I finished the top of my workbench and now I'm making two sets of drawers to support the top. (This is all similar to the workbench in the current issue of American Woodworker.)
Full extension drawer slides look nice, but they're also expensive (about $15 each). Are the standard slides that limiting by not coming out all the way? Or is there some other cheaper alternative?
I've seen reference to full extension hardwood drawer slides, but no details.
Mike
Trying to save money on materials is IMHO a waste of time. If you want to make wooden slides for esthetic or other reasons, that's fine, but just to save money....
Interesting use of drawers ...
Actually, full extension drawer slides look like shit, but only you can determine whether they are worth the price for your application.
If you would like/need to have them, $30 more on a project you've spent _your_ time and effort on is not "expensive". Generally speaking, if it's worth your time in doing any woodworking project, you soon learn that you will be eternally kicking yourself in the butt for not using the best materials available to you at the time.
The good ones will make the metal versions look like bargains and. if you do them yourself, and unless you're making a fine furniture project, you will probably find they take much more time and effort.
If it was $30 I would do it. But I'm talking four drawers on one side and three on the other, so...7 x $15 = $105. That's more than the materials for the entire bench. The top is just 2x4s and particleboard. This isn't a fancy bench, just a general workbench that may get relegated to general fix-it work.
Mike
Easy way...
Now you can pull the drawer out and the back will stop it at the face frame. Drawer can be removed by tilting front up.
-- dadiOH ____________________________
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Some but not all. There are the "under drawer"models, which are completely invisible, function smoothly and are easy to use. Expensive though.
They will be fine until you want something in the back 1/3 of the drawer. Then you will curse saving the few bucks the full slides cost.
Pop
Maybe. I'm planning on either making 6 drawers or 6 doors. The quality drawer slides I looked at were $250 (ouch!) for a set of three drawer slides, supposedly will hold 500 lbs. The cost is high, especially compared to 12 hinges for about $20. Then, I wonder about cheaper drawer slides and if there would be adequate for the application.
On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 04:49:43 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Phisherman quickly quoth:
Look at the ratings. They guarantee 'em for 50k-75k cycles @ load. If your load is less and frequency is less, the less expensive slides (with metal balls, not polymer) should work just fine. Even the cheap slides are strong enough to stand on without deforming (though not at the handle end at full extension.) Slide manufacturers know about people like us, tool users, who will overload the SHIT out of drawers. I believe their slides are just slightly underrated. ;)
-- "Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein -=-=-
Features most always have a price and only you can decide whether to pay it. Amortized over the life of your bench, they may still be a bargain in the long run.
For DIY, a sliding dovetail wooden drawer slide underneath the drawer will let you get to the entire contents and you can use a 'button' at the back of the drawer to keep from pulling it all the way out. For a drawer with heavy tools you might consider two, one on each side of the bottom.
On page 3 of my Projects page there are a couple of wooden drawer slide options. Although used mostly for fine furniture, take a peek as it may jog your imagination.
You might also want to consider waxed wooden rails, fastened to each side of the drawer, that ride in a waxed groove on the cabinet sides, with a button in the back to keep from over extending the drawer. That would be a less expensive option, but may be subject to wear over the years in a shop environment, and depending upon what heavy stuff you keep in the drawers.
That said, and having been through the battle many times, I still think full extension, commercial drawer slides are the way to go in shop bench drawers.
What you lose on the banana's, you make on the oranges.
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Thanks for that posting, I hadn't considered the use of a partially driven screw for depth adjustment, I'm going to use that for the Captain's bed drawer adjustments.
One of the other approaches for drawer runners is to cut a groove in the side of the drawer and mount wooden runners on the inside sides of the cabinet -- that's what I'm planning for my project. The groove serves as both runner and kick. Downside is potential wear problems down the road.
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+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
When I put in some workbech area along one side of my shop about 10 years ago, I put in 4 drawers right under the length of the top. I used the standard 3/4 extension slides that were probably $2 each.
Last summer, the POS slides finally got the better of me. In order to get new full extension slides (22 in deep) to work with my nice drawers, I had to remaount everything and rout out about 1/4 inch of material on each side of each drawer. Talk about a PITA. But I'm glad I did it right the second time.
I got the slides from wwhardware.com for something like $10 each.
Do it right the first time. You'll forget about the cost in no time.
Lou
You've got a lot of nice projects on your site, Swingman. I wish I had half the space you have. You do great work.
Mike
Thanks for all the help.
Mike
That's an elegant solution I first saw my grandfather use over 50 years ago, and the old cabinetmaker I worked for in England for a while also used it, so it must be as old as the concept of screws themselves ... I am sure that both would be tickled to know that their tricks are passed on.
Why use drawer slides at all? I've built lots of drawers that just slide on the bottom of their hardwood sides. Unless you really need over-extension, or planning on putting a couple hundred pounds of stuff in each drawer, you don't need slides.
You should be able to buy offshore knockoffs of Accuride 3832's for about $6.00 a pair.
You need to shop from places that sell to commercial cabinetmakers.
Tom Watson - WoodDorker
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
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