 32mm cabinetmaking. This site is focused on modular, fully parametric, 32mm methods that can be applied to every cabinet component. Most of the 32mm systems that have been published only apply the system to a limited number of components. Much of the work on this site attempts to fill in the blanks. The goal is to include all known systems, what you can and cannot do with them, and how they relate to modular 32mm cabinetmaking.
System modularity has three aspects; 32mm hole spacing to accommodate 32mm hardware (system rows), doors with hinge cups an equal distance from the top and bottom of all doors (doors), and drawer faces that are all an equal distance from the top and/or bottom of the drawer boxes (drawers). The latter two are only possible with door and drawer faces that are some multiple of 32mm tall less the gap between. The primary difference between modular systems is the reveals above and below the faces, everything in between is/can be the same.
Cabinotch
Cabinotch's default Full Access (image source) cabinets are based on True 32 49.5/46.5 start 3/0 reveal modular panels. System rows start at 37 and are a multiple of 32mm apart. Faces are a multiple of 32 - 3 gap tall. Unfortunately, the bottom drawer slide is moved up 10mm (like Process 32's +12) and their wood drawer boxes are (like Process 32's) sized in inches, i.e you cannot use the system to register drawer faces to boxes.32mm system rows and doors
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CabParts
CabParts uses 32mm system rows 37mm from the front and some multiple of 32mm apart. The only other things that are metric in their system are the bottom system row start hole (42 typ, or 36.6 ) and the bottom hinge cup hole on doors (122 typ, 58 or 83). System row and hinge cup spacing from the top of the panel/door vary and are never the same as the bottom spacing. Door and drawer face sizing is inches plus 1/8, 3/8 or 7/8. Presumably this all works out in tandem with their 1/8 gaps and top reveals (0 bottom), but most of them have no consistent relationship to the 32mm spaced slides and hinges. The image is from their 2/1/16 catalog.32mm system rows
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Jim Christ
Jim Christ is the author of European Cabinetry: Design & Construction (1990, ISBN 9780806969589). Jim uses 16mm stock and a balanced 8/8mm top/bottom, 37/37mm front/back panel. At first glance this looks like System (Varianta) 32 using 16mm (5/8") material. While that would be a 32mm system panel, a key difference is that his system rows are not a multiple of 32mm apart (image is from pg 73). The problem with this (apart from it breaking the row spacing rule) is that you cannot use a 32mm boring machine or jig to drill the construction and rear drawer slide mounting holes. Nothing else in his system uses 32mm multiples or increments.32mm system row spacing is not a multiple of 32mm
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KISS II
KISS II (402.3KB pdf, 2007) is Grass's 32mm system and was written by Joel Ketner. It uses balanced 35/35mm top/bottom panels and system registered 32mm increment overlay faces which results in 4.5/4.5mm top/bottom reveals. Individual and side joined boxes are modular, top joined boxes are not (9mm gap between stacked box faces).32mm system rows, doors and drawers
See also:
Full Overlay: Other Panel Designs
Drawers: Increased Reveal
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Kurka
Woodhaven's discontinued 786 Kurka Jig is setup to make balanced panels with 48mm top/bottom start holes. It can drill three system rows some multiple of 32mm apart and the back row could be 37 from the back of the panel if you wanted. The jig can be used to make modular full overlay cabinets with 1.5mm top/bottom reveals. The cabinetmaking method presented in the owners manual (859KB pdf, image source) has all sorts of inconsistencies and has nothing to do with any modular 32mm system.32mm system rows (manual)
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Philip Lundgren
A Curriculum for Teaching 32mm Cabinet Construction (2.9MB pdf) was a four page article, in Techdirections magazine (2001), based on Philip Lundgren's 1998 thesis. As drawn, drawer faces have no consistent relationship to the slides and hinge cup boring is unbalanced (84mm bottom, 77.6mm top). The only 32mm aspects of the method presented are the system rows. The rows are 37mm from the front, 480mm apart, and 73mm from the back. While a 4mm from the bottom start hole is specified, the first used hole is 36mm (4 + 32). Balancing the panel (t/b) and using 32mm increment faces would create cabinets with 1mm larger top/bottom reveals than KISS II cabinets (35/35 starts).32mm system rows
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Plus 32
Plus 32 allows any full overlay 32mm system panel. My primary purpose was to find an alternative to straight 32mm system drawer layouts. Straight layouts allow top (w/ 32m sides) or bottom face registration, but waste a lot of space. Plus 32 reduces waste and moves all waste to the bottom of the cabinet. The tradeoff is bottom registration, Plus 32 layouts only provide top registration. Some metal drawer sides are probably not suited to top registration (Metabox w/ gallery rails is). I also don't like layouts where Plus 32 would make the bottom box 32mm smaller than the one above.The example drawing starts with a half overlay example. For the Plus 32 drawing I moved the box bottom up 11mm (11>0r), used a 32mm smaller bottom drawer box (now the same size as the one above) and moved it up 32mm. All drawer boxes are still 24mm below the top of the drawer faces (24 TFR).
