looking for an alternative to metal slides

[ken masoumi]

Three years ago I built a very crude workbench with 2x4s/scrap plywood which has served me well,now I'm thinking of adding a few drawers under it(and maybe a small cabinet with shelves),everything will be made with leftover plywood and 2x4s,so I would like to come up with wooden slides for the drawers.
I have already built a few shopmade slides for smaller drawers but the ones for this project should be more heavy duty ,enough to hold small power tools (routers,jigsaw) plus boxes of screws/nails etc.
I'm looking for an alternative to metal slides, or ideas on how to built a few "heavy duty" shop made wooden slides,I thought maybe some of you might have built a few of these in the past.
my workbench looks similar to this drawing:


http://www.robotdungeon.com/Workbench/WorkBench-Skeleton.jpg

And for shopmade slides I'm thinking something like this:

https://woodgears.ca/workbench/slide_detail.jpg
If you have ideas,comments,please do not hesitate to share.

[William A Johnston]

If you are wanting full access to the drawer with the wooden slides wouldn't you have to pull the drawer all the way out and set it on your bench? Seams like it would not be a bad idea as long as the contents were not to heavy. Of course you would have no monetary value in the drawers or slides as your putting your scrap to good use.

Personally I would use a metal side mount full extension glide especially is your only going to have a few drawers. The biggest draw back I see of you get a lot of dust in the bearings and they gum up over time.

[ken masoumi]

The drawers have to slide out without coming completely off ,you may have a point with metal slides if I only do 3 or 4 drawers but I may do 10 drawers or more so at~ $12 a set it adds up ,if I find them lower priced up here (Canada) ,may have to go that route.

[William A Johnston]

That does add up pretty quick. I pay about 1/2 that for a KV side mount full extension but were buying in bulk where I work and they just cost out materials for personal use only. Maybe set some of your bigger drawers up with metal slides and a number of the smaller drawers up on the wood slides and route some hand pulls in the side of the smaller drawers so you can grab them easily.

[ken masoumi]

Thank you William for your help,I guess most members rely on ready made slides rather than building them from scratch,or it's not an interesting subject ,I got it.
The main reason was looking for an alternative to metal slides was,I didn't think it was wise to spend $120 on a makeshift temporary table which is made out of left over scrap pieces but now I see you point and may follow your advice and go with full extension metal type after all.

[glenn bradley]

I too have gone to full extension or over-extension for shop drawers. You do have to be realistic on what you can spend on shop fixtures. If full extension ball bearing slides are not in the budget you need to get creative. I have a few fixtures in the shop where I used wooden slides. These are smaller drawers (15" x 15" max) and I do cuss them every tim I need something from the back ;-) They are functional though with some slick-tape to ride on and carefully adjusted kickers to keep things moving smoothly when extended. I'll try to post pics later as I am on the move.

[John Lanciani]

These are a little more palatable for temporary use; KV economy 100# full extension slides, $6.50 per pair for 20" nominal size - http://www.wwhardware.com/kv-tt100-economy-100-lb-full-extension-drawer-slide-kvtt100

[Jim Dwight]

I make shop drawers either side hung or bottom supported the same as I make dressers. I go side hung when I make the drawers of softwood shelving drawers. A dado on the side and a hardwood runner on the cabinet and I have a smooth enough drawer. If I make the drawer of plywood, preferably 1/2 Baltic birch dovetailed together, I make a frame to support it from underneath. A little wax on the frame or side runner and the drawer works smoothly, although admittedly with more effort than a ball bearing drawer guide.

I'm about ready to make my first cabinet for the new shop. We moved over a year ago and I've been working on the house. But my wife got tired of the noise and dust so I moved to the shop. I have 16 feet of wall up (waferboard) and 12 foot skim coated and painted. I will hang a couple more sheets of wafer and then probably move to the base cabinet that will support my RAS and CMS. I am planning to make it of 3/4 BCX sitting on a leveled base of pressure treated 2x4s. It will contain drawers to I can get tools out of boxes and off the floor. I'll still have a lot more to do when this is done but I will also have taken a significant step forward. I prefer to make drawers of softwood but if plywood is significantly cheaper that is probably what I'll do. I might pocket screw them together, it is a lot faster, but make just take the time to do dovetails. At least a few of the drawers will have them because they are left over from my table saw's now recycled extension table. I made the saw smaller due to the tracksaw and a need for space. They're nice dovetailed drawers with hardwood fronts so they will be recycled into the new base cabinet.

I can't pull the drawers out all the way unless I want to set them on the cabinet. Sometimes I do that with the junk hardware drawer but for big drawers full to hand tools, I find I can slide it out far enough to get the tools without removing it all the way. Dressers work this way, workshops can too.

[Dave Richards]

Ken, do you plan to make the drawers run the full depth of the bench? If not, you could make the sides run the full depth and set the back closer to the front. This would allow you to pull the drawer out far enough to see the entire contents of the drawer without taking it out completely.

[ken masoumi]

Great comments and helpful suggestions so far,John thanks for the link,very reasonable prices ,I bookmarked it for future purchases.
For the heavier/deeper drawers I like the idea of having a support under it(pic #1) ,for the lighter smaller drawers I think the dado on the side idea is the best option(pic #2)
pic#1
http://woodgears.ca/drawers/workbench_drawers.jpghttps://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQmBMBWGxoW-_yHqKJXI1pwz9HeCcNRRL7D--OuVCjp0zy8PDZQ
Pic #2 something like this pic but thicker drawer bottom:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ9-DcgtLlDD5Yus-CndRD4FHA_Jq1Bjs98cxPEH6IbdkT4OSIl_w
or dados on the drawer sides:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQL6wdjbfZrWomkEC_f7OUMJSAw8Xtv7 m-zxwd13GKq0p1LUrwW