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Frank Pellow
03-19-2006, 10:52 PM
Part 1 of 3:

Lee Valley makes and sells an aluminum extrusion that functions as both the sides and slides for drawers. See:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32734&cat=1,250,43298,43315

Recently I made a couple of drawer units where each unit holds six drawers and the drawers are made utilizing these sides/slides.
One buys these sides/slides as 3 foot long sections of aluminum formed as shown below:

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The drawer bottoms slide into grove on the left bottom of the picture and the protrusion on the right bottom slides along a groove that is cut into the case using a “regular” table or circular saw blade.

Following is a picture essay covering drawer construction using these things.

01) The aluminum is cut to the desired length for the drawer sides. In my case, this was 30 centimetres (a little less than a foot) and this allowed me to get three sides out of one piece with very little waste.

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02) Four holes were drilled into each of the 24 drawer sides using a #4 (Imperial) non-ferrous metal countersink bit from Lee Valley (catalogue number: 66J40.04).

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03) Twenty four drawer fronts and backs, each 350 mm by 95 mm (a little less than 14 inches by 4 inches) were cut out of 12 mm (a little less than 1/2 inch) baltic birch. The stop on my new JessEm miter gauge came in very handy for this and, as shown in the photo below, it also made removing small triangles from each of the bottom corners a breeze.

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04) As shown in the picture to below, the fronts and backs were attached to the sides using #4 5/8 inch flat head screws with a #0 Robertson (non-power) screw driver. Before they were attached, the backs and fronts had been painted with two coats of flat black Tremclad paint.

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Frank Pellow
03-19-2006, 11:03 PM
Part 2 of 3:

05) Next, as shown in the first photo below, the drawer bottoms were screwed into the fronts and backs with #5 5/8 flat head screws (#1 Robertson). The drawer bottoms were made out of scrap 6 mm (a little less 1/4 inch) G1S fir plywood and pre-painted with the same paint as the fronts and backs. The second picture below shows the interior of an assembled drawer.

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06) I tested the drawers in several of the slots in the two cabinets and they fit perfectly. The cabinets were made from 18 mm (a little less 1/4 inch) baltic birch and painted with the same flat black paint.

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07) False fronts will later be screwed onto the drawers. In the picture below, the front edges of the false fronts are being routed with a 45 degree chamfer bit. The false fronts were made from 12 mm baltic birch scraps and cut to 110 mm by 365 mm (a little more than 4 inches by 14 inches).

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08) The false fronts are being painted six of the seven colours of the rainbow. The photo below shows same of the handles drying. I screwed a long bolt into each handle fastened a clamp to each bolt. This made it easy to paint the handles without having to touch the wood with anything but a paint brush.

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Frank Pellow
03-19-2006, 11:09 PM
Part 3 of 3:

09) The photo below shows the orange false drawer front being attached to it’s drawer using the method that I learned from Danny Proulx (this method is illustrated in the thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=29405 ).

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Notice that the red and yellow drawers already have chrome label holders attached. I bought these from Lee Valley (catalogue # 01W35.11).

10) The picture below shows all the drawers finished and installed into their two cabinets. The cabinets are in the place that they will occupy among the bookcases in the playroom that I am building for my grandchildren Isla and Ethan in the basement at my daughter Kathleen's house. Two additional bookcase units are already at Kathleen’s. They will go on either side of the top bookcase.

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By the way, the bookcases and drawer cabinets were made from the parts that I cut and routed in the thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=31900




Addition on March 24th:

(as per posts 10 through 15 in this thread,) Steve Clardy and well as my wife Margaret reminded me that the drawers did not have stops. Since they will be used by young children, this was an oversight on my part.

I tried several of different ways to retrofit stops and, in the end, settled for the method shown in steps 11, 12, and 13 below.

(11) Two small holes were drilled into the case backs in the middle of the positions occupied by each of the 12 drawers. #22 wire was looped through the holes and tied together inside the case.

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(12) A small hole was drilled through the middle of each of the drawer backs. The wires from step 11 were fed through the holes then looped around a screw which was driven into the drawer back. This way, each drawer is halted when its back gets to within 8 centimetres (about 3 inches) if the front of the case.