32mm system rows, doors and drawers
See also:
Styles: Full Overlay
Drawers: Plus 32
[ comment | link | top ]
Process 32
There have been at least two versions of Blum's Process 32. The '93 Process 32 was Metabox centric and used incremental panel heights and depths. Panel heights were a multiple of 32 with 64mm top/bottom start holes. System rows were 37 from the front, some multiple of 32mm apart and 83mm from the back. Faces were flush to the top and bottom of the panels. Face to box registration was inconsistent because bottom and full height faces were a multiple of 32mm tall and all other faces were a multiple of 32mm - gap. Using all 32m - g faces is the only way this could be a modular system.Blum's '04 Process 32 (1.8MB pdf) uses unbalanced panels with 56.5mm top / 46.5 bottom start holes and shifted 32mm increment overlay faces which results in 10/0mm top/bottom reveals (image). Individual and side joined boxes are modular, top joined boxes are not (10mm gap between stacked box faces).
While system rows are a multiple of 32mm apart, box depths are not in 32mm increments. Here, and elsewhere, Blum has opted for American dimensions, e.g. 12 and 24" deep boxes. Only their bottom mount drawer layouts register the drawer faces to boxes consistently, the rest of their layouts shift the bottom drawer slide up 12mm. While Meta and Tandem box drawer sides are in increments of 32mm tall, wood drawers are sized in 2" increments.
32mm system rows and doors (most drawer layouts are not)
See also:
Full Overlay: Other Panel Designs
Drawers: Minus 12
... more
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Scott Grove
In Throw away your tape measure – Go 32mm system (2016), Scott includes a drawing that appears to be KISS II with measurements rounded to full millimeters, The door faces are 32m - 4 (gap + 1) and the drawer faces are 32m - 3 (gap), reveals are 5 instead of 4.5, hinge cups are 78 instead of 78.5, and the drawer face offset is 31 instead of 30.5. If that 31 offset is consistent, the bottom drawer would have a 4mm reveal (35 start - 31 offset = 4) which is 1mm less than his 5mm door reveal. Going a step further, a stack of 32m - 3 drawer faces with 3mm gaps only leaves 9mm, e.g. 4.5mm top and bottom (VS 5 in the drawer/door stack). To get a matching 5mm reveal, a three drawer stack would require 2.5mm gaps and a four drawer stack 2.67. While this may be doable, the 32mm system requires accuracy and starting with fuzzy math makes no sense.
