Replacement drawer liner

[clive.r.long]

Hi,

I have a spare one of these

which I intend to use to replace a plastic drawer liner that has disintegra ted after 20 years of service.

Can any advise me:

What material should I use for the base and the back? Would ply do? 9mm?

How do I go about putting this together to get the right sizes? screw the m etal sides to the base then attach the back and the front? Does anyone know of a video that shows me how to adjust the position of the front. I am sur e eventually I could work it out myself but any advise, as always, would sa ve me time and lots of pointlessly drilled holes?

Thanks,

clive

[tabbypurr]

Half inch chip is common for sides & back. Thinner hardboard is common for the base, but thin ply is much superior there. You can make it all from what you like, but you at least need enough material to make decent joins around the drawer frame.

Others here with more experience in this area will hopefully say more.

NT

[Roger Mills]

Odd looking drawer sides! Looks as if the tops of the sides are suspended from the runners rather than the usual arrangement where the runners support the bottoms of the sides.

If I were doing it, I think I'd set up the sides an arbitrary - but known - distance apart by screwing them to a sheet of scrap worktop or other suitable material. Then I'd fit the runners in the drawer closed position, and hold them in position with a couple of handy clamps - maybe spacing them from the sides with a sheet of thin card each side in order to provide a bit of clearance. Then I'd measure across the runners, and compare the measurement with the size of cabinet into which the drawer must fit. I'd work everything out from that, but might perhaps move one of the sides in or out so that the runner measurement was just right for the space. It would then be easy to measure what size the base and back would need to be. These would need to be thick enough to take short screws to screw them to the turned over flanges on the sides. [I assume that the bottom would fit between the sides, on top of the turned over flanges rather than underneath]. You would have to measure where the runners come height wise and fore & aft wise too, of course, in order to be able to fit the runners in the right place in the cabinet - also allowing for the thickness of the front.

I hopes this makes sense. It sounds complicated, but is probably easier to do than to describe!

[John Rumm]

Ply, chip, MDF - anything man made really. 9 to 12mm is usually plenty. The base you could go down to 6mm ply - it depends a bit on what size of drawer you are making.

I would suggest you start by (temporarily if needs be) mounting the runners into the cabinet. Then you can hang the drawer sides on them and work out what material sizes you will need. Next assemble the draw base and back.

Now install the draw (repositioning the runners in the cabinet if needs be).

Then lastly fit the front by using a couple of blobs of hot glue to fix it to the metal plates on the front. Once its tacked in place, you can take the drawer out and screw the plates on the properly. They also have a bit of adjustment for getting the fronts spot on if they need adjustment.

For front fitting, see from about 3:25:

[fred]

egrated after 20 years of service.

he metal sides to the base then attach the back and the front? Does anyone know of a video that shows me how to adjust the position of the front. I am sure eventually I could work it out myself but any advise, as always, woul d save me time and lots of pointlessly drilled holes?

No Its a standard drawer. The runners are mounted under the drawer carcase.

Establish the internal width of the cabinet to hold the drawer.

Subtract 24mm to allow for the width of the runners. This will give you the overall width of the drawer box.

Establish the overall thickness of the metal sides. Double it and subtract from the width of the drawer box. This will give you the width of the drawe r bottom.

Depending on how good you are you might want to allow a bit for tolerance.

[Roger Mills]

So how come the guide wheels at the backs of the sides are at the *top* rather than the *bottom*?