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(13) Here are the set of rainbow drawers ready (and safe) for children's use.

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Frank Chaffee
03-20-2006, 12:22 AM
Frank,
More nice drawers!
Thank you for bringing this drawer side material to a thread here. It had either escaped my notice, or I forgot about it, not sure which.
There are, in my experience, very, very few surfaces as sensual to the touch as anodized aluminum. I expect that this extrusion is 6063 architectural grade aluminum, T-6 temper, or perhaps even 70xx series aircraft grade.
Either way, do you also wish that it was available in the maximum lengths shippable by today’s quick carriers rather than the three foot lengths?
Frank
P.S. Note to any who wish to make a significant number of cuts on aluminum... use a negative rake blade on your tablesaw or compound mitre saw. Water soluble lubrication will help too.

Karl Laustrup
03-20-2006, 5:21 AM
Frank, you have done it again in providing an excellent tutorial. Thank you.

Karl

Jim Becker
03-20-2006, 8:47 AM
Thanks, Frank. This system seems nice for a number of situations and your tutorial is very useful in understanding it.

John Stevens
03-20-2006, 9:08 AM
Frank, thanks a heap for this outstanding tutorial. It couldn't have come at a better time for me, because I'm about to "shift gears" and start making painted children's furniture, and I was giving those Lee Valley drawer slides a hard look. I like how you cut the corners of the drawer fronts & backs instead of routing with a roundover bit--a nice time saver.

You cut the aluminum sides with a carbide-tipped saw blade, right? Was it the same one you normally use on your table saw? Or did you buy a cheap blade to waste on the aluminum? Or did you buy an expensive blade just for cutting soft metal?

Maybe I just didn't read carefully enough, but did you make the drawer pulls? They're cool.

Doug Shepard
03-20-2006, 11:37 AM
Nice job on the drawers. I hung a cabinet underneath the non-business end of my store bought router table for extra storage and used that same hardware for all the drawers. In addition to being quick and easy to put together a bunch of drawers, I also gained an extra drawer due to the slimmer profile on the bottom compared to std. dadoing into a ply box for the bottoms.

Frank Pellow
03-20-2006, 6:51 PM
Frank, thanks a heap for this outstanding tutorial. It couldn't have come at a better time for me, because I'm about to "shift gears" and start making painted children's furniture, and I was giving those Lee Valley drawer slides a hard look.

You are very welcome John.



I like how you cut the corners of the drawer fronts & backs instead of routing with a roundover bit--a nice time saver.

I tried a test piece with a router as advocated by Lee Valley. It was more difficult to do and the result in my opinion, was no better than the corner cut with the saw.



You cut the aluminum sides with a carbide-tipped saw blade, right? Was it the same one you normally use on your table saw? Or did you buy a cheap blade to waste on the aluminum? Or did you buy an expensive blade just for cutting soft metal?

It was an old blade that I was given by a neighbour when he gave up his woodworking shop. Its the first time that I used the blade.



Maybe I just didn't read carefully enough, but did you make the drawer pulls? They're cool.
You read carefully enough, I just did not describe things fully enough. I handles were also purchased from Lee Valley. The catalogue number is 02G13.12 and they cost $1.50 Canadian.

Steve Clardy
03-20-2006, 9:16 PM
Provision for drawer stops Frank?

Frank Pellow
03-20-2006, 10:05 PM
Provision for drawer stops Frank?
Funny you should ask me that Steve, because this afternoon my wife looked at the drawers for the first time and asked if the drawers had stops. Her (valid) reasoning is if children are going to use them, there should be something there to stop them from pulling the drawer right out. I am ashamed :o to admit that I had not thought of it.

I figured out what I can do for each of the six drawers at the top of the cabinets :) . That is to install small corner braces (see: http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=2&cat=3,41306,41312,50310&p=50310) near the front of the cabinet and these will catch the drawer back so prevent the drawer from being pulled out.

I still have not come up with something far the six drawers at the bottom of the cases :confused: . Maybe something involving a bolt that slides in a groove that does not extend right to the front of the case (but I doubt that I can now cut such a grove since the cabinet it together. Any ideas anyone?

