Installing wall plates

[mms]

OK, I solved my previous problem (or at least the electrician I hired did).

He was able to pull a little more wire from the wall than I did, and then he drilled a new hole in the device box for the electrical cable to enter and secured it with a cable connector; 15 minutes work.

Anyways, my new problem:

In installing the wall plates, I cannot get them "flush" with the face of the cabinet
(they sit forward approx 1/16" to 1/8" and "rock").
I used the type of box with "ears" and screwed to front face of cabinet.

I tried setting the box farther back and the plate sits OK, but then the receptacle itself sits too far back.

I can't figure out what I am doing wrong.

Also, another problem I see I am going to have; I installed cabinet style pot lights in my cabinets, and I installed the transformer for these in a device box (I ganged 4 together).

I was planning to cover this with a 4-wide blank, trouble is I can't find one.

Is there such a thing?

And if there is, I just realized (after examining existing ones in my home) that wall plates screw into the switch or receptacle, not into the box.

What will the blank get screwed into as I have no switches or receptacles in this box, only the transformer.

[electric-ed]

]

I used the type of box with "ears" and screwed to front face of cabinet.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I usually just make shallow recesses for the ears with a wood chisel in a situation like this. You may have to bend the receptacle mounting strap slightly forward or back to get a perfect fit.

What will the blank get screwed into as I have no switches or receptacles in this box

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You could use a couple of the mounting straps that come with the old style 1/4" phone jacks, if you can still get them. There are other "specialty" plates that come with mounting straps.

Ed

[neil seidner]

It's good to hear that I am not the only person on the planet that is picky about the way receptacles fit when they are installed. It sounds like the head of the screw used to install the box might be causing the receptacle to not sit flush, are the "ears on the receptacle" cut off? (the receptacle ears should rest on the cabinet surface). Sometimes ,a little patience and trial and error, is what is needed to make the receptacle look "just right".

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 18, 2004 09:55 PM: Message edited by: ccrash ]</font>

[mms]

electric-ed:

Regarding the blank, I will take your advice and look for these "specialty" plates.

With regards to the "rocking" of the standard wallplates, I had tried making recesses as you suggested, and although this fixed the coverplate problem, I found that the switch or receptacle sat too far back.


ccrash:

I pursued your question asking whether or not the "ears" were cut off. Upon examing the switch/receptacle I noticed there were pre-made "score lines" at the ears that made it simple to break them off. In doing so the switches and receptacles exactly fit inside the "cutout" on the device box ears, allowing the switch/receptacle to rest firmly on the cabinet face and making for a perfect fit for both the switch/receptacle and the coverplate.

Thanks! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Interesting though, I found that not all the device boxes I purchased had the same type of "ear" (even though they were all from the same manufacturer: Hubbell/Temco). Only some had an opening large enough to accomodate the switch or receptacle that I snapped the ears from. I had to go back to Home Depot and exchange the one style for the one that worked.