Cabinet Drawer Slides?

[Jim Bossie]

I am a novice woodworker, and I want to build a cabinet with a drawer. I found the slide that I would like to use... (An Accuride Full Extension Slide)... the thing that has me perplexed is the Side Space that is needed.

Their website tech sheet states a required Side Space of .89" +.03" / - .0"

That comes out to 57/64",,, how can anyone get that accurate of a measurement?

Is there an easy way to achieve the Side distance required between the carcass and the drawer?

Is there a website online that will show how to do this?

Thank you,

Jim

[David Giles]

As a fellow novice woodworker, welcome to world of installing drawer slides. You can spend days on this topic.

Your specs are correct. A typical side mount drawer slide is +1/32" / minus zero inch accuracy. The 0.89" total seems a little odd. 1/2" each side is normal. But drawers and cabinets are an exercise in building perfectly flat, square and dimensioned boxes for both the drawer and case. Good woodworkers with good tools can easily achieve +/- 1/32" accuracy and perfectly fitting drawers.

The rest of us learn how to shim. Give yourself an extra 1/32" overall and apply masking tape until the drawer fits perfectly into the cabinet.

[Dave Tinley]

As David said, they can be a little tricky, but if you will allow 1/2" on each side you should do fine. The slides have tabs on the cabinet side which you can bend outward a slight amount incase your drawer is alittle smaller then what you wanted. the main thing is making sure your drawers are as square as possible.


Dave

[Jim Bossie]

As a fellow novice woodworker, welcome to world of installing drawer slides. You can spend days on this topic.

Your specs are correct. A typical side mount drawer slide is +1/32" / minus zero inch accuracy. The 0.89" total seems a little odd. 1/2" each side is normal. But drawers and cabinets are an exercise in building perfectly flat, square and dimensioned boxes for both the drawer and case. Good woodworkers with good tools can easily achieve +/- 1/32" accuracy and perfectly fitting drawers.

The rest of us learn how to shim. Give yourself an extra 1/32" overall and apply masking tape until the drawer fits perfectly into the cabinet.

I will be using the Accuride #3640 which is for wide drawers, and can hold up to 200 lbs, (mine will be 38" wide and the weight will be about 150 lbs).

I saw other slides on the internet which required 1/2" or 3/4" of side space, but the one I want requires .89" of side space, which like you say is rather odd. I emailed Accuride and asked if they had an easy way of achieving .89", and they didn't have any suggestions.

Jim

[Jamie Buxton]

I emailed Accuride and asked if they had an easy way of achieving .89", and they didn't have any suggestions.


If the drawer slides required 1/2" side clearances, you'd make the drawer box 1" narrower than the opening. If they require .89" clearances, you make the drawer box 1.78" narrower than the opening. What's the problem with that?

Maybe you're being intimidated by the accuracy required, not so much as the non-integral measurements. With drawer slides, the short answer is "get used to it." That's what they need. The longer answer is David Giles'. If you err on the width of the drawer box, you want to err on the narrow side. You can put shims between the case and the slide to tighten up the fit. In contrast, if you make the drawer too wide, you're hosed. There's no easy way to make the drawer narrower.

[David Giles]

There's no easy way to make the drawer narrower.

Well, I have been known to plane or dado a shallow groove into a drawer side. It helped fit the straight metal piece onto a curved side. But like you said, there's no EASY way.

[Leo Zick]

how about dry fitting the almost built drawer into the cabinet to get an approximate idea of + or -?
if the drawer isnt assembled yet, its easy to shave a bit off the back and bottom, then add the front(s).