Questions about building drawers

[mike]

I am building drawers to hold CDs, DVD,s and casette tapes. The outside dimensions of the drawers are 18" wide and 15" deep. The Cd and DVD drawers are 5" high and the casette tape drawers are 2" high. All drawer sides, fronts and backs are made from 1/2" plywood. I have routed a 1/4"groove on the lower inside face of all pieces to hold the drawer bottom. Question 1: Which would make a stronger bottom; 1/4" plywood or 1/4" hardboard?

I also plan to use accuride drawer slides on these. In some pictures I he slides mounted in the middle of the drawer side and in others the slides are mounted near the bottom of the side. Question 2: Where is the best place to mount the drawer slide?

Thanks for any and all help.

[George M. Kazaka]

Mike Most shops generally set drawer slides at the bottom and I believe this is done strictely because it is easier to align them.

I find that they track better just above the center of the drawer, I have been using accuride's for a good number of years and they are the standard that alot of other companies try to copy.

As for your drawer bottom either would be fine but I would choose the ply over the hardboard

Good luck, George

[George]

Sounds like some big span for the load. Had you considered 3/8 or 1/2 ply for those bottoms? Ply is, of course more resistant to deformation under pressure than hardboard. If you can stand losing a quarter inch in depth, you could probably rabbet/rebate the plywood edges and use the same grooves if you needed to. Else, glue your dividers to the bottom to give it a hand.

Dumb answer, but I favor the glides at the same height as the handle. Seems to give better control.

[C & S]

'round here (Upstate NY) the local lumber yard carries a 4x5 1/4" (the whole .25 inches) 5-ply plywood product, intended for underlayment use. It's actually much stronger than the ubiquitous "quarter inch" 3-ply luan. It's pretty darned flat too.

IMO this would provide more than enough beef, without adding too much weight.

-Steve

[Leon]

Mike I built a similar drawer but it is about 21" deep and 32" wide. I used 1/4" hard board and it is holding up just fine fully loaded 11 years later. I would however suggest Plywood over hard board.

It does not matter where you mount the slides however I alsways mount them at the bottom of the drawer for ease of placement when attaching the drawer side. Additionally you can normally attach the cabinet side on the bottom of the face frame or drawer opening providing you allow enough clearance for the drawer to fit.

This method requires no measuring to install the slides on both the drawer and cabinet.