Drawer slides on solid wood sides
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- This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 10 months ago by Ed.
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Here’s one way: Assume the long grain is running vertically on the side of the carcase. Seasonal expansion changes the depth of the cabinet, which will affect how the drawer sits (flush or proud) in the cabinet. Notice that the drawer width and height are defined by long grain in the carcase, so those are stable.
Cut housings in the carcase sides at the drawer locations. Put drawer runners into those housings *cross grain.* In other words, the drawer runners have long grain along the direction of the drawer movement. Because the runner is cross grain, you only glue the front of the runner for a few inches and put a screw in a loose hole at the back. If you glue the whole length, you risk cracking the side.
The drawer itself is long grain along its depth into the cabinet. So, you now have long grain (drawer) on a long grain runner, which is stable. Put a glue block at the back of the runner to set the drawer position. Seasonal movement means the carcase sides expand and contract around the runners. Note that you need a little gap between the glue block and the back of the carcase comparable to how much the sides are expected to move.
You don’t really need the housings. You could have used screws all along. Another variation of this is to make a frame that the drawer slides on, perhaps with a dust shield, but the concept is the same.
Look at some drawings or photos and you’ll start to see how people deal with this. Paul’s recent two drawer organizer was slightly different in that he put the glue blocks at the front of the drawer. Have a look at his blog.
That’s how I understand this stuff to work.
@ed, thank you for the explanation. Well put.
I’m guessing you would use the housings to ensure the runner is held in place naturally by the drawer?
I’d talked to a friend about this strategy, and he said the same thing about gluing the runner at the front, and loose-screwing it at the back. I was concerned about a couple things, mostly related to the weight of the drawer on the runner over time:
– Even though I would only glue the first couple inches, over time the glue could still fail due to the (minimal) movement of the side.
– The “loose screw” at the back would be in a groove of the runner. But how strong can I expect that screw to be, since it really can’t be cinched down?Am I overthinking?
@awesomeopossum74 Those are good questions and may be going beyond my experience, but here are my best guesses at answers:
-Since the drawers sit on the runners, the drawers won’t help to hold the runners into the housings. That’s why glue and screws are used. I think the advantage of the housing is that, at layout, you can transfer knife nicks from side to side, knife in the housing location, cut it accurately, and know that the two sides will be dead on and will stay dead on forever. If you try to simply screw a runner on, perhaps guided by knife lines, theres a chance things will move vertically some time or another and disturb the drawer fit. To me, this is the primary reason for the housing: Accuracy. I suppose it also helps bear the vertical load, but I suspect screws are plenty strong for shear strength for just about any drawer, especially since you can put in a bunch of them. You can make things without the housing, definitely. See below and, also, Paul’s recent two-drawer organizer.
-I’m not concerned about a few inches of glue. The total amount of movement is proportional to the width of the wood. I think the elasticity of the glue will handle this. If you want to be extra sure, put a screw where you glued, too. Or, just use screws and skip the glue.
-You probably don’t need a slot for the screw, especially if the runner is housed. Just drill a little over sized (in the runner). You can calculate how much the side will change in width for a given change in moisture.
– I think you can make the screw as tight as you like and, if movement happens, the runner will slide under the screw. Wood movement is extremely strong. I believe rock was split at quarries by sinking dry wooden wedges and then wetting them. You can tighten that screw down firmly so that there’s no wobble and not think twice about it.
I’ve only made one piece that required considerations of these things. It was in a class. We were shown to make a frame as the drawer support, locate it accurately (no housing), and screw it to the two sides of the cabinet. It’s been a while since I last thought about this piece, but if I recall correctly, we made two of these frames, one that the drawers ran on, and the other to go above the drawers to keep them from tipping when opened (kickers). This piece (a chest) only had one pair of drawers, side by side, so the upper side of the kicker frame supported the bottom of the chest area. In other cases, it could have been the runner for the next layer of drawers. We may have cut a pair of temporary spacers, e.g., from thin ply, to hold the frame in the right location when screwing it into the sides to ensure no monkey business. I’d need to look in my notes.
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