Doug Shepard
05-24-2009, 8:43 AM
I'll be screwing together some portions of this TS extension router cabinet today but I'm stuck on what to do about drawer runners for the narrow drawer spaces on either side of the central router enclosure.
119115
The lower wider drawer space will use ball bearing slides. The top 2 spaces are only 7" wide by 16" deep and around 10" tall. I haven't decided how many drawers will go in each spot . Part of that decision depends on what I end up doing for runners. For sure 2 drawers on each side but maybe a couple shallower ones for 3 on one side. I'm using 1/2" ply for the drawer sides which leaves only 6" wide inside the drawers, and that's before allowing for any side clearance. So ball bearing slides are out as they would need another 1" total.
My original thought was to glue/screw 1/4" ply on the drawer bottoms and extend it past the sides by some amount. Then apply UHMW Slik-Tape on the top/bottom of that bottom ledge and run it in a dado on the sides carcass. That could still work except for the bottom drawer on each side. I'm using pocket screws to put the carcass together and that lowest dado for the bottom drawers would be right through the area where the screw pockets are. At this point all the parts are cut so changing the carcass layout or joinery isn't an option. If I had thought the drawers out far enough, I probably would have done the carcass sides as 1 piece and done the pockets in the horizontal panels, but was concentrating on getting the carcass done first, and drawers later.
So now I'm thinking 1/2" UHMW runners let into a 1/4" dado on the case sides and a 3/16" dado on the drawer sides?? I've found a couple older threads that asked about using UHMW as runners but haven't found one that actually did it. Has anyone tried this yet?
What's the minimum side clearance I should allow for? I'm thinking 1/16" each side, but is that enough? I can plane the UHMW down a bit thinner as well, rather than weaken the drawer or carcass sides by deeper dado depths if necessary.
Whattaya think?
119115
The lower wider drawer space will use ball bearing slides. The top 2 spaces are only 7" wide by 16" deep and around 10" tall. I haven't decided how many drawers will go in each spot . Part of that decision depends on what I end up doing for runners. For sure 2 drawers on each side but maybe a couple shallower ones for 3 on one side. I'm using 1/2" ply for the drawer sides which leaves only 6" wide inside the drawers, and that's before allowing for any side clearance. So ball bearing slides are out as they would need another 1" total.
My original thought was to glue/screw 1/4" ply on the drawer bottoms and extend it past the sides by some amount. Then apply UHMW Slik-Tape on the top/bottom of that bottom ledge and run it in a dado on the sides carcass. That could still work except for the bottom drawer on each side. I'm using pocket screws to put the carcass together and that lowest dado for the bottom drawers would be right through the area where the screw pockets are. At this point all the parts are cut so changing the carcass layout or joinery isn't an option. If I had thought the drawers out far enough, I probably would have done the carcass sides as 1 piece and done the pockets in the horizontal panels, but was concentrating on getting the carcass done first, and drawers later.
So now I'm thinking 1/2" UHMW runners let into a 1/4" dado on the case sides and a 3/16" dado on the drawer sides?? I've found a couple older threads that asked about using UHMW as runners but haven't found one that actually did it. Has anyone tried this yet?
What's the minimum side clearance I should allow for? I'm thinking 1/16" each side, but is that enough? I can plane the UHMW down a bit thinner as well, rather than weaken the drawer or carcass sides by deeper dado depths if necessary.
Whattaya think?