32mm system rows (doors and drawers off by .5-1mm)
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Sys32+
Sys32+ is my extrapolation of System (Varianta) 32's 32mm multiple (32m) + panel thickness (PT) box heights. The only possible route to modular 32mm system cabinets is half overlay or railed inset faces and shared panel construction. This is the ultimate 32mm system in that the centerline of all carcase components is a multiple of 32mm apart. All carcase componets are either 32m + PT (long/exterior) or 32m - PT (short/interior) long. Panels have balanced start holes and can have system (SAC) or shifted face registration. An extension of railed inset is full inset which uses 32m + 2*PT + g carcase heights and standard (32m - g) overlay face heights (railed inset widths).32mm system rows, doors and drawers
See also:
Styles: Half Overlay Railed Inset
Panels: Shared Applied Ends
Drawers: Center Indexing
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System 32
System 32 is Hettich's 32mm system and is one of the the oldest 32mm systems. What is currently available on Hettich's System 32 (pdf below) is from the front of one of their catalogs (2017). What is presented is a fully balanced panel, system rows are 37mm from the front and back of the panel (balanced rows) and the system row start holes are 1/2 the panel thickness (e.g. 9.5) from the top and bottom of the panel (balanced start holes). The top and bottom system holes are used as construction holes (SAC). I'm not aware of any material that covers how door and drawer faces integrate into this system. The only possible/logical/workable paths to modular 32mm cabinetry is half-overlay or inset cabinetry.32mm system rows (doors and drawers not covered, see Sys32+)
System 32.pdf (260KB)... more
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System Varianta 32
System Varianta 32 is Hafele's 32mm system. I believe it is the same/similar to Hetich's System 32, but the image is all that I have been able to find from Hafele's old training material (1985-89 VHS/booklet). It sure looks like the same fully balanced (37/37 x 9.5/9.5) panel. I'm not aware of any material that specifies how door and drawer faces integrate into this system, but there is a Hafele drawing (taken from Jim Christ's book) showing Shared Panel construction, i.e. half-overlay (or inset) cabinetry.32mm system rows (doors and drawers not covered, see Sys32+)
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The Pearls
I believe Blum's The Pearls: Increasing Productivity in 32 Millimeter Cabinetmaking, written by Charlie Karp, predates all of the Blum Process 32 manuals. While the system starts with a balanced (12.5mm t/b start holes) panel and system registered 32m - g faces (14mm t/b reveals), the addition of a "B rule" messes it up. The B rule is that 14mm get added to the bottom of doors and bottom drawer faces (14/0 t/b reveals). Face sizes are no longer incremental and hinge cup boring is unbalanced (78.5/92.5 t/b). The presented drawer face registration is inconsistent because it only considers the bottom drawer face reveal. Because the presented drawer boxes are in 32mm increments, the top drawer face reveal is a constant, i.e. top registration works.32mm system rows
The Pearls
(923.2KB, includes a few pages from "the stick" manual)... more
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True 32
Bob Buckley wrote True32 Flow Manufacturing (1999, ISBN 9780967356105). Other folks I remember being associated with True 32 are Mark Poole and Keith Hill.True 32 boxes are a multiple of 32mm tall because they wanted their boxes to be stackable. While balanced 32m boxes are stackable, they don't provide the clearance needed to open drawers that are under a countertop. True 32 uses unbalanced panels, with system rows moved down 1.5mm (w/ 3mm gaps), to make the faces (32m-g) flush to the bottom of the boxes and provide a 3mm gap between the faces and the countertops. The end result is consistent 3mm gaps between all horizontal components; stacked boxes, countertops, top mounted crown, etc.
When True 32 was conceived, their favored drawer slides were the Zargon metal box sides/slides. The problem with Zargons is that they waste a huge amount of space when using traditional system registration (face edges align w/ system holes). The True 32 solution was what I refer to as shifted registration, shifting the system rows by 16mm so that face edges center between system holes. Using shifted registration can reduce wasted space, significantly so when using Zargon slides.
True 32 drawer faces register off the bottom of the drawer boxes. Consistent registration requires straight 32mm system drawer layouts without any tweaks to reduce wasted space. True 32 panels do not have construction holes and cabinets are assembled with staples and screws. While I know Bob considered the possibility of making cabinet widths in 32mm increments, I don't think he ever pursued it.
32mm system rows, doors and drawers
See also:
Full Overlay: Modular Boxes
Drawers: Shifted Registration
True32 Ten Commandments
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Veritas 32
Lee Valley Tools Veritas 32 drilling jigs are sold under the heading Veritas System 32 Cabinetmaking System and their instruction booklet (459.6KB pdf, image source) describes System 32 (pg 4, 32m + PT tall, 32m + 2*37 wide). The Veritas 32 jig appears, through the use of adjstable gauge heads, able to make any 32mm system cabinet.32mm system rows (doors and drawers not covered)
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Back to: 32mm
Proprietary variants[edit]
Multiple vendors sell drilling templates and routing machines that can be used to build System 32 cabinets, including:[5]
- Blum's Process32 system
- Festool Hole Guide System
- Rockler
- True 32 system
- Veritas 32 Cabinetmaking System
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