Source for chromed file hanging rails?

[Jamie Buxton]

I'm making a bunch of file drawers. I want to use metal rails to hang file folders from. The ones in the woodworking catalogs are plastic covered (ugly!) or stamped steel, which isn't quite as nice as I want. Ideally I could find a source for steel flat stock roughly 1/8"x3/4" in cross section, plated with chrome or nickel for appearance. I can find plain cold-rolled stock, but not plated. Any leads?

[Larry Edgerton]

I use 1/8" x 3/4" aluminum that is anodized black. Not positive, but I think I bought it from Baer Supply.

Larry

[Bill Edwards(2)]

Here's a page of various solutions:

http://www.azwoodman.com/hardware-file-cabinet.html

[Art Mulder]

Got one of these nearby? http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/

I bought 1/2" aluminum angle when I made some hanging file units last fall. Worked like a charm.

[Todd Burch]

I see several options for zinc in my Louis and Company catalog.

Looks like Rev-A-Shelf has a heavy duty chrome plated File Drawer System (L & Co. part # RVRAS-FD-KIT)

Todd

[Jamie Buxton]

Thank you all for the suggestions. So far, none seem close enough to what I have in mind.

Aluminum bar stock is readily available. However, it is soft so I worry about long-term durability under the scraping action of the file folders. In addition, all the aluminum bar stock I've seen has been handled in distribution like structural material, so it is scratched and dinged. I guess I can polish it, but that's going to be a lot of work.

The Azwoodman site shows a lot of the plastic products. They're ugly, and again I'm concerned about durability.

The Revashelf product looked good for a moment, but it forces me to use their slides, and apparently doesn't allow use of the drawer as a non-folder drawer. I want to use real drawers that can be used to store other things if the filing use doesn't fill the drawers.

Fulterer gets close. They have a hanging system based on round rods, which is supposed to be available in black or steel. Unfortunately, they cut the rod into lengths 15" and shorter, so I can't use it for a drawer that's 18" deep.

Argh. This should be easier than it is turning out to be.

[Jamie Buxton]

The thought about anodized aluminum seems promising. I can't find black-anodized bars in the Baer catalog, but I can find clear anodized stock elsewhere, and clear would be okay. The thing about anodization is that it is harder than straight aluminum, and I have hope that it will have been handled in distribution better than mill-finish stuff.

[Todd Burch]

I've used black steel before. Looks good. Never had any complaints. Clips and bars were from Kinetron Corp - also in the L & Co. catalog, page 92 of their '10 catalog. Very flexible to use and fast. You can mount front to back or side to side, and you only need to use that part of the drawer you want to use.

edit: scratch that. The clips are steel - the bars were alum. Bars came in bulk and their finish was decent. I think I used the HAFELE file cross rails, I cut them to length on the chop saw.

[Jim Tobias]

Jamie,
Take a look at this place. I've bought various metal items from them before. They have a wide selection of materials/shapes/sizes.

Jim

http://www.speedymetals.com/default.aspx

[Jamie Buxton]

The last file drawers I built I tried to use the Kinetron stuff. I bought aluminum 6' bars from them, and clips to mount the bars to the sides of the drawers. The clips turned out to be stamped galvanized steel, and they looked out of place in a classy drawer, so I tossed them. I made wood support blocks that screwed in the sides. They looked a bit clunky, but better than the Kinetron parts. The aluminum bar was okay, but the surface had been scratched badly in distribution. I cut around the worst parts, and used the rest. But I didn't really like it. For the upcoming build, I think I will cut slots in the drawer sides to support the bars before I assemble the drawers, and find better bars. However, this time I'm going to have all the parts on hand before I build the drawers.

[Larry Edgerton]

The thought about anodized aluminum seems promising. I can't find black-anodized bars in the Baer catalog, but I can find clear anodized stock elsewhere, and clear would be okay. The thing about anodization is that it is harder than straight aluminum, and I have hope that it will have been handled in distribution better than mill-finish stuff.I am at a loss if they are not from Baer and those records are long gone. One of the jobs I did in this manner is ironically where my wife is now office manager so I see the files regularly. They are still all looking good with no wear showing after about 7 years in a busy office. I like the aluminum as it is easy to fit, countersinking screws is easy and it actually looks pretty sharp. I came up with my system because I thought everything on the market looked trashy.I bought a boatload at the time so I will see if I can remember my source over the weekend. They were not sold as file rails if that helps. Most of what was left was used up on jigs, but I could send you a small sample if you like. BAER was bought out by Worth about the time I quit building cabinets, so maybe they dropped it. But someone has it.Larry

[Larry Edgerton]

The last file drawers I built I tried to use the Kinetron stuff. I bought aluminum 6' bars from them, and clips to mount the bars to the sides of the drawers. The clips turned out to be stamped galvanized steel, and they looked out of place in a classy drawer, so I tossed them. I made wood support blocks that screwed in the sides. They looked a bit clunky, but better than the Kinetron parts. The aluminum bar was okay, but the surface had been scratched badly in distribution. I cut around the worst parts, and used the rest. But I didn't really like it. For the upcoming build, I think I will cut slots in the drawer sides to support the bars before I assemble the drawers, and find better bars. However, this time I'm going to have all the parts on hand before I build the drawers.

Jamie

I simply let the 3/4" stoc into a 1/16" x 1/2" rabbit in the side of the drawer and countersunk 1/2" screws into the bar stock with neat little notches at the ends hooking over the drawer front and back for additional support. These notches were rounded over so no sharp edges. If I remember correctly 5/8" was needed for clearance between rails on drawers with more than onne row of files. I made file drawers that were 9 feet wide or so with this system. The nice thing about it is it was cheap, but did not look like it.

Something I do on desks is put a double row of files perpendicular to the seating position instead of front to back as is normal. Its easier to read the tabs that way. Nice touch people like.

If you would like I can have my wife snap a couple of pics of the arrangement on Monday and email them to you as she is right there.

Larry