16" deep cherry slab, and drawer slides

[peter night]

Rather then paneling the side of a bed side table , it is a solid slab (with some decorative work). essentially the sides will be glued long grain to the legs. Essentially i would have a 16" slab of cherry with the grain running from the floor to the top.

The question is how to best attach a drawer to the inside to allow for expansion - most of the metal slides do not look like the have expansion slots (eg. the quatro's).

I am leery of using wood runners (slotted) because i would like to have a inset drawer, and think http://www.thehardwarehut.com/catalog-product-specs.php?p_ref=254506 allows for some fine tuning of reveal.

Any suggestions are welcome - wood is planed / joined, but final sizing & glue ups not started yet ;)

[Jamie Buxton]

Most brands of slides have rear brackets available. They're designed to fasten to the back of the cabinet. The slide screws to the cabinet wall at the front, and just slips into the bracket at the rear. The front-to-back dimension of the cabinet can change without stressing the slide.

I dunno about the Quattro, but the Blum Tandem has a fixing device specifically intended for fine-tuning inset drawers. It provides 4 mm of in-out tuning. It works like gangbusters. It is the second part (BT51.1700PV) on this page -- http://wwhardware.com/catalog.cfm/GroupID/Cabinet%20Drawer%20Slides/CatID/Blum%26%230174%3B%20Tandem%20Undermount%20Drawer%2 0Slides/SubCatID/Tandem%20Accessories

[peter night]

Thanks for the response !

I was not planning on rear mounting since my back panel is only .25", while the side is 1.25". I wonder if the side mounts work the same way - screwed at the front and floating on the rear slide mount.

Looking at the zoomed in images makes me think - maybe?

Thanks again !
- Peter

[Jamie Buxton]

Thanks for the response !

I was not planning on rear mounting since my back panel is only .25", while the side is 1.25". I wonder if the side mounts work the same way - screwed at the front and floating on the rear slide mount.

Looking at the zoomed in images makes me think - maybe?

Thanks again !
- Peter

If you use sidemounts (Tandem or Quattro) without the rear bracket, there are only round screw holes in the cabinet member. That is, there is no allowance for solid-lumber cabinet sides with the grain running vertically. The rear bracket offers the allowance you need. If you can adapt your design to use the bracket, you're okay.

[peter night]

Looking again - i think you are right. Think I will go ahead and order the rear mounts as a standby. Any guesses on how much luck I would have using my drill press to elongate at the back?

Thanks again for the feedback. Very annoying that $30 slides would not have a slot at the back ;) Wonder why - this is wood after all ...

- Peter