Max drawer size with 1/2" BB plywood

[Wes Billups]

I'm trying to design some shop cabinets to store many of my hand held power tools. A couple of the bigger items will require a cabinet at least 32" wide. To utilize the 1/2" baltic birch plywood, I've determined a 36" wide cabinet (approx. 34" drawer width) would work the best.

Is this too wide for a 22" deep (front-to-back) drawer? I won't be overloading any of the drawers but am worried about binding with such a wide drawer. I'm hoping someone here has built drawers this wide and can tell me I'm not going to create problems.

Thanks,
Wes

[Kyle Kraft]

I think I'd run it and if it started racking, I'd make a new one out of 3/4".

[Anthony Whitesell]

Let me ask this question: Are are the slides be mounted? On the side, the bottom corner of the side, or on the bottom of the drawer?

Also, how deep will the drawer be?

I made a 34" wide drawer with 1/2" AC SYP plywood. But I installed two drawer slides on the bottom of the drawer. I have had no problems with the drawer and it's pretty well loaded.

[Greg Funk]

I made these using heavy duty Blum undermount slides. The cabinets are just under 36" wide and the drawer is about 32" wide. No problems with racking. I still need to add drawer fronts but they work fine for now.

Greg

[Wes Billups]

Let me ask this question: Are are the slides be mounted? On the side, the bottom corner of the side, or on the bottom of the drawer?

Also, how deep will the drawer be?

I made a 34" wide drawer with 1/2" AC SYP plywood. But I installed two drawer slides on the bottom of the drawer. I have had no problems with the drawer and it's pretty well loaded.

The slides will be side mount. I'm actually thinking of going the AC plywood route and just stapling the drawer box together. I'm looking at using close to $150 worth of BB if I went that route. I'm going to check HD's plywood racks tonight and see if they have anything that looks like it will work.

The deepest drawer will be 13" and is going to be holding my framing and finish nailer. It won't get used much since those two items don't get used on shop projects.

Wes

[Matt Mutus]

for drawers that size I would go 3/4 and definitely not good plywood, get something cheaper that looks halfway sturdy and home depot - just don't buy it until the day you are ready to cut it up and assmeble it.

My 2 bits

[Charles Sommers]

I am about to make 8 drawers, all about 35" wide, 22" deep and ranging from 5.75" to 7.5" height (also 1/2" baltic birch). They will be part of two wardrobe cabinets. Slides that allow the drawers to retain as much height as possible would be ideal.

How did your drawers turn out? Which drawer slides did you ultimately choose?

Thank you,
Charles

[Paul Johnstone]

I'm going to check HD's plywood racks tonight and see if they have anything that looks like it will work.


Be careful of HD plywood.. I'm using up the last few sheets that I bought a while ago before I knew better. It's very poor quality. I've had several pieces where the laminated layers came apart, and I had to reglue them.
Not so sure it's a good idea for drawers.

I was routing a 1/4" deep and 1/4" wide dado in some 3/4" plywood and heard a loud "pop".. the plywood had split along it's thickness dimension along the entire width (it was cut down to 32" wide) and about 24" down the length.. freaking crazy.. that's why it's taking me so long to use this junk up.. I only use it on stuff that won't show, or that I don't care about.
If I had intelligence, I would've returned it all as soon as I found out it was junk..

[Brian Dormer]

If the drawers have a tendecy to rack, you could add a center partition to stiffen them up (thats the way my storebought el-cheapo cabinets are built).

[Joe Jensen]

I have several wide drawers and the box racking isn't the issue I'd worry about. With side mount slides, the box will rack in the opening. Slide manufacturers make specific slides for wide drawers but they are expensive. Of, as one poster did, use heavy duty under mount slides. These will not rack. I think both solutions will be over $50 per drawer.

[Wes Billups]

Thanks for everyone's input on this. I went to our local HD and they only had 3/4" plywood and it was very suspect as all of the top sheets in the stack were showing signs of warping. There is no way I'd build a drawer box with unstable material.

I went ahead and sprung for 1/2" Baltic birch. I got it for $45 a sheet. The 1/2"-4x8 sheet maple was $65 so it made more sense to me to buy the Baltic birch. I've made dovetailed drawers in the past with Baltic birch and had good success. I think I've settled on the drawers boxes being 32" wide and 20" deep. I'm going to use side mount 16" slides that I've had for years. The boxes I want full access to will have the backs set 4" forward.

I've still got to get some dust collection piping installed before I start on these cabinets. Once I get started I'll make sure to keep everyone updated on my progress.

Thanks,
Wes

[Ed Peters]

why not spring for the full extension roller slides? www.outwatercatalogs.com offer the 22" full extension with 1" overttravel for about $7.00 per SET plus shipping. No reason not to do it right. I would also suggest the drawer lock corner router bit to fabricate the corner joints. A strong and attractive joint when assembled. The tool runs around $38 at Rockler and other places. Just don't get it confused with the miter lock joint tool.

Ed

[Anthony Anderson]

Wes, Did Menards just open a store in Marysville? If so, they have 1/2" BB for ~$50 for a 4x8 sheet. I would go with the full ext. slides, and the 1" overtravel is a nice feature as well. Let us know how they turn out. Bill

[Wes Billups]

Anthony, no Menards in Marysville. The closest one is in Marion (45 minutes away) which I need to get to someday. Right now our only option is Home Depot and it's a pretty small one.

The reason I've decided to go ahead and use the 16" slides I've had on hand is that after reviewing my needs for these shop cabinets, the only drawers that need to be deeper than 16" are ones which will have plastic tool cases in them. These will be place so the handle if forward and I can just open the drawer, drag the case out, and be on my way. All of the other drawers will be 16" deep so I'll have easy access to the entire thing.

Thanks,
Wes

[Joe Chritz]

No pics right now but I have BB drawers that are about 8" tall x 20 something wide and 24 to 26 deep. They are together with lock miters and 1/4 melamine bottoms and there is no problem with them at all. Some have a lot of weight (15-18 drawer slides). They have inexpensive full extension ball bearing side mount slides.

I gotta run in for work but when I get back I will try to get an exact measurement and post it up.

Joe