Frank Pellow
03-21-2006, 3:27 AM
I thought of a way of installing a drawer stop for the bottom drawers. That is to:

a) drill a small hole in the back of bech drawer
b) drill a matching hole in the back of the cabinet
c) attach a thin, strong, and flexible cord/wire through the holes giving the drawer just enough room to get most of the way out.

I would still like to hear from anyone with other ideas.

Steve Clardy
03-21-2006, 10:02 AM
That would work Frank.
But how about a stop block screwed onto the top back of drawer?
It would catch the upper opening.
You would have to install it turned down, install drawer, then reach in and turn it up and screw it tight.
Steve

Frank Pellow
03-21-2006, 10:36 AM
That would work Frank.
But how about a stop block screwed onto the top back of drawer?
It would catch the upper opening.
You would have to install it turned down, install drawer, then reach in and turn it up and screw it tight.
Steve
Steve, I am sorry but I think that I don't fully understand.

First of all are you talking about a solution for the problem that I have with the bottom drawers becuase those are the ones I am concerned about?

If so, then the only thing that the stop block has to catch on is the lip sticking down from the drawer above it. In most cases that would work, but I put the drawers very close together and the lip is only about 3 milimetres -not really enough.

But, your suggestion has given me another idea. I can rout a groove in the middle of the drawer bottoms of the top drawers that stops a little bit before the front of the drawers. Then, the stop block projecting up from the top of the back of the bottom drawers would catch on the end of the groves in the top drawers. If one pulled really hard, the top drawer would move and the bottom drawer would come out, but I doubt that it would happen very often. This evening, I will try a couple of these ideas and see how they work in practice.

Now, off to do some "real" :D work (that is building construction).

Steve Clardy
03-21-2006, 10:46 AM
Lol. Yes on the bottom drawers.
Not following you on your routing a groove solution. Have to give it some thought.

Frank Pellow
03-24-2006, 8:23 PM
(as per posts 10 through 15 in this thread,) Steve Clardy and well as my wife Margaret reminded me that the drawers did not have stops. Since they will be used by young children, this was an oversight on my part.

I have now retro-fitted door stops and the method is documented in steps 12, 13, and 14 in post #3 in this thread.

Steve Clardy
03-24-2006, 9:55 PM
Good solution!

Frank Pellow
03-25-2006, 8:24 AM
Good solution!
Thanks Steve. Other things that I thought about and a couple that I tried only worked for top drawers or for bottom drawers. This solution works for all drawers (including any drawers that might be neither top nor bottom, were one to build a unit with more than two tiers of drawers).

One nice thing is that, should one wish to temporarily remove a drawer, one can remove then re-instal the stop quite quickly, using just a simple srewdriver.

Of course, someone who pulled with lots of force could probably break the wire, but I view the technique as a deterent, not as an absolute stop.

Larry Norton
06-04-2006, 8:12 AM
Hey, Frank! Those are really neat! And I love the didderent colors.

I have a friend named Isla! Is your grandaughter's name pronounced "I'll-ah". I always loved that name. Ilsa is the daughter of our beloved former pastor.

Frank Pellow
06-04-2006, 8:45 AM
Hey, Frank! Those are really neat! And I love the didderent colors.
.
Thanks Larry. The (almost) rainbow of colours is a big hit with everyone who has seen the drawers. A couple of my daughter's friends have seriously attempted to commission me to build units (including both the cabinets and the drawers) for them. I have turned them down and will almost certainly continue to do so.




I have a friend named Isla! Is your grandaughter's name pronounced "I'll-ah". I always loved that name. Ilsa is the daughter of our beloved former pastor.
Yes, that is how it is pronounced. Of course, I love the name too. I understand from Isla's Dad that the name is Scots Gaelic.

Mark Thompson-MphsTN
08-28-2006, 9:20 PM
Thanks for the article, big help, been looking for a solution to a project for the wife.

Frank Pellow
08-29-2006, 6:32 AM
Thanks for the article, big help, been looking for a solution to a project for the wife.
Glad to be of help Mark and, if you have any questions with your project, I will be gald to attempt to answer them.