Let me start by stating that my woodworking skills are probably below rank amateur. I recently purchased the Saw Stop Contractor after a friend had an accident with my BT3000. The saw is used primarily for an ongoing renovation project on the house.
While talking about the saw with my wife I had this bright idea of building a desk for our granddaughter. Part of the conversation was about how to make it “special” – my wife wanted “secret” drawers. When I could not find anything that I could use for a hidden latch I sat down and, eventually, came up with a workable solution. The desk has an obvious drawer in the center (drawer pull and all). The aprons on each side of the center drawer are actually drawer fronts as well. The side drawers are latched and cannot be opened unless the hidden catches are pressed.
The catch mechanism is simple and is made from scrap left over from building the desk. I bored 2 intersecting 3/8” holes in the divider between the drawers – 1 horizontal and 1 vertical. A piece of 3/8” dowel was cut to length and a small hole drilled in it to accommodate a small nail. I cut a block of wood about 1” x 2” x 3/16” for a stop and glued it on the divider so that the edge was next to the dowel. After trimming the dowel so that it would protrude slightly higher than the stop, I placed it in the hole and dropped a nail into the hole in the dowel.
Next step was to cut a piece of 1/8” hardboard (about 1” x 6”) and attach it to the side of the drawer so that, when the drawer is closed, the end of the hardboard just clears the edge of the block. A thin shim was needed to force the hardboard strip to angle away from the drawer side.
The dowels are no visible unless you get down and look into the drawer – they are about 1 ¾” into the drawer opening. Opening the side drawers is a simple push on the dowel and pulling the apron. The hardboard works like a spring when closed and moves the dowel over so that the drawer latches. The link is to photos of the final mechanism. Kind of crude but it works very well.
http://www.dawiz.net/yabba/index.php?album=%2Fwoodworking
Glenn
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