RE: Subject
Whoever suggested building essentially open boxes to accept covered Rubbermaid containers had a winner, IMHO.
Drawers are heavy, expensive, and usually require expensive hardware, take up valuable storage space, and are awkward at best.
In addition, they do not provide sealed storage which is desirable for an inactive storage area.
Add a curtain to cover the bin and you would think we were talking about storage on a boat.
Lew
Yabbut, but the mess when you send those things through the planer ....
"Larry Jaques" wrote
Just a comment about Amazon.
I am working on a project that needed some books by certain authors. No subsitutes would work. I looked them up everywhere and all the books except one were only available used. And one book only became available the third time I looked. I ordered them last week. The last one arrived today. I had to pay $4 shipping for each one. But I got them in. I am all set.
Also, the reviews on amazon were very good to help determine if these books would work.
For storage drawers, I'd also consider making them without any type of stop to prevent withdrawal. This would be particularly handy for the upper ones, where you might not be able to see what's inside. If the sides of the drawers were within a smidgeon of the case opening, the drawer faces would still align, but they could be pulled out and placed upon a table for easy access.
On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:27:09 -0500, the infamous "Lee Michaels" scrawled the following:
Yeah, they have helped me previously, too. I also go to
-- To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive. -- Robert Louis Stevenson
Fantatstic tips! I like the jig Swingman, I will certainly whip up one of these once I get my slides. Which leads me to my next question: Which side-mount, full-extension, 100 lbs+-rated slides do folks like? My searching has led me to many brands (KV, Accuride, Blum) but was wondering if anyone had a favorite. And, thanks again!
Kevin
When it comes to side mount, I've always had excellent results with KV. Excellent product at a good price.
With regards to side-mount slides, I've noticed that many slides can be used with a maximum drawer width of 24". (I understand that the wider the drawer, the more prone it is to racking). I had originally planned to build some drawers that were about 36" wide, 24" deep, and
10" high, and the fact that they are wider than they are deep seems to put them in the category of "lateral file drawers". There are "lateral file drawer" slides available (strong and expensive) but these seem to be overkill since my drawers will not be carrying 100s of lbs of paper, and they also don't have the extreme aspect ratio (very wide and very shallow) that a typical lateral file drawer has. Has anyone built drawers of the size I am considering and used standard side-mount drawer slides (such as the KV 8500 series)?As always, thanks!
Kevin
P.S. Lew, your solution using Rubbermaid bins is the one I have been using so far (GMTA!). The "attic" as I call it is a fairly nice living space, so I'm hoping to improve the looks of my storage by installing drawers.
...
Actually, I've done so (in strict violation of manufacturers' instructions as you note so I'm sure there will be a number of posters just waiting to pounce given the outrage over simply using a 130V light bulb... :( but, I'll venture forth anyway :) ) -- I've done two things:
First, simply ignored the prohibition and went ahead. No serious problems experienced up to about the 36" width, again, in a fairly lightly loaded application (sweaters, that sort of thing). This does assume what I'd call the "rational user"; I'd not try it in commercial work or in a rental, for example. IOW, that was for own use where know the limitations.
Alternatively, in a set of fairly heavily loaded drawers in a storage area under a set of stairs I mounted one of the same slides flatwise on the bottom of the drawer as a guide. It's a little picky getting it aligned "just right" but it worked as intended. Those drawers were almost 48". They were adequate enough that I'd have no trouble doing that on "boughten work".
That was ages ago before the advent of online suppliers that are so easy to get specialty parts as are these days; probably one could order in some of the wood/plastic "t-bar" center alignment kits to serve the purpose much more cheaply. Then again, there's always the homemade sliding dovetail guide that would work since it doesn't need to carry the load at all but serve as alignment it can be fairly loose and still control the wracking that would cause the slides themselves to bind.
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This is an excellent method to overcome the limitation Kevin is concerned about, and one I've used with extra wide drawers. Although the drawer pictured shown below is much smaller, and the middle, shop made dovetail runner was the only runner, the method is exactly the same:
On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:02:33 -0800 (PST), the infamous Kevin scrawled the following:
They are, Kevin. The house I moved into has a 43" wide wooden chest of drawers without slides and they rack terribly. I have to rewax them 3 times a year or they stick badly when one drawer-side or the other binds on the frame. That same racking tends to tear up slides.
The weight rating on slides is the maximum they will carry and still give you the rated number of openings/closings the mfgr states, usually 50,000-75,000 cycles. With the exception of our favorite drawers, most drawers won't be subject to that much use, so overloading is tolerated much of the time.
You might not use that much weight in them now, but later, it'll find its way in there. (Murphy sez so.) Which means that sooner or later, perhaps not until the next owner, the slides will fail and you'll have to upgrade. Until then, though, it'll work just fine.
I haven't built any really wide drawers, but those I've seen have always had a central stiffener, so build the bottom like a raised-panel door, with stiffer bottom and smaller panels.
5 nice thing about Rubbermaid bins: 1) everything stays dust-free in them. 2) they're lightweight for portability. 3) because they're portable, they go where the removed contents to, so it's easier to put said contents back in them. Things don't get lost nearly as easily. 4) it's quicker and cheaper to make storage this way. 5) contents are easily visible.The only downside is that you might not find exact-size/shape replacement "drawers" years later.
On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:47:44 -0600, the infamous dpb scrawled the following:
OhmyCrom! You're probably one of those types who pulls the tags off pillows and mattresses, too, aren't you? Mercy me!
--snip of the rest of a good post